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Performance Curve – Q&A

  • Posted on November 29, 2010 at 10:52 pm

Whenever you are trying to make something work, there is always a performance curve. That goes with life as well as with business. Checkout the questions below about performance curves in relation to teams.  

Questions Commonly Assumed Answers Wisdom of Teams Answer
What is a working group? Another label for people working together toward a common end. A group that can achieve its performance challenge entirely through
the combination of individual performances. No collective work products
or shared leadership is needed.
When does the single-leader or working group discipline perform
best?		 Two answers:1) Don’t know.2) When they are teams. The single-leader discipline is best when the sum of individual
contributions is sufficient to achieve the group’s purpose and when
speed or time is more critical than collective work. Excellent single
leaders make and syndicate their decisions, encourage their groups to
share information and best practices, and establish high standards and
expectations regarding individual performance.
When is the single-leader (or working group) discipline better than
the team discipline?		 Three answers are common:1) Never.2) Always.3) Don’t know. The single-leader discipline is preferable for performance goals
that can be met through the sum of individual contributions when the
leader really does “know best,” and when time is urgent. In such cases,
there is no performance-based need for collective work products, shared
leadership, or the real time integration of multiple skills,
experiences, or perspectives. At times, the single-leader discipline is
better if the downside risk of creating a pseudo-team is much greater
than the potential upside gain in performance.
Why is a “conscious choice” between the team discipline and the
single-leader (working group) discipline important?		 Teams waste time. In groups who have not mastered the team discipline, the choice to
use it will demand hard work, take more time, and run the risk of
failure. If performance can only be achieved in this way, then groups
should take the risk unless there is a significant downside possibility
of creating a pseudo-team. On the other hand, for many performance
challenges, the single-leader discipline is more familiar, efficient and
less risky.
Can a group apply both the single-leader and team disciplines? Don’t know. Yes – it can and it should. The choice between the team discipline
and the single-leader discipline depends entirely on the nature of the
performance challenge at hand. Groups should not choose to be either a
team or single-leader driven. They should choose which discipline is
most likely to help them achieve the goals at hand.
Why are pseudo-teams bad? They don’t get along. They waste time, frustrate members and pursue no performance result.
Pseudo-teams typically do a poor job of applying either team discipline
or the single-leader discipline. Consequently, they hinder and detract
from individual performance. They also discourage people (members and
sponsors) from trying the team approach again.
What should you do about a pseudo-team? The same thing as any other team that hasn’t “come together.” Do not tolerate them. Pseudo-teams are very destructive to people on
and around them. Insist that pseudo-teams use performance to make the
choice between the single-leader and team disciplines. If they persist
in failing to make and pursue choices, disband them as quickly as
possible.
How difficult is it for potential teams to become real teams? It’s easy if they focus on becoming a team and practice team like
behavior.		 It is very hard work because it involves risking constructive
conflict as well as mutual trust and interdependence. Perhaps counter
intuitively, these risks are best made by focusing on achieving the
performance challenge – not on trying to become a team.
What do you do when the potential team doesn’t have enough resources
or authority, or when management beyond the team is not supportive
enough?		 Two common answers:1) Ignore the situation.2) Get better communication between the team and management. If the problem is real, it needs to be addressed with reference to
the team’s performance challenge and with all the necessary people
(members and nonmembers) as part of the deliberation. Meanwhile, the team
needs to ask itself what it can approach within the constraints
it faces and how it can make progress against those possibilities.
Why is it difficult to create extra-ordinary teams
(“high-performance teams”) on purpose?		 Three answers are common:1) It’s hard to tell.2) It requires a rare kind of team leader.3) It depends on “chemistry.” The intense level of personal commitment to the team’s goals and
working approach as well as to each other’s personal success and growth
evident among people on truly extra-ordinary teams goes beyond something
that can be mandated or self-consciously created. As a result, the
“extra-ordinary” effort occurs because of a near insurmountable obstacle
unit must be overcome; such obstacles defeat most teams.
What exactly is an extra-ordinary team (“high-performance team”)? A team that works unusually well together. A team that outperforms all other like teams by an order or
magnitude and also outperforms all reasonable expectations given its
composition. It is identifiable by its results and by the individual
members’ commitment to one another, a commitment that transcends the
team situation.

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What Do You See In The Clouds?

  • Posted on November 28, 2010 at 11:18 pm

What do you see when you look up at the clouds? Does it just show you that it is going to rain? What is your perspective? Are you an optimist or a pessimist? What you see, could be what dictates how your day is going to be?!?

Check out Dan T. Cathy, President of Chic-Fil-A’s blog on The Miraculous and the Mundane. Think about what you see in the clouds.

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Positive Attitudes Under Any Circumstance

  • Posted on November 25, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Positive Attitude (comics)

You can have one all the time!

Sometimes we each need to take a moment and look at what is going on in our lives and around us. If we just stop and think, our attitude plays a large part in how we feel or even how we react. No, not everything always works out the way we think it should, but everything is a lesson learned! Check out these tips for having a positive attitude under any circumstance…

  • Focus on the future (rather than the past), with whatever challenge you face, including conflict. Instead of worrying about who did what and who is to blame, focus on where you want to be and what you want to do.
  • Focus on the solution whenever you’re faced with a difficulty. Do not waste your time and energy reflecting on the problem, whose fault it is or why it happened. As soon as you think in terms of solutions, you become a positive, proactive person.
  • Look for the good in things and the positive side of any situation.
  • Look for the valuable lessons in things; if something goes wrong, or you make a mistake, what can you learn from it?

All too often, we don’t realize that our attitude affects those around us and we chose what kind of attitude we are going to have, not let the situation govern our mood. Take a minute this week to ponder what you can do to put forward a positive attitude in all situations you encounter.

Related Articles

A Positive Attitude Reflects in Others (mindbodyfitness.suite101.com)
The Benefits of a Positive Attitude – and Five Tactics for Doing It
(thesimpledollar.com) Learn to Love Your Job (lifescript.com)

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General Questions About Teams

  • Posted on November 25, 2010 at 7:45 pm

 Regardless of your position as a top manager, middle manager, or front-line workers, I am sure you have some questions about teams and how they they can be used, why to use them, and  how to make them work. Here is a list of common questions about teams.

General Questions Commonly Assumed Answer Wisdom of Teams Answer
When should you use teams? Whenever you need to empower people or need to get things done
across “silos” or functions.		 Whenever a specific performance objectives requires collective work,
shared leadership and real time integration of multiple skills,
perspectives, or experiences, the team discipline makes sense.
What is the alternative to using a team? Individuals or “champions.” The single-leader discipline of traditional working groups. If a
specific performance goal can be achieved through the sum of individual
responsibilities and contributions, then the single-leader/working group
discipline can get the job done.
What is the most important determinant of team performance? The team leader. A specific performance challenge and goal that is clear and
compelling to all team members is the greatest motivator. For a goal to
be clear and specific, it must be “outcome-based” (“Reduce average
customer wait time by 50% in the next six weeks”) instead of
“activity-based” (“Send all customer service representatives to team
training”).
Aren’t teams always based on “trust” – and if so, how do you
establish trust?		 Yes, and you can establish it by encouraging and talking about it -
or by pursuing team-building exercises.		 Yes, but you establish it by working together and achieving real
results. Awareness-building exercises and/or admonishments, while
important, seldom produce lasting trust. Go for small and big wins -
together!
What is the best way to make multiple team efforts work? Start lots of teams and encourage empowerment, involvement, and
participation.		 The key is getting real teams in the right places. Start with a few,
critical performance challenges that demand the team discipline and make
sure the groups tackling them become real teams. At the same time,
design, test, and install infrastructure and support systems that
require and help groups and their leaders identify and apply both the
team discipline and the single leader discipline as their respective
specific performance goals dictate. Pay attention to staffing by
building in flexible and fast approaches to finding the right technical
and functional people for the right challenges. Avoid futile attempts to
re-engineer compensation systems that are fundamentally and structurally
oriented toward individual performance alone.
How can we get started exploiting team performance if our company
has only an average performance ethic?		 Urge everyone to pursue teamwork and empower teams. Identify the few (four to six) key places in the organization where
team performance will have the greatest impact. Work with two or three
of these to be sure the “basics” produce real team performance, and use
these as models to expand the effort.
Can management prescribe the team’s purpose and goals? Not without eroding or destroying its commitment. Yes, as long as management’s prescriptions leave enough “solution
space” for the team regarding the time, the resources, the subgoals, the
skills, etc., needed to develop the level of mutual commitment to get
the job done.
Are many teams better than few? Yes. Not always. It depends on the performance challenges groups face. A
few real teams in the right places are worth more than dozens of pseudo-
or potential teams. Even better are a few groups who have truly mastered
how to use both the team discipline and the single-leader discipline as
performance dictates.
What is the role of the “coach” in business teams? The facilitator and/or the supervisor is similar to the coach of
sports teams.		 In business terms, coaching is most often done best by full-time
members of the team, including, but not limited to, team leaders.
What is the role of or need for a facilitator? The facilitator plays an important role in most teams. Outside facilitators can help potential teams get started and
“stuck” teams get back on track, especially when the facilitator brings
a performance focus and mastery of the basics of the team discipline.
Most of the time, however, individual members facilitate better than
outsiders because they are committed to the performance required.
Don’t teams require a lot of formal training? Yes. Not usually. Formal training can help teams get started by raising
awareness of team basics, especially when an organization wants to get a
large number of potential teams up and running. Beyond that, however,
on-the-job training and support tailored to the specific performance
challenges and skill needs of the individual teams are far more
productive.
Why do teams matter? Many of today’s challenges require people to pull together through
teamwork across functional and other organizational barriers and
“silos.”		 The team discipline has been and will continue to be essential to
such challenges as customer service, quality, innovation, re-engineering,
and strategic alliances. Looking ahead, teams will increasingly
determine the winners from the lowers in eCommerce and the globalizing
economy.
Isn’t teamwork as good as a team? Yes. Certainly, good teamwork behavior such as constructive listening and
giving the benefit of the doubt to others helps. But it is not as
powerful as a tam of people who agree upon a specific performance goal
and hold themselves mutually accountable for achieving it.

 Stay tuned for the next series of questions: Team Basics!

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Team Basics – Q&A

  • Posted on November 23, 2010 at 10:23 pm

 Now, pay attention. Here are some questions I am sure you have been asking. Some of these answers might help you to get to where you want your organization to be!

Questions about Team Basics Commonly Assumed Answer Wisdom of Teams Answer
What do you do about members who are not “compatible” personalities? Counsel them or put through a team-building session. If that doesn’t
work, replace them immediately.		 Give them the chance and time to work it out in a performance
context. This requires openly acknowledging the problem, which often
can be done through counseling, facilitation, or team building. But
don’t stop there. Insist on the team using specific work products and
performance gains as the best vehicle for getting seemingly incompatible
personalities to work together effectively. When this is done people may
not “like” one another any better, but they do respect each other and
their mutual ability to perform.
What do you do about members who do not become committed? Counsel them or put them through a team-building session. If that
doesn’t work, replace them immediately.		 Commitment takes time to develop. Revisit team basics as a group
(particularly the emotional importance of the purpose). If this doesn’t
work, you might replace the uncommitted member(s), or you can also “work
around” uncommitted members if replacement is not possible and the
remaining “real team” members have all the skills/skill potential to get
the job done.
What do you do about key skill gaps? There are two common answers:1) Always insist on the right skills
and skill levels before the team gets started.(2) Don’t worry about skills so long as all functions, departments,
divisions, etc., are represented.		 We never met a team that had all the needed skills at the beginning.
But we also never saw a team perform before it developed the necessary
skills to do so. Therefore, continually assess the potential
skills – if the potential does not exist, you must add or replace
members. But it usually warrants taking the time to “test” skill
potential. If it exists, it will develop with the right “working
approach.”
What do you really mean by “working approach?” Clear individual roles and responsibilities. A working approach is a set of rules and commitments plus roles and
responsibilities by which the team optimizes its individual and
collective skills to achieve its purpose and goals.
What are some examples of collective rules and commitments? Scheduled meetings and clear agendas. Such rules and commitments including things like showing up to
meetings on time, everyone doing real work, and treating facts as
“friendly.” Roles and responsibilities include collective work
assignments and work products as well as individual work assignments and
products.
Can members become equally committed if they do not spend equal
amounts of time?		 Not usually. Yes. So long as all members do real work beyond attending “discuss,
decide, and delegate” meetings, the relative amount of time spent is
less critical. The key is that each member be perceived by the others as
“pulling their own weight.” Usually, such contributions do require
significant (but not equal) time commitments.
What do you really mean by mutual accountability? How does it differ
from individual accountability?		 It replaces individual accountability and everybody is “held
responsible by the boss” for the team’s results.		 Team performance requires both individual accountability
and mutual accountability. The members hold themselves
accountable for their individual contributions, for their mutual,
collective contributions, and for whether the team achieves its purpose
and goals. In teams where mutual accountability exists, there is a
strong sense that only the team can succeed or fail.
Does team accountability work only with respect to “measurable”
results?		 Yes. No, if “measurable” means only quantitative accuracy. But, the
answer is “yes” with regard to assessing progress against the team’s
purpose and goals. Some goals, particularly respecting new, unfamiliar
challenges, may demand qualitative yardsticks such as “customer delight”
or “trust-based relationships.” Teams always figure out how to set goals
and evaluate progress against those goals, even if only through applying
qualitative judgments.
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The First Step to Team Success

  • Posted on November 22, 2010 at 10:44 pm

The first and most important step for creating effective teams is having a team charter. A team charter is the process by which the team is formed, its mission or task described, its resources allocated, its goals set, its membership committed, and its plans made.

Elements of an Effective Charter
There’s a fairly simple logic to building a team charter. Ask yourself questions about all the various conditions, resources, attitudes, and behaviors that will be required in order for the team to accomplish its goals – and answer them. Here’s a list of some of the most important questions:

  1. What is the purpose for creating the team? Research on team effectiveness concludes that the most important contributing factor is a clear and elevating goal. Further, the relationship between goal setting and task performance is probably the most robust finding in research literature of the behavioral sciences. The more completely the purpose of the team can be identified, the more likely management, team members, and the rest of the organization will support it in accomplishing its objectives.
  2. What kind of team is needed?One mistake people often make is thinking that a team is just a team. There are different kinds of teams for different kinds of goals. Is the team meant to accomplish a task, manage or improve a process, come up with a new product idea or design, solve a problem, or make a decision?
  3. Will the team be manager led or self-managed? Who, if anyone, is in charge? That will depend on the task and the maturity of the members. If it is self-managed or leaderless, who will be responsible for facilitating the team’s progress toward its goal?
  4. What skills are needed to accomplish the goal?An inventory of critical knowledge and expertise should be undertaken. It is essential those teams have as members, or have access to others who can be ad hoc resources, and who can supply the necessary competence to achieve the objectives.
  5. How will members be selected? This is more difficult than it might seem. Often there are internal political, deployment, or logistical barriers. We want the right balance of thinkers and doers. We want people who will follow through. We want to use known resources but develop new competence in the organization. We want enough diversity of opinion to get all the “cards on the table” without creating unnecessary conflict. How will the personalities of the various players fit? Can the company afford to have them take time away from other priorities? Bad choices here can doom the results.
  6. What resources will be necessary to achieve the objectives?Is management willing to devote the time as well s the financial, human and intellectual capital necessary to get the job done? Counting the costs and deciding that it is worth those costs is crucial. In self-managed or leaderless teams, these are questions that need to be answered by team members both individually and collectively. Are they willing to commit their time, talents, and effort to that goal to the extent necessary?
  7. What are the boundaries? Management needs to identify the parameters within which the tea is expected to operate. How much time will the team be given? How often are the members expected to meet? What is the scope of their concern? (It’s sometimes useful when creating process improvement teams to identify change recommendations that are off-limits. For example, it is common for teams to come back with a recommendation that more staff is the solution. By limiting such recommendations, at least at first, the team is forced to look for solutions that deal more with the process.)
  8. What process will the team use to get results? Once the team has been formed and the members selected, management – and especially the team itself – must determine how it will go about getting the job done. This is the “ground rule” phase and involves deliberately taking charge of the “norming” process. When and where will the team meet? How will it meet (face-to-face or some kind of virtual arrangement)? What maintenance roles will the members agree are important and how will they assign those? How will the members communicate with one another? What happens if a member can’t be at a meeting but has an assignment due? What are expectations regarding participation in meetings?
  9. How will we secure equal commitment?A frank discussion about the level of commitment members are willing to give is key to achieving success. Do they share an equal view as to the importance of the goal? Are they personally willing to expand the effort necessary to get the desired result? What circumstances might limit their ability to perform up to the expectation of others? Getting all this out on the table early on can avoid conflicts down the road.
  10. How will we plan for conflict? The best way to minimize the amount of unproductive conflict is to conduct a frank discussion about potential discord. Two of the most common examples of conflict in teams result when members don’t pull their weight and follow through on assignments and commitments, or when one or more members try to over-control and dominate the group. By identifying these and other potential conflicts and agreeing beforehand how members will deal with them, a team can minimize the disruption to goal achievement. In essence, you’re giving one another permission to do the kind of confrontation that is necessary to get past the conflicts.
  11. What will we do to get the job done?  The Project Plan: Early on, there’s a need to analyze the task, break down tasks, establish the timeline, make and accept assignments, and get started. Usually, we make this the first step but it’s really the final step of the “chartering” process.
  12. How will we evaluate our success and learn from the process? How will we know what mid-course corrections need to be made to the process or plan? How will we measure our progress? What can we do to learn from this experience about how not only to make this team better, but future teams: both those we serve on individually and teams the company forms. By planning how and when the team will reflect on the process they are going or have gone through, the individuals, team, and larger organization benefit.

There is a direct proportional relationship between the amount of time and intellectual effort we spend chartering our teams and the likelihood those teams will achieve their goals. Going about this process in a conscious, reflective manner often is the deciding factor in achieving optimal results.

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Forming A Team with the Five-Stage Model

  • Posted on November 20, 2010 at 11:32 pm

From the mid-1960s, it was believed that groups passed through a standard sequence of five stages. These five stages have been labeled forming, storming norming, performing, and adjourning.

The first stage, forming, is characterized by a great deal of uncertainty about the group’s purpose, structure, and leadership. Members are “testing the waters” to determine what types of behavior are acceptable. This stage is complete when members have begun to think of themselves as part of a group.

The stormingstage is one of intragroup conflict. Members accept the existence of the group, but there is resistance to the constraints that the group imposes on individuality. Further, there is conflict over who will control the group. When this stage is complete, there will be a relatively clear hierarchy of leadership within the group.

The third stage is one in which close relationships develop and the group demonstrates cohesiveness. There is now a strong sense of group identity and camaraderie. This norming stage is complete when the group structure solidifies and the group has assimilated a common set of expectations of what defines correct member behavior.

The fourth stage is performing. The structure at this point is fully functional and accepted. Group energy has moved from getting to know and understand each other to performing the task at hand.

For permanent work groups, performing is the last stage in their development. However, for temporary committees, task forces, teams, and similar groups that have a limited task to perform, there is an adjourning stage. In this stage, the group prepares for its disbandment. High risk performance is no longer the group’s top priority. Instead, attention is directed toward wrapping up activities. Responses of group members vary in this stage. Some are upbeat, basking in the group’s accomplishments. Others may be depressed over the loss of camaraderie and friendships gained during the work group’s life.

Most interpreters of the five-stage model have assumed that a group becomes more effective as it progresses through the first four stages. While this assumption may be generally true, what makes a group effective is more complex than this model acknowledges. Under some conditions, high levels of conflict are conducive to high group performance. So we might expect to find situations where groups in Stage II outperform those in Stages III or IV. Similarly, groups do not always proceed clearly from one stage to the next. Sometimes, in fact, several stages go on simultaneously, as when groups are storming and performing at the same time. Groups even occasionally regress to previous stages. Therefore, even the strongest proponents of this model do not assume that all groups follow its five-stage process precisely or that Stage IV is always the most preferable.

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What is a Team?

  • Posted on November 19, 2010 at 11:01 pm

Beginning today, we are going to be exhibiting a series of blogs about Teams, Tools for Teams, and how to create high performance teams for your organization.

Definition: 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.

There are many people who do not like to work in teams, as well as those who believe the team environment is definitely the way to go. Honestly, if you want to diversify your business, teams are the way to go. Imagine all of the extensive ideas that you can get from a team that you do not have access to as an individual. It is absolutely amazing what can be accomplished.

Lessons learned about teams and team performance:

  • Significant performance challenges energize teams regardless of where they are in an organization.
  • Organizational leaders can foster team performance best by building a strong performance ethic rather than by establishing a team-promoting envirnoment alone.
  • Biases toward individualism exist but need not get i nthe way of team performance.
  • Discipline – both within the team and across the organization – creates the conditions for team performance.

Team Resistance 

For those who have a resistance to working in teams, some of their reasons are:

  • Lack of conviction
  • Personal discomfort and risks
  • Weak organizational performance ethics

Complementary Team Skills

Did you know that there are complimentary skills that successful teams possess? Those would be:

  • Technical or functional expertise
  • Problem-solving and decision-making skills
  • Interpersonal skills

So, top producing teams are committed to a common purpose and performance goals!

  1. A common, meaningful purpose sets the tone and aspiration.
  2. Specific performance goals are an integral part of the purpose.
  3. The combination is essential to performance. A team’s purpose and specific performance goals have a symbiotic relationship; each depends on the other to stay relevant and vital.

Stay tuned for the checklist for teams so they can make sure they have necessary components for a top-notch team! Don’t forget, you can subscribe to Virtually Efficient so you won’t miss any of our posts.

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Mentorship Principles

  • Posted on November 17, 2010 at 9:18 pm

Are you a mentor to someone else? Are you looking for a mentor? Well, either way, check out these mentorship principles that might help you make a difference in someone’s life.

  1. A boss who is just a “boss” sees each employee as one more cog in his machine. A mentor-minded boss, however is looking for signs of specialness that he or she can somehow work with and develop.
  2. A mentor has a vision of the employee that goes far beyond what she’s going to do for him by Friday. He sees the future, and systematically grooms the employee to be ready for major responsibilities that may be four, five, even ten years down the road.
  3. A mentor gives that special employee an inside view of what really goes on and how it gets done, of what really matters, and what can be safely ignored altogether. Most important, he manages to repeatedly “think out loud” in the employee’s presence.
  4. A mentor gives honest career advice when it’s needed. Equally important, the employee must have enough faith in his or her mentor to take that advice. Otherwise, the mentorship relationship may curl up and die.
  5. A mentor lets it generally be known, that the special employee is a person with excellent potential – a person who is not to be trifled with.
  6. When the employee “lets his little star shine,” the mentor puts it on top of a large tree. And he knows the credit will reflect back on him as much as it does on the employee.

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