Many businesses and employees have experienced difficult times during the recent recession.  Businesses have shut their doors, jobs have been lost, surviving businesses have defined profitability as staying even with last year, and senior managers have explored new and different ways to keep businesses afloat.

In exploring new and different ways to keep businesses afloat, how many managers have truly utilized their teams to make the right things happen for the business?  How many managers have included their teams in facing the many challenges presented by today’s business environment?

Teamwork and collaboration within businesses are essential for competing in today’s global and challenging business environment.  The principal reason for forming and utilizing teams should not be only to get people interested and participating but also to make the right things happen for the organization.  Poor cross-functional teamwork is a sign of a losing organization.

However developing cross-functional teamwork and collaboration is hard work.  It requires focus, trust, the right people, a cross-functional mind-set on everyone’s part, cross-functional goals and spirit, business-wide business process management, teams which are empowered to make decisions, and information-sharing.

Regarding information-sharing, Jan Carlzon, former CEO of SAS, said “An individual {team}without information cannot take responsibility; an individual {team }who is given responsibility cannot help but to take responsibility.  Do managers give individuals/teams enough information to take the right actions and make the right decisions?  Are teams provided with information about the business’ finances and thus aware of what must be done to survive in these difficult times?

My experience says that information-sharing by many managers is not at the level it needs to be to allow teams to help the business succeed in these difficult times.  What’s your opinion?