Team Management

Introduction

• For most of us, the team-focused job seems much more desirable
• There is something inherently attractive about engaging in teamwork.
• Most of us are members of discussion groups, friendship groups,
neighborhood groups, sports teams, or even families in which tasks are
accomplished and interpersonal interaction occurs.
• Teams, in other words, are simply groups of people who are interdependent in
the tasks they perform, who affect one another’s behavior through interaction,
and who see themselves as a unique entity.
Introduction

• The principles to effective team performance, team leadership, and team

participation, however, are virtually the same across all these kinds of teams.
• For example, empowered teams, autonomous work groups, semiautonomous
teams, self-managing teams, self-determining teams, crews, platoons, cross-
functional teams, top management teams, quality circles, project teams, task
forces, virtual teams, emergency response teams, and committees are all
examples of the various manifestations of teams and teamwork.
• Possessing the ability to lead and manage teams and teamwork, in other
words, has become a commonplace requirement in most organizations.
Introduction

• One reason for the escalation in the desirability of teamwork is that

increasing amounts of data show improvements in productivity, quality, and
morale when teams are utilized.
• A variety of factors can affect the performance and usefulness of teams.
Teams are not inherently effective just because they exist.
• Hackman (1993) identified a set of common inhibitors to effective team
performance, including rewarding and recognizing individuals instead of the
team, not maintaining stability of membership over time, not providing team
members with autonomy, not fostering interdependence among team
members, and failing to orient all team members.
Advantages of Teams
Advantages of Teams

• Diverse Perspectives:
• Innovation: Teams bring together individuals with varied backgrounds and experiences,
leading to more creative solutions and innovative ideas.
• Problem-Solving: Different viewpoints contribute to a more thorough analysis of
problems, enhancing the quality of decision-making.

• Enhanced Skill set:

• Complementary Skills: Team members often have different strengths and skills, which
can complement each other and lead to more effective execution of tasks.
• Learning Opportunities: Working in a team provides opportunities for members to learn
from each other and develop new skills.
Advantages of Teams

• Increased Productivity:
• Shared Workload: Teams can divide tasks according to members' strengths, leading to
more efficient completion of projects.
• Faster Problem Resolution: Collaborative efforts can resolve issues more quickly than
individuals working alone.

• Improved Morale and Motivation:

• Support System: Teams offer a support network where members can encourage and
motivate each other, which can boost overall morale.
• Sense of Belonging: Working in a team fosters a sense of belonging and can increase job
satisfaction and loyalty.
Advantages of Teams

• Enhanced Communication:
• Effective Collaboration: Regular interaction within a team promotes better
communication skills and helps to build trust among members.
• Feedback Mechanisms: Teams provide immediate feedback, which can improve
performance and decision-making.

• Broader Network Access:

• Expanded Contacts: Team members often bring their own professional networks, which
can be leveraged for additional resources, information, or support.
• Increased Influence: A well-connected team can access a wider range of stakeholders and
potential partners, enhancing overall influence.
Advantages of Teams

• Risk Sharing:
• Mitigated Risks: Teams can share the risks associated with projects, reducing the burden
on any single individual.
• Collective Decision-Making: Group decision-making can lead to more balanced risk
assessment and management.

• Better Negotiation Outcome:

• Strategic Leverage: Teams can offer a united front in negotiations, leveraging diverse
perspectives to strengthen their position.
• Comprehensive Strategy: Teams can develop more comprehensive negotiation strategies
by pooling their knowledge and expertise.
Attributes of High Performing Teams
Attributes of High Performing Teams

• Performance outcomes: High-performing teams do things. they produce

something; they don’t just discuss it. Without accomplishment, teams
dissolve and become ineffective over time.

• Specific, shared purpose and vision: The more specific the purpose, the more
commitment, trust, and coordination can occur. Individuals don’t work for
themselves; they work for one another in pursuit of the shared purpose. the
shared purpose can also be the same as a motivating vision of what the team
should achieve.
Attributes of High Performing Teams

• Mutual, internal accountability: The sense of internal accountability is far

greater than any accountability imposed by a boss or outsider. self-evaluation
and accountability characterize a high-performing team.

• Blurring of formal distinctions: Team members do whatever is needed to

contribute to the task, regardless of previous positions or titles. Team
membership and team roles are more predominant than outside status.

• Coordinated, shared work roles: Individuals always work in coordination

with others on the team. The desired output is a single group product, not a
set of individual products.
Attributes of High Performing Teams

• Inefficiency leading to efficiency: Because teams allow for lots of

participation and sharing, mutual influence about purpose, and blurring of
roles, they may initially be inefficient. As the team develops, because they
come to know one another so well and can anticipate each other’s moves,
they become much more efficient than single people working alone.

• Extraordinarily high quality: Teams produce outcomes above and beyond

current standards of performance. They surprise and delight their various
constituencies with quality levels not expected and never before obtained. An
intolerance of mediocrity exists, so standards of performance are very high.
Attributes of High Performing Teams

• Creative continuous improvement: Large-scale innovations as well as never-

ending small improvements characterize the team’s processes and activities.
Dissatisfaction with the status quo leads to a constant flow of new ideas,
experimentation, and a quest for progress.

• High credibility and trust: Team members trust one another implicitly,
defend members who are not present, and form interdependent relationships
with one another. Personal integrity and honesty characterize team activities
and team member interactions.
Attributes of High Performing Teams

• Clarity of core competence: The unique talents and strategic advantages of

the team and its members are clear. The ways in which these competencies
can be utilized to further the team’s objectives are well understood.
Extraneous activities and deflections from the team’s core mission are given
low priority.
Developing Credible Team
 Developing Credible Team

• To be an effective team leader, you must have the respect and commitment of
team members. That is, you must develop credibility.

• Giving directions, articulating goals, or trying to motivate team members are

all wasted efforts if you have not established credibility and respect.

• Once credibility has been established, then goals for the team can be
articulated and the team can move toward high performance.

• The seven behaviors are keys to building and maintaining credibility and
influence among team members.
 Developing Credible Team

• Demonstrate integrity: Integrity means that you do what you say, you behave
congruently with your values, and you are believable in what you espouse.
Individuals who appear to say one thing and do another, who are not honest in
their feedback, or who do not follow through with promises are perceived to lack
integrity and are ineffective as leaders of teams. (Walk the Talk)

• Be clear and consistent: Expressing certainty about what you want and where
you are going, without being dogmatic or stubborn, helps produce confidence on
the part of others. Being wishy-washy or inconsistent in your viewpoints inhibits
credibility. (Trustworthy and Transparent)
 Developing Credible Team
• Create positive energy: Stay optimistic and complimentary. Most teams do not perform
effectively when there is a climate of criticism, cynicism, or negativity. Individuals and
teams perform better when positive energy exists—optimism, compliments,
celebrations of success, and recognition of progress. This does not mean being
unrealistic or a “Pollyanna.” Instead, it means that when you are seen as a source of
positive energy and enthusiasm, you have more credibility and influence among team
members. (Help Other Flourish)

• Use commonality and reciprocity. If you express views that are held in common with
team members, they are more likely to agree with your later statements. If you want to
foster team change, or move the team toward an outcome that appears to be risky or
uncomfortable, begin by expressing views with which other team members agree. It can
be as simple as “I know you all have very busy schedules.” Or, “We have a lot of diversity
of opinion in our team on this issue.” (Build a Foundation)
 Developing Credible Team

• Manage agreement and disagreement: When team members initially agree with
you, it’s more effective if you use a one-sided argument. That is, present only one
point of view and support it with evidence. When team members tend to
disagree with you at the outset, use two-sided arguments. That is, first present
both sides of the case and then show how your own point of view is superior to
the contrary perspective. (Effective Influence Techniques)

• Encourage and coach. Encouragement means to help others develop courage—to

tackle uncertainty, to achieve beyond their current performance, to disrupt the
status quo. Coaching, means helping to show the way, providing information or
advice, and assisting team members with task requirements. Effective
encouragement and coaching involves giving positively reinforcing comments as
well as helpful advice or direction. (Mentoring and Tutoring)
 Developing Credible Team

• Share information: Building credibility means coming to understand the

perspectives of team members as well as a sense of their talents and resources.
Coming to know your team members well is crucial for successful leadership.
One way to do this is to use the principle of “frequent checking.” This merely
involves asking questions and checking with team members regularly to
determine levels of agreement, obstacles, dissatisfactions, needs, and
interpersonal or team issues. Importantly, credibility grows as knowledge is
shared. Being the source from which others can acquire needed information
builds credibility and influence.
Establish SMART and Everest Goal
 Establish SMART and Everest Goal

• Once team members have confidence in you as a leader, you can then identify
goals and levels of performance to which team members can aspire.

• The purpose for establishing clear goals is so that every person on the team can
give a similar answer to the question: What are we trying to achieve?

• Leaders who clearly articulate the desired outcomes for and with the team are
more likely to experience high performance from the team. Goal-directed
performance, in fact, always exceeds performance disassociated with goals.
Establish SMART and Everest Goal

Here is your task. Go do it

The average is 10 tasks per day, but you can shoot for 4.

Do your best.

The average is 10 tasks per day, but you

should shoot for 12
 Establish SMART and Everest Goal

• Difficult goals that possess five characteristics. The acronym SMART identifies
these attributes. SMART goals are:
❏ Specific—The goal is clear, and precise targetsand standards are identified.
❏ Measurable—The goal can be assessed and quantified. The extent to which the
goal hasbeen achieved is obvious.
❏ Aligned—The goal is supportive of and consistent with the goals of the broader
organization. People are not pursuing their own objectives independent of their
team.
❏ Realistic—While being difficult and causing performance to stretch, the goal is
not foolhardy or a fantasy.
❏ Time-bound—An end point is identified or a completion date established so that
goal achievementis not open-ended.
 Establish SMART and Everest Goal

• The second type of goal that effective team leaders articulate is called an Everest
goal. An Everest goal goes beyond normal goal setting. It represents an ultimate
achievement, an extraordinary accomplishment, or a beyond-the-norm
outcome.
• Achieving it requires everything one can give.
• Like setting your sights on getting to the summit of Mount Everest, an Everest
goal is clear and compelling, serves as a unifying focal point, builds team spirit,
engages people, and creates positive energy and excitement.

• An Everest goal is visionary, not just tactical or strategic, and it leaves people
better for having engaged in its pursuit.
 Establish SMART and Everest Goal

Five attributes characterize an Everest goals:

1. Everest goals represent positive deviance. They extend beyond expectations
and represent extraordinary achievement.

2. Everest goals represent inherent value and worth. They possess profound
meaning and purpose. Achieving the outcomes themselves are sufficient and
are not a means to obtain another end.

3. Everest goals possess an affirmative bias: They do not merely focus on solving
problems, reducing obstacles, overcoming challenges, or removing difficulties.
Rather, they focus on opportunities, possibilities, and potential.
 Establish SMART and Everest Goal

4. Everest goals represent a contribution. They focus on providing benefit to

others or making a contribution rather than merely receiving a reward or
recognition. Everest goals emphasize what individuals can give compared to
what they can get.

5. Everest goals are inherently energizing. They do not need another source of
motivation to pursue them. People are not exhausted by pursuing Everest
goals, but instead they are uplifted, elevated, and energized. Everest goals are
not the same as mere stretch goals or difficult goals. They extend beyond the
mere difficult.
 Establish SMART and Everest Goal

• Identifying such a goal, of course, is neither automatic nor easy. Such goals don’t
just roll off the tips of our tongues.
• Most people identify few of these in a lifetime. But articulating such a goal as a
leader of a team creates automatic passion, commitment, and positive energy.

• Examples of high performing companies that established Everest goals:

• Ford Motor Company’s goal to democratize the automobile (in the early 1900s);
• Boeing’s goal to bring the world into the jet-age (in the 1950s);
• Sony’s goal to change the image of poor quality in Japan (in 1960s);
• Apple’s goal for one person, one computer (in the 1980s).