Encouraging teamwork, rewarding individual performance

At the outset, it is important to clarify that various reward and recognition (R&R) initiatives taken by the organisations, as an integral part of their annual employee engagement calendars, do not fall within the ambit of this article.

Albert Einstein had observed, “A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labours of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.” The statement bears testimony to his humble nature in acknowledging that he owed his achievements as a scientist to the collective contribution of others. It is also a lesson on ego management and is closely aligned with the concept of Nri Rin (indebtedness to humanity at large).

Usually, at work, we have a tendency to hog the limelight when the outcome of an action is in our favour at the cost of ignoring the contributions of fellow team members. Organisations, too, acknowledge this innate tendency in us with all its concomitant worries. When employees display this attitude, a healthy work environment becomes a casualty. Arrogance rules the roost. No wonder the annual training calendar of almost every organisation features training interventions about

‘teamwork’ in some form or another. So, the L&D team tries to create a platform to enable employees imbibe the spirit of teamwork for effective performance. There is a catch, though.

An ‘essential skills’ training program, like ‘teamwork,’ does not generally figure in the training calendar of senior management cadre. Further, using a phrase like ‘soft skills’ for these behavioural training interventions, a message that gets conveyed is that these training programs are fluffy and good to have without having a direct bearing on any of the Key Value Drivers (KVDs). So, it is quite evident that employees’ need for building effective teamwork and collaborative skills does not usually figure highly in a business leader’s performance dashboard. At the end of the day, it is viewed as the sole responsibility of the L&D team to foster a culture of collaborative teamwork. What an irony!

Add to this an individualised performance reward system. This is yet another thaw in achieving effective teamwork. While working in a department, employees are expected to display exemplary and seamless teamwork, and yet at the end of the year increment is given on the basis of individual performance to encourage high performers and thus, encourage meritocracy. There is nothing wrong with it per se. 

However, is it not a contradiction in terms when on the one hand we encourage collaboration & teamwork and yet on the other hand promote individual performance reward systems? Is it not palpable that the psychological heat thus generated across the length and breadth of an organisation is counter-productive to building a collaborative work culture? As a matter of fact, despite sound logic to justify its relevance, the bell-curve system only adds fuel to the fire.

As a result, going back to Einstein, the realisation of our inner and outer lives being a total contribution of others – living and dead – is given a miss. In rewarding the best performer in the team handsomely for promoting meritocracy, we unwittingly cut-throat competitive rivalry, and yet we lament that teams are not cohesive and individuals work in silos. Probably, the answer lies in a not-so-fashionable team-based reward system.