08.07.2018
Five Strategies For Effective Tiger Teams
What is a Tiger Team?
The name “Tiger Team” was first coined by NASA to describe a highly skilled team of individuals with different specialties coming together to solve a set of complex problems. Problems do not occur in isolation, and by that same token, neither do solutions. To be sure, the Apollo 13 mission would have had a much different ending if this multi-faceted team approach had not been taken.
It’s easy to see why this type of team is so effective, but how can we maximize its potential to drive success within a large, distributed organization such as Faith Technologies?
5 Considerations for a Tiger Team Approach in Business:
- Start with the end in mind… and don’t lose sight of it!
This sounds simple enough, but in any operations-focused company, it feels uncomfortable to slow down and spend time on planning and design. But time invested in communicating the goal, returns tenfold in avoiding waste and rework downstream. Clearly articulate the vision and what success looks like in measurable terms, and bring it up often to ensure you stay out of rabbit holes that steal your focus. - Select and manage team members with care: assign Tiger Team roles and responsibilities
Tiger Teams are made up of experts from multiple disciplines that help solve complex problems, and importance must be given to selecting the right expertise for the tasks at hand. This creates a problem in itself, as some individuals may not work best in a team setting. For others, their day jobs may not involve working across departments, giving rise to communication barriers. Team harmony may be difficult to create in this environment; however, assigning a facilitator role can help link the different perspectives to a common goal and capitalize on everyone’s strengths to maximize the team’s performance. - Balance planning with action
How often do you have a great idea, then spent ages crafting the perfect plan? Usually, that idea never sees the light of day. To be an effective Tiger Team, you have to live by the philosophy of Test Early, Fail Fast. Balance the planning and design with small-scale tests to validate (or disprove) your theories and assumptions. Use the tests to collect implementation feedback so you can design a roll-out plan alongside your process design. That way, you never get too far down a path, or too attached to an idea, that will not be sustainable in your organization. - Cultivate a sense of ownership and accountability
Chances are not every team member you select to work on a problem can see the whole problem, and may be focused only on the part that affects them. This can result in some folks being disengaged from parts of your work effort. Take the time to clearly define the problem, and make explicit all the enabling structures that allow the problem to exist in the first place. Remind everyone of the end goal, and tie that vision to the action steps your team is working on. This will help create a sense of ownership and provide meaningful context for your team. - Socialize the scope, activities and progress with the broader organization
In addition to spending the time to cultivate the right environment and cadence for your Tiger Teams internally, connecting the work they are doing to the rest of the organization is another way to truly maximize their impact. Solution ideas that show promise within the scope of the project can be leveraged in other areas of the organization, once you have proof of concept.
Sharing the progress and outputs from your Tiger Team can help spur innovation in other departments and help develop a culture of continuous improvement across your organization. How can you make Tiger Teams work for you?
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