A start-up biotechnology company had grown to a mid-sized organization following development of products for broad market distribution.

The transition from a start-up organization, in which research and development was the one main department, to an organization with a product to produce, market and sell, had resulted in silos: a sales and marketing department, a manufacturing department, a warehouse to package and send the product to market, etc. These silos were selfcontained, whose team members were not communicating or planning with other departments for a common vision or goal.

To create teams of people working on the same project throughout the entire process: from research and development through manufacturing, marketing and sales, packaging and distribution.

Following a needs assessment where we surveyed all employees, and conducted focus groups and interviews with leaders and managers, The Bridgewater Group was brought in to work with each department team. We taught people collaboration skills, and laid the groundwork for the new team format in the organization.

During this process, the senior leadership team made an additional request: that we put together and pilot a self-directed work team. The leaders anticipated that some teams would be self-directed teams, and some would not. The Bridgewater Group worked with the client on identifying ways to recruit for the self-directed teams, implemented team building sessions and engaged a pool of employees who wanted to be in the pilot program.

Once formed, the self-directed work team was given a project to complete. Working through some of the rough spots, team members completed the project with full documentation of the process — what worked well, where problems surfaced, how they resolved them, the resulting success of the project and recommendations to how the organization could continue with self-directed work teams.

Within weeks of introducing the program, management noticed a company-wide rise in productivity and morale. When questioned individually or in teams about the new team format, employees noted that they:

The value of having everyone working towards an effective process for a quality product was evident in problem resolution by identifying the whole problem, not just one part of it. The time-to-market was reduced. Employee morale improved. Talent was used effectively.