Posts Tagged ‘team effectiveness’

When teams get to performing there is no doubting the value and benefit that they bring.  Sometimes however, teams just do not work effectively.  So what stops teams from working effectively?

 

Fuzzy goals or objectives

 

If a team does not know with absolute clarity what it is to deliver, chances are that at best it will deliver something of little value or at worst nothing at all.  Don’t compromise the ability of the team by leaving it to try and finger out what it is to deliver.  Make it crystal clear.

 

Roles are not defined

 

Just imagine a scenario.  Something has not gone as expected and everyone is saying that they thought that someone else was doing the task that was so critical.  When riles are not defined things fall down a track and when things fall down a crack no one wins.  Get clear on who is doing what.

 

Bad decision making

 

Taking decisions as a team is different to taking decisions individually.  It requires team members to rely on each other, a concept that might be alien.  One thing is certain you will get some decisions wrong.  The key is to aim to get a clear decision making process on the team that everyone understands.

 

Policies and procedures that are past their sell by date

 

Organisations, especially big organisations need to have some boundaries and protocols which are typically set out in policies and procedures.  Trouble is these policies and procedures can easily become onerous our out of touch with current practice.  Make sure that policies and procedures are still relevant.

 

People don’t interact with each other appropriately

 

We all based on our experiences, background, professional disciplines have different preferences.  Trouble is people often forget this and fail to adapt their style to move closer to the people they are interacting with.  Make a point of thinking about the other person’s preferences when interacting.

 

Bottom Line- Teams when working well together have the potential to deliver great results.  So what’s getting in the way of successful team working in your organisation?

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professionals improve their leadership and management skills and improve team working.  Click here for more information.

Put the same problem in front of 10 different groups in any organisation and they will all view it differently.  We all, to a greater or lesser extent view things through our own unique lens or perspective.

Let’s look at something that is probably quite topical in organisations right now, which is cost reduction.  One area of commonality is that every individual or group will be thinking what does it me for me or us. 

On the other hand if you asked people for their views on how others might view the issue, you might hear something like the following:

“The accountants will be in their element and finally feel like they are doing something useful”

“At last an opportunity to reign in those rogues in sales and marketing who never pay attention to any financial procedures”

“The CEO is only interested in engaging us to save his or her own skin”

“I hope that they don’t expect us to contribute as we are already cut to the bone in terms of staffing”

“No doubt it will be the lowest paid and least respected that will get a rough deal”

So if you are the leader who is trying to move things forward, how can you utilise these different perspectives?

Listen a lot

The real challenge is to get to the heart of the issue and that requires you to listen.  You often find that what they are presenting as the surface level problem is not the real issue.

Ask questions

Questions are another great way of really understanding the different perspectives.  Combine this with great listening and you are going to be well ahead of most.

Stand back from the detail

It is all too easy when times are tough and difficult choices need to be made to unconsciously become a collaborator.  While you need to listen and understand, don’t let it result in you losing sight of the issue or challenge.

Be open

In organisations, it is often the people closest to the point of delivery that come up with the best solutions.  Be open to these opportunities rather than needing to be right.

Bottom Line – We all to a greater or lesser extent view challenges through one lens. The challenge to be more successful when it comes to team effectiveness is learning to understand and utilise the different perspectives.

Teams are a collection of individuals with complimentary skills who are seeking to achieve a specific result or results.  It might be to reduce wastage, improve throughput, increase sales or better determine project costs to name just a few.  Effective teamwork relies in the conditions being created that facilitate effective teamwork.  So what areas require attention?

Clear purpose

The first condition for effective teamwork is to get the purpose clear.  If you don’t know what the purpose of the teams work is, how will you know if it is achieved?  A good question to ask is what do we want this team to achieve?  The greater the clarity you get on this the easier it will be for the team to focus on the right thing.  Another way of getting to your purpose is to consider what will be different when the team has completed its work.

Right people

No team will ever be effective unless it has the right people with the right skills on it.  Team selection is challenging but important.  As well as people having knowledge of their own area, they need to have the right attributes to build trust, rapport and relationships with others.

Dependency

For a team to exist and achieve there needs to be dependency.  By dependency, I mean that the performance of one part of the organisation needs to be dependent on one or more other areas to achieve results.  For example, an organisation might decide that it wants to cut energy costs by 5% and set up a team to achieve it.  The Finance Director might well be the person reporting back but will be dependent on areas like purchasing, estates management and a management accountant to achieve that outcome.

Team accountability

For effective teamwork, team members need to be committed to delivering on their piece of the jigsaw.  In addition, there needs to be accountability to the team and the team results.  This is radically different to the norm which places huge emphasis on individual accountability and takes time to develop.

Diversity

One of the real advantages of teams is that there is access to a greater range of skills, experience, knowledge and personal attributes than there would be in one individual.   This diversity is what in many ways makes teamwork so powerful.  Exploiting the benefits of this diversity does not happen overnight.  It takes teams time to build up that trust and it is important to allow the time for that to be created rather than trying to force the pace.

In building a physical object, strong foundations need to be created if it is to be a success.  Teams are no different.  Their success depends on creating the conditions for effective teamwork. So what do you need to do to improve team effectiveness?

Effective teams are capable of delivering exceptional results.  So what are my 6 top tips for making teams more effective?

 

Tip 1:  Focus on performance

Give the team a real performance challenge to address rather than setting up a committee to talk about an issue.

 

Tip 2:  Give them a clear purpose

Avoid being vague about the purpose.  Be crystal clear on what the purpose is.  If it is to reduce the cycle time by two hours on a process make it clear that this is what the purpose is.

 

Tip 3:  Get the right skills

You are setting up a team to fail if you don’t ensure it has the right mix and blend of skills in the team.

 

Tip 4:  Support in addressing skill deficiencies

If you are the team leader, make sure you address skill deficiencies rather than let them be a barrier.

 

Tip 5: Create conditions for effective teamwork

You need to ensure that the team is truly dependent on each other to deliver and that the performance and reward structures are geared towards team rather than individual performance.

 

Teams have the potential to deliver exceptional performance.  What else would you add to the list of tips to make teams more effective?