Chapter 3

Implementing Performance Management

By – Sheetal Wagh

Sub Topic: High Performance Teams

Concept of High Performance Teams Its Characteristics Creating High Performance Teams Process of creating High Performance Teams Importance of High Performance teams

Concept of High Performance Teams

A high performing team is a group of people who share a common vision, goals, metrics and who collaborate, challenge and hold each other accountable to achieve outstanding results.

You know a high performing team because the members:

Have a clear and vision of where they are headed and what they want to accomplish.

Members of High- Performance teams:

Demonstrate a blend of professional expertise and personal creditability

Hold themselves and each other accountable for the broader impact of their actions, forgoing “turf wars”

Are skillful, candid communicators, balancing advocacy with openness to other’s ideas

Characteristics of High-Performance Teams

People have solid and deep trust in each other and in the team's purpose -- they feel free to express feelings and ideas.

Everybody is working toward the same goals.

Team members are clear on how to work together and how to accomplish tasks.

Everyone understands both team and individual performance goals and knows what is expected.

Team members actively diffuse tension and friction in a relaxed and informal atmosphere.

The team engages in extensive discussion, and everyone gets a chance to contribute -- even the introverts.

Disagreement is viewed as a good thing and conflicts are managed. Criticism is constructive and is oriented toward problem solving and removing obstacles.

The team makes decisions when there is natural agreement -- in the cases where agreement is elusive, a decision is made by the team lead or executive sponsor, after which little second-guessing occurs

Each team member carriers his or her weight and respects the team processes and other members

Creating High Performance Teams

1. People need to feel safe in the workplace.

Of course, people need to know that they're physically safe. But they also need to know that they are emotionally and psychologically safe.

A winning culture must include an environment where people know that they will not be attacked emotionally, and they need to know that they can openly and safely share ideas.

2. People need to feel that they belong to something that matters.

As humans, we naturally seek out something bigger than ourselves to belong to. We can help fulfill this deep, human need by creating a workplace where people are inspired by the work we do, and can see how their work is tied to the big picture.

Knowing how important this sense of belongingness is, when taking on new team members, we should also pay close attention to whether or not a person would be a good fit for our culture. If a person doesn't feel that they fit in, they could quickly become disengaged.

3. People need to be appreciated frequently and authentically.

People need to be appreciated for the tasks they accomplish, for their ability to display emotional mastery, and for their ideas.

Leaders of the most successful teams create a culture of catching people doing well in all three of these areas and they make it a point to offer some type of specific, genuine praise at least once every 7-10 days, like, "John, I really appreciate the way you handled the situation yesterday with the ABC client. It would have been easy to get frustrated, but you stayed cool and positive. I'm glad you're on the team."

We can take the power of appreciation to the next level by making sure that we have a conversation at some point with each team member to find out how they like to receive appreciation. One person may like public recognition. Another may prefer a simple written thank you.

4. Appreciation needs to be combined with accountability.

Talented people don't want to be on a mediocre team. Appreciation is vital for creating a culture of excellence, but so is accountability.

Every member on a team needs to have clear expectations set forth and know who is accountable for what. Winning teams create a sense of mutual accountability, and have systems in place to regularly measure progress towards goals and determine what the team can do to ensure goals are met.

5. Goals need to binary.

Ambiguity will result in mediocrity.

High performing teams set very specific, binary goals. A binary goal is either achieved, or it isn't. There is no ambiguity or subjectivity.

In addition to making expectations more clear, binary goals also reduce personal conflicts. Instead of having conversations like, "I don't think you did as well on this as you could have," which is open for debate, the conversation is simply, "Sales were not improved by the goal of 5% this quarter. What do we need to do to hit the goal next time?"

Process of creating High Performance Teams

Focus on Collective Performance

Build Collaboration out of conflict

Keep the team focused and informed on its goals

Create a positive culture

Empower the team

Model own values

Take a periodic timeout

Importance of High Performance Teams

Drives Innovation and thought

Action-oriented

Influences change

Establishes Collaborative relationships

Sustains Interdependence and Inclusion

Drives innovation and thought: A high performance team looks beyond the present mental model and challenges the status quo. Its motto is to create future, not to react to it

Action-oriented: High performance teams and their members systematically try new approaches to find out how to move forward, and they take actions that produce results

Influences change: They think ahead of curve and are quick to seize new opportunities

Establishes Collaborative Relationships: They actively cultivate a network of contacts at all levels in its organization, in customers or client companies, as well as professional and industry organizations

Sustains Interdependence and Inclusion: They do this by attempting barriers that hold back less powerful participants from expressing their thoughts and feelings

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