Most business leaders understand there are significant performance gains to be achieved through teamwork, and yet few organizations have succeeded in getting the results they hoped for.

Is a lack of understanding of the true basics of teaming one of the reasons for the failure to achieve the potential that teaming offers?

Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith state in their best-selling book The Wisdom of Teams:

"Team performance is a fact, not a fad. Unfortunately, so is team frustration and failure. Team training efforts continue to miss the target by focusing on togetherness, open communication and interpersonal dynamics rather than simply getting the basics right."

If togetherness, open communication and interpersonal dynamics (which form the basis of much of the team development training offered) are not the basics, what are?

UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS

1. Being a Team Member is a Part-Time Role that Requires Behavioral Adaptability

The first thing to understand is that most teams are not full time teams.  For most individuals, serving on a specific team is a part time role.  In many instances, individuals serve as a team member on more than one team at the same time (e.g. strategic planning, continuous improvement, safety, bargaining committee, etc.)

While individuals generally are selected to serve on a team based on their experience, knowledge or expertise, fulfilling their individual responsibilities remains as their primary role.  Yet much of the team training offered today leaves the impression that you have to be a team member all the time!

Some team members resist participating in teams because they don't see the team member role as distinct from their functional role.  This often leads to conflict as they tend to argue from their own functional position rather than looking at issues from the broader perspective of the team as a whole.

Effective teamwork cannot be achieved unless each team member understands the need to switch hats as they move from their functional role to their team role. To be effective at switching roles, the team member first needs to have the flexibility of mind to mentally switch roles. Secondly, they must have the behavioral adaptability to effectively perform both roles.

Behavioral adaptability requires a high degree of emotional intelligence, which can be learned over time. The emotional competencies of Self-Awareness and Self-Management are essential as we increase the awareness of the need to excel in two roles requiring different behavior, and then go through the process of learning to adapt new habits.

2. Establishing the Need: The Motivation to be a Team

The second basic fundamental is that teams must have a significant reason for being a team. Many teams fail to establish a team performance challenge that is meaningful and important to all team members.  If it is not really important to the team members, why would they go through the discomfort and effort to adapt their behavior?

One of the first priorities in developing an effective team is to help the team establish what their Team Performance Challenge is.  It has to be meaningful and compelling to all team members, and be continually focused on until it is achieved.  Once they have agreed on an objective that is meaningful and important to all members—working as a team will make sense.

To work together effectively to achieve the desired result will require a high level of trust and open communication.  The point Katzenbach and Smith are making in the quote at the beginning of this page is that without that basic team performance challenge, there is insufficient motivation for team members to put personal interests and ego aside in the interest of the team.

TEAM DEVELOPMENT IS A PROCESS

Turning a potential team into a high performing team takes time... it cannot be achieved as a result of a single event.  As an Associate of the Integro Leadership Institute, HPower & Associates, LLC employs the Team Development Process™ to facilitate true team development over a 12 to 15 month timeframe.  Our approach is to ensure that all team members are on the same bus, and the key to that is getting agreement on the team performance challenge that is meaningful and compelling to all.

The Team Development Process™ is comprised of 4 distinct stages:

1. Measurement:  Using the Team Alignment Questionnaire™ with all members of the team to identify what needs to be worked on—what needs to be clearer and where the team needs to get agreement so they can commit to the team performance challenge.  It also provides a measure of the trust level within the team.  When the trust level is low, team members become reluctant to speak up when they don’t agree with the team direction, cliques begin to develop, and team members end up on different buses.   
2. Module 1 – Team Alignment Retreat & Follow-Up:  A 2-day retreat to focus on getting all team members on the bus and committed to being a high performing team.  The retreat is followed by 2 meetings in the workplace to review with the team their progress on commitments made to improve the trust level among team members.   
3. Module 2 – Team Planning Retreat & Follow-Up:  A 2-day retreat to focus on building consensus on Purpose, Values, Vision, and Goals and to implement a plan for becoming a high performing team.  The planning retreat is followed by 5 follow-up work sessions to help enable the team to stay focused on the balance between their individual accountabilities and accountability to the team and to systematically review progress on implementing a plan for achieving the targeted business results.   
4. Module 3 – The Extraordinary Team Work Sessions & Follow-Up:  Two 1-day work sessions focused on increasing individual contribution to the Team Climate, Team Process and Team Results—followed by 3 follow-up work sessions to systematically review progress.

For an overview of the Team Development Process™ and the Team Alignment Questionnaire™ used in the process, click on the links below.  To request additional information on how the Team Development Process™ can be of value to team members in your organization, contact us.

Team Development Process™ Flowchart

Team Alignment Questionnaire™