Erhard, you make great points and true. In my mind–and this may sound silly–we have never come to peace about the role of people in organizations: What is the best balance of human achievement and organizational performance? How does everyone win–as they must?

As to the difference in the digital age–I think the stakes are higher now and hope that motivates us to improve. As you know, Grint in the UK, and Heifetz and Johanson in the US, among others–make a good case that coincident with the digital age–and relating to it–is an age of VUCA–a time so complex that new kinds of problems are emerging which overwhelm any single mind.

Both Grint and Heifetz allude to the emergence of a new leadership competency: the ability to unleash the collective problem solving power of highly diverse groups. The ability to draw out collective problem solving power that is greater than the sum of that of individuals. They suggest that this ability–if mastered–may help us better face the complexity of the digital age.

In my post, I don’t take on this issue–but hopefully took a step toward it by shifting more leadership emphasis to the line–and suggesting that at the line, the team had a greater leadership role–and greater accountability. In any event, greater performance comes from more engagement.

You are right to suggest that it’s time we do better managing people–really start to improve. I believe we can improve today–if we will. I see it as a question of priority and of will.

Finally, in the Harvard version of the blog I may have done a slightly better job linking engagement to the digital age. Please have a look.

Thanks for your thinking on this.

I think “team building” can be accomplished just by following the advice in this article. No need for expensive team building activities.