As Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler Corporation, said: “All business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product, and profit. People come first. Unless you’ve got a good team, you can’t do much with the other two.” Successful managers are those who create, work with, and manage successful teams.

Defining highperforming teams

A team is two or more people who meet regularly, perceive themselves as a distinct entity distinguishable from others, have complementary skills, and are committed to a common purpose, a set of performance goals, and an approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. High-performing teams engage in collective work produced by coordinated joint efforts that result in more than the sum of the individual efforts. Research and practical experience have shown that teams with many more than 12 members tend to lack cohesion and struggle to make fast and effective decisions.

Understanding team performance

WHO ARE WE? Sharing strengths, weaknesses, work preferences, and values allows the establishment of a set of common beliefs for the team, creating a group identity and a feeling of
“what we stand for.”

WHERE ARE WE NOW? Understanding the current position means that a team can
reinforce its strengths, improve on its
weaknesses, and identify opportunities to capitalize on and threats to be aware of.

WHERE ARE WE GOING? Teams need to have a vision of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. They also need a mission, a purpose, and a set of specific
team goals that they are all excited about.

HOW WILL WE GET THERE? Team members must understand who will do what and when to accomplish team goals, and must be clear about their job description, roles on the team, responsibilities, and areas of authority and accountability.

WHAT SUPPORT DO WE GET/NEED? Reviewing each member’s training
and development needs can set the stage for individual training, counseling, and mentoring that will strengthen both the individual and the team.

HOW EFFECTIVE ARE WE? Regular performance reviews of quantity and quality outputs and the team process— with recognition and reward for success— ensure achievement of team goals and provide members with standards.

Achieving good teamwork

To help your teams perform to the best of their ability, create clear goals. All team members need to have a thorough understanding of the goals of the team and a belief that these goals embody a worthwhile result. This encourages team members to sublimate personal concerns to those of the team. Members need to be committed to the team’s goals, know what they are expected to accomplish, and understand how they will work together to achieve these goals. However, these goals must be
attainable; team members can lose morale if it seems that they are not. To avoid this, set smaller interim milestones in the path to your overall goal. As these smaller goals are attained, your team’s success is reinforced. Cohesiveness is increased, morale improves, and confidence builds. As the manager of a team, it is your
job to provide the resources and support that the members need to achieve success. Offer skills training where needed, either personally or by calling in specialists within your organization or outside training services.

Steering your team

Team members should all share in the glory when their team succeeds, but also share in the blame when the team fails. However, members need to know that they cannot ride on the backs of others. Identify what each member’s contribution to the team’s work should be and make it a part of his or her overall performance appraisal. To help monitor performance, select members of the team to act as participant–observers. While a team is working, the role of the participant–observer is to focus on the processes being used—the sequence of actions that takes place between team members to achieve a goal. Periodically, the participant–observer should stop the team from working on its task and discuss the process members are engaged in. The objectives of the participant–observer are to improve the team’s functioning by discussing the processes being used and creating strategies for improving them.

Setting standards

Create a performance agreement to record the details of what the team is aiming to achieve, what is required and expected of every team member, and what support will be available to them. Setting out the framework for team success clearly helps to ensure that there is a mutual understanding and common vision of the desired results, and emphasizes the standards that you expect from every team member.

Tip

CHANGE PERSONNEL If your teams get bogged down in their own inertia or internal fighting, rotate the members. Consider how certain personalities will mesh and re-form your teams in ways that will better complement skills.

6–12
members is the ideal number for a team to work at optimal effectiveness

CHECKLIST… Creating a team performance agreement yes/no

1. Have I identified what is to be done and when?
2. Have I specified the boundaries (guiding rules of behavior) or the means for accomplishing results?
3. Have I identified the human, financial, technical, or organizational support available to help achieve the results?
4. Have I established the standards of performance and the time intervals for evaluation?
5. Have I specified what will happen in performance evaluations and the consequences of not meeting the standards?