THE BASIC OF “TEAMS”

A team is a living, constantly changing and a dynamic force in which a number of people come together to work. The members of the team, discuss their objectives, assess ideas, make decisions and work towards their targets together. Teams out perform individuals acting alone, especially so when the performance requires multiple skills, judgments and experience. All the successful teams are characterized by the same fundamental features : strong and effective leadership, the establishment of precise objectives, taking informed decisions, the ability to act quickly so as to carry forward these decisions, communicating freely, developing the necessary skills and techniques to fulfill the assigned tasks.  

The best way to understand teams is to look at their internal behavior. Their own stories reveal their accomplishments, skills, emotions, commitment and logical presentation. It is, however, the result of pursuing a demanding performance challenge.

The team is a basic unit of performance for most organizations. Successful team experiences are memorable because of both-what is accomplished and what each member learns in the process. Teams need to be flexible and responsive to changing events and demands, i.e. the demand of merging individual accountability with mutual accountability. Hence :

A team is a small number of people with complementary skills, who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

Successful teams can be formed by 2 to 22 or even more people, but more important than size is the shape, the pattern and the spirit of the team is due to which the members settle to perform their given tasks. The tasks that are to be performed by teams are basically categorized into three types.

Repetitive tasks; which require the members to assume a fixed role. These tasks are usually familiar work performance and can be fulfilled independently.

Projects; which require creative input from members though working in a fixed role. The major attribute is to work in unison and generate new products.

Partners; that demands constant and creative input and establishment of new work milestones. This style of working is more popular with senior levels of management.

UNDERSTANDING TEAMS

1. Teams are created when the performance demanded is challenging. The hunger for performance is the basic motivator.

2. A disciplined outlook is necessary. Basics include size, purpose, goals, skills, approach and accountability for successful application.

3. Organizations are divided into teams and sub–teams, the hierarchy of which ultimately leads to goal achievement.

4. Teams at the top are the most difficult and complex in nature.

5. There is a preference for group accountability over individual accountability by the people in the organization.

6. Companies with strong performance standards seem to spawn more “real teams” than companies that promote teams per se.

7. Hierarchy and teams go together almost as well as teams and performance.

8. Integration of performance and learning are inseparable part of team work.

9. Organizational leaders can foster team performance best by building a strong performance ethic rather than by establishing a team – promoting environment alone.

10. Biases do exist in teams. 

 BECOMING THE “REAL TEAM”

The performance of a team depends upon the type of binding that exists between the group members. A working group relies primarily on the individual contributions of its members for group performance. A team striving for a magnified impact that is incremental to what its members could achieve in their individual roles, forms gradually over a period of time resulting into cohesiveness.

1. Working groups

In such groups there are no significant incremental performance needs that would germinate the opportunity of turning this groups into a productive and efficient team. In such groups, the members interact only to share information, discuss practices and to make decisions to help each individual perform effectively in his or her area of responsibility. It is just a small group that works together for getting the work done.

2. Pseudo-teams.

In this type of group, though there exists a significant incremental performance needs and opportunity, there is no focus on collective performance. There is no interest in a common purpose or set of performance goals, though they work in a group. Pseudo-teams are the weakest of all groups in terms of performance impact. Their contribution towards the company performance is less because the individual interest of each member detracts from each other. The sum of the whole is less than the potential of the individual parts.

3. Potential teams

In such types of groups there is a considerable incremental performance need and the members really try to improve their performance impact. However, there is more need of clarity of purpose, goals and working approach. It has not yet established collective accountability. Here the team approach starts making sense and performance impact becomes high. The most worthwhile performance gain comes in between the potential teams and real teams. Any movement pursued in this direction is worth trying.

4. Real teams

These are the teams with small number of people having complementary skills, who are equally committed to a common purpose, goals and work approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. Real teams are basic unit of performance.  

5. High – performance team

This group meets all the conditions of real teams and also has members deeply committed to one another’s personal growth and success. This commitment is the soul of the group. They out - perform all other like teams. It is a powerful possibility and an excellent model for all “Real” and “Potential” teams.

Unlike teams, working groups rely on the sum of “individual bests” for their performance. Pseudo-teams do not take any risks and hence, remain where they are, potential teams take the risk to climb the curve and face obstacles and they turn into ‘Real teams’ and ‘High performing teams’.

BUILDING TEAM PERFORMANCE - Part - 2

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