Teams Share Valuable Information
Steve Adubato, Ph.D.

One of the characteristics of a first-rate team is the regular sharing of valuable information. Sure, great teams need great leaders, but if team members withhold or ignore important information the team will miss opportunities and make big mistakes.

Consider the less than cooperative relationship between a variety of federal agencies including the FBI, CIA, FAA and INS. On the surface, all these agencies are supposed to be on the federal government team charged with the responsibility of protecting us from the bad guys, both foreign and domestic. Yet, like departments or divisions in many organizations, each of these federal agencies functions by its own set of rules and plays on its own separate team without much of a desire to help colleagues in other agencies. This is a particular problem between the FBI and CIA who for years have been engaged in a variety of petty turf wars and power struggles that block team members from sharing valuable, sensitive and timely information. It is clear now that the CIA and FBI as well as the other agencies mentioned were not on the same team, much less on the same page, in connection with the tragedy of September 11.

According to a recent "Newsweek" story, in July 2001 FBI agent Bill Kurtz and his team investigating suspected Islamic terrorists found some shocking information. A significant number of suspects had signed up for courses in how to fly planes. Some suspects even asked questions about airport security. Kurtz, who had extensive experience studying the operations of Osama Bin Laden, sent a memo to selected FBI colleagues concluding that Bin Laden might be planning an attack on the U.S. aviation system.

Amazingly, Kurtz's memo was blown off. It got lost in the FBI bureaucracy and never made it into the hands of top level managers who might have done something about it. This critically important information was never sent from the FBI to the CIA. It was either never shared or never acknowledged by other relevant federal agencies.

The Kurtz document was one of numerous memos and reports concluding that there was a reason to be concerned about an attack on the U.S. aviation system. From January to September 2001, the FAA alone put out 15 memos to the aviation industry "warning of possibly imminent hijackings of airliners inside the U.S. At least two of the warnings name Bin Laden as a suspect."

In July of last year, in a White House meeting the FAA, FBI and INS were warned by terrorist experts "that a major attack on the U.S. is coming soon." No one knows for sure if anything could have prevented the tragedy of September 11, but if certain federal agencies had acted more like a team with a common goal, they might have been more willing to share and acknowledge this life and death information. Who knows how history might have been different if that happened.

There are countless reasons why certain teams and team members don't share valuable information. The biggest is lack of trust in each other. People are often concerned that sharing sensitive information could somehow hurt their own position or weaken their turf. When team members are consumed by turf preservation, they tend to cover their hides. When this happens, you have to question whether these players who are allegedly on the same team really are.

Some questions to consider. Who on your team are you currently withholding information from and why? What impact is this having on your team or organization? Finally, what are you going to do about it? Write to me.

Dr. Steve Adubato coaches and speaks on the subjects of communication and leadership and is the author of the book "Speak from the Heart." Write to him at The Star-Ledger, 1 Star-Ledger Plaza, Newark, NJ 07102, visit his Web site at www.stand-deliver.com, or e-mail him at sadubato@aol.com.

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