Business leaders are often confronted with a situation that can be uncomfortable or seem risky. That situation is one where outside resources may be needed but the internal team is outstanding at its job. The leader can be torn between putting outside resources into place for a project, special situation or strategic initiative and keeping the existing team at peak confidence.
The juggling act of keeping team members engaged in today and thinking about tomorrow can be tough. It can be particularly tough going into periods of change or taking on special projects. The ultimate fear is that of creating an environment where the local team begins to question the faith of leadership. Often, the most important team members are the ones most influenced by feelings of excellence and knowing their leaders can depend on them. Bringing in outside resources may put that at risk, according to some.
However, the solution is pretty simple. The team has to be made aware of the conundrum of excellence. Contemporary management is charged with building teams and processes that require less intervention, fewer resources and ultimately, less cost. If teams are successful at building efficiency into the business model, changes to that model will take more resources than just running the model. If changes are possible with the existing team, it has too much capacity. The conundrum is that if a business can manage meaningful change with its existing team, that existing team is not ultimately efficient.
Finding the right balance of protective capacity and efficiency is difficult, at best. Furthermore, demand on the team is constantly changing. Once a management team understands that inclusion of additional capacity is a compliment to their success, fears of alienating them become a non-issue.