In his 1993 book “The Winner Within,” hall of fame basketball coach Pat Riley contributes an entire chapter to what he called the “constructive covenant” or the promise that every team member must make in order for the team to reach the pinnacle of success. In Riley’s words, the covenant “binds people together, creates an equal footing, helps people shoulder their own responsibilities, prescribes terms for the help and support of others and creates a foundation for teamwork.”
Few would argue with the assertion that if these tenants are in place, the team is likely to be successful, or that having this covenant is crucial to organizational success, and will likely distinguish the great organizations from the good ones. The challenge of leadership is, therefore, to get the members of his or her team to mentally make this promise, to create an environment on their teams where this covenant exists.
Riley gives examples of this environment developing with small teams that are in the same geographic location, such as a group of friends rafting or a basketball team preparing for a tournament. Creating this covenant in today’s organization is much more complicated.
Teams are larger, and workgroups are geographically dispersed. It’s not uncommon for a lower level manager in a mid-sized organization to lead dozens of people who work in different time zones and speak different languages. To add to the complexity, the success of a work team is not as easily defined as “to win the NBA championship.” So, while the concept of the covenant is sound, and its tenants solid, the techniques required to achieve this condition must be adjusted.
Fortunately for today’s leader, Web 2.0 technology creates an opportunity to minimize the challenges posed by dispersement, language issues and time zone differences. And while it must be noted that no technology is a replacement for the activities that a leader must engage in, the use of social media like wikis, blogs and discussions can go a long way toward creating an environment where the constructive covenant can begin to develop.
The tenants of the covenant in fact already exist in communities of practice where groups of individuals who have never met work together to solve common problems like mapping the human genome, or building a more fuel efficient automobile. It exists where teams of people committed to curing AIDS subscribe to podcasts from world experts in order to educate themselves.
Leaders who understand the power of Web 2.0 will begin transferring their “covenant creating” activities to the Web in order to create a team environment that binds people together, and creates an equal footing.
