Strategic teams: what really drives them?

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine motivation in a team setting, how engagement in the organization's value proposition and strategic agenda, better-matched talent, solid enterprise culture and accountability all play a role in motivating groups of people to become agents of making strategy happen. This paper also provides practical themes for team leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

For over 25 years, the authors have observed team function and dysfunction on all levels of business. They have defined a series of conditions that open the gates for motivation to flourish. Using developmental content, questions and frameworks, they provide a roadmap for the motivation of strategic teams in different settings, with different charters.

Findings

The authors find that teams whose members have a clear focus on their purpose within the organization's over-arching strategic plans, are well matched with specific talents of members and leaders of the team, and serve within a strong enterprise culture, are more highly motivated as agents of making strategy happen.

Originality/value

This study offers an expanded viewpoint on strategic team motivation with some themes for building strategic team competence, resilience and adaptive capacity across a range of organizational settings.

Citation

Wolf, D. and Felger, B. (2019), "Strategic teams: what really drives them?", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 116-121. https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-02-2019-0011