I was just talking with my client about who needs to be in a crucial strategic thinking meeting. We want to limit the number of invitees to a small, intimate (and manageable) number of folks….but he has over 150 people in his organization!
Rather than inviting the usual suspects (top management), I suggested that he look for “two-fers” – people who fulfill at least two, three or four team objectives:
- Content – the invitee will participate and make valuable contributions and/or provide perspective
- Commitment – you will need their buy-in and commitment in the implementation of whatever the team is going to come up with
- Teambuilding – you would like to use the event to develop mutual bonds of trust and patterns of communication among the participants
- Diversity – the invitee represents a specific demographic of the organization (race, culture, gender, geography, age, longevity within the organization etc.)
While the research on optimal team numbers is not conclusive, it tends to fall in the five to 12 range (see my article in my newsletter) – so make sure each team member is at least a two-fer!
Question: What’s the composition of your team?
