AditNW White Paper

7 Aspects of High Performing Technical Teams revision A, August 2016

Develop Technical Teams towards an Ideal Vision based on

these Seven Attributes The very best technical teams are always integral parts of their business ecosystem. Most companies tolerate less than ideal technical teams that are frequently isolated, uninspired, cynical, viewed as arrogant and all too often seem to deliver less than desired in a consistently late manner. Technical team leaders realize the best results when their team culture, work environment, motivation and expectations are intentionally designed to foster the innovation, problem solving, support and technical excellence expected. Creating a team is always a unique task but AditNW has found the following seven attributes common to all high performing technical teams. This is a good starting point when creating a plan to develop a technical team:

1. Guided by Vision and Mission 2. Cross Functionally Engaged 3. Understand the Value Equation 4. Use Simple Processes to be Efficient and Effective 5. Passionate and Technically Excellent 6. Self-Managed to the Highest Standards 7. Led by Servant Leaders

Developing leaders and teams towards these seven attributes drives higher performance and increasingly quantifiable benefit to the business.

Developing Teams and Leaders Elaborating on the list, technical teams should align their team member, leader and team development towards achieving a team that is:

1. Guided by Vision and Mission – technical team has a vision and mission that fully supports the business vision and mission. Team was involved in creating the vision and mission, is bought in and understands what they do and why.

2. Cross Functionally Engaged – team knows and respects their internal customers, views their role as supporting those internal customers and works to build an ongoing positive relationship with those customers. Actively work to develop relationships and communications skills.

3. Understand the Value Equation – team knows where the business makes

money, the external customers who pay the bills and spends time understanding how to support them. Education is provided for all team members around business finance and how the customers’ businesses operate.

4. Use Simple Processes to be Efficient and Effective – Simple, visual systems

are used to leverage experience, drive efficiency and avoid common mistakes but are balanced to allow innovation, creativity and personal expression. Waste is pursued and eliminated. Bureaucracy is considered an especially insidious waste. Team is taught techniques for simple, visual processes and held accountable to use them.

5. Passionate and Technically Excellent – technical team loves what they do and the product or service they deliver. There is an intentional effort to build a culture of technical excellence and pride with emphasis on continuous learning. The technical team’s culture is typically unique but not counterproductive.

6. Self-Managed to the Highest Standards – Team consistently holds

themselves to higher standards than anyone else ever would. They have reasonable flexibility to manage their own workspaces and work schedules. They are driven to deliver on target and on time.

7. Led by Servant Leaders who see their role as helping the team deliver results (they are more chauffer than sheriff) yet hold the team accountable.

Developing a High Performing Team These are high expectations for any team and not something that occurs in a day. The team attributes that lead to high performance must be intentionally developed and maintained yet few technical leaders are naturally equipped to fully develop teams to the highest levels without help.

At AditNW we have found it takes 12-24 months of development to transform a typical technical team to this level of attitude, culture and performance. Improvement is realized in the first few months with increasing performance throughout the development process. Transforming the culture typically proceeds in the following manner:

A. Assess the team using the seven attributes as a guide B. Set up coaching, mentoring and education for leaders and team members C. Involve the team to develop a Vision and Mission D. Implement individual, team and leadership development through education,

coaching and mentoring E. Review systems for bureaucracy, waste and gaps. Replace with simple, visual

systems. F. Actively develop skills that drive new levels of positive relationships with other

teams within the organization. Expect the technical team to be engaged members of the business ecosystem.

G. Stick with it, be supportive yet expect excellence AditNW specializes in allying with you to develop high performing technical teams who exhibit these attributes. Contact us today and let’s discuss how to make your technical team a full business competitive advantage highly valued by their internal and your external customers.

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AditNW is your resource for building industry-leading technical, engineering, programming and scientific teams. We offer online courses, customized individual training and mentoring, team training, leader

coaching, plus a host of new business development and process tools.

Learn more at www.AditNW.com

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