{"id":13,"date":"2016-12-23T12:42:36","date_gmt":"2016-12-23T12:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boulden.net\/blog\/?p=13"},"modified":"2023-08-30T15:29:30","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T14:29:30","slug":"resolving-problems-with-high-performance-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boulden.net\/blog\/resolving-problems-with-high-performance-teams\/","title":{"rendered":"Resolving Problems with High Performance Teams"},"content":{"rendered":"<h6>\u201cBy union the smallest states thrive. By discord the greatest are destroyed.\u201d Sallust<\/h6>\n<figure class=\"alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-122\" src=\"https:\/\/www.boulden.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/problems-with-hpteams-698.jpg\" alt=\"High performance teams\" width=\"698\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.boulden.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/problems-with-hpteams-698.jpg 698w, https:\/\/www.boulden.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/problems-with-hpteams-698-300x172.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 698px) 100vw, 698px\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>High Performance Teams (HPT\u2019s) can generate superior results because of the levels of creativity and collaboration they generate, but they are not easy things to build or maintain.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"personal-wins-and-team-losses\"><a class=\"anchor\" href=\"#personal-wins-and-team-losses\"><i class=\"fa fa-link\"><\/i><\/a>Personal wins and team losses<\/h2>\n<p>For a group of people to perform as a cohesive team, they must:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Have a clear goal (and a real desire to achieve that goal)<\/li>\n<li>Appreciate what the respective roles of the team members are<\/li>\n<li>Possess a level of trust in one another, based on \u2018buying into\u2019 certain norms for how to work together e.g. how information should be shared<\/li>\n<li>Be competent (i.e. each person must have the \u2018skills set\u2019 needed to be able to contribute to the work of the team)t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In many organisations, however, there is a focus on individual reward systems (e.g. personal goals in the annual appraisal) that not only fail to support team wins but actively encourage acting against the \u2018greater good\u2019 in favour of individual successes. Hence there is a conflict between holding an individual to account, and getting the best team performance.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly it is common for individually motivated senior leaders in an organisation to set the tone that their people will follow, i.e. recognition comes from individual merit and individual achievement not collaboration.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"culture-clashes-and-personal-conflicts\"><a class=\"anchor\" href=\"#culture-clashes-and-personal-conflicts\"><i class=\"fa fa-link\"><\/i><\/a>Culture clashes and personal conflicts<\/h2>\n<p>Conflict within groups is to be expected as different personality types or different views on priorities cause tension between people. Also top performers are typically very competitive and that competition also applies to relationships inside, as well as outside the team. HPT\u2019s find ways to manage these tensions creatively and constructively e.g. by accepting conflict as a way of testing ideas and concepts. However very often team conflict is ignored, unacknowledged or suppressed; resulting in lack of information sharing and poor coordination of efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Lindred Greer of Stanford University describes four types of conflict that commonly occur within teams&#8230;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Task Conflict<\/strong> \u2013 what the goals should be, e.g. should we pursue option X or option Y. This is often the most useful type of conflict as it can help to clarify the issues and expose \u2018problem areas\u2019<\/li>\n<li><strong>Process Conflict<\/strong> \u2013 about how the team will work together, e.g. when to meet, what the roles should be etc.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Relationship Conflict<\/strong> \u2013 personality clashes, lack of chemistry<\/li>\n<li><strong>Status Conflict<\/strong> \u2013 about each person\u2019s place in the hierarchy, or level of authority (this type of conflict is often difficult to address because people typically don\u2019t declare their issues openly, but more often than not use a \u2018process complaint\u2019 as a surrogate for what is really concerning them e.g. they don\u2019t feel they are getting the level of respect they deserve so they argue about where to meet.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>These effects can be compounded by cultural differences and by the extra strain generated by remote or virtual team working. Left unaddressed they can cause high levels of stress, poor performance and even lead to the team dissolving.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"defusing-conflicts\"><a class=\"anchor\" href=\"#defusing-conflicts\"><i class=\"fa fa-link\"><\/i><\/a>Defusing conflicts<\/h2>\n<p>The warning signs for problems within an HPT, aside from the obvious of the work not getting done, include strong displays of negative emotions (as opposed to rational discussion) e.g. people getting angry. Also when team members bicker about small things that don\u2019t really seem important and\/or form obvious sub groups that constantly challenge one another, then the team is likely to be in trouble. Handling these issues involves (i) being clear about what the disagreement is about i.e. task, process, relationships or status, (ii) checking if the real issue is the subject of the disagreement or if something else is being used as a proxy e.g. is there a \u2018hidden agenda?\u2019 and (iii) understanding the emotional state of the people involved; just how agitated are the participants? Then it\u2019s a question of getting the issues out into the open for explicit discussion and negotiation. This may well involve some type of team building activity, personality inventories, and the use of an external facilitator (and sometimes, in severe cases, a mediator.)<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"transitory-teams-and-permanent-team-building\"><a class=\"anchor\" href=\"#transitory-teams-and-permanent-team-building\"><i class=\"fa fa-link\"><\/i><\/a>Transitory teams and permanent team building<\/h2>\n<p>Teams are typically fleeting things because in most companies staff is always turning over, so for a group of (say) six people to stay together more than 6-12 months in an organisation is rare. What this means is that teams are continually going through the \u2018storming, forming, norming&#8217; and (if you are lucky) the \u2018performing \u2019 group development cycle first proposed by Tuckman in 1965. What also typically happens is that those who have been around longer create a team within a team \u2013 an \u2018inner circle&#8217; &#8211; which is very apparent to those not in it, and so tensions can easily arise. Unless the leader expects these sorts of things to be the norm and takes actions to counter them, then the \u2018HPT\u2019 will be a very temporary thing. Hence there is the need for \u2018team building\u2019 activities, of various kinds, to be an on-going process and not a one-off event.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"team-size-and-%e2%80%98social-loafing%e2%80%99\"><a class=\"anchor\" href=\"#team-size-and-%e2%80%98social-loafing%e2%80%99\"><i class=\"fa fa-link\"><\/i><\/a>Team size and \u2018social loafing\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Another factor affecting team performance is known as the Ringelmann Effect, or social loafing. Ringelmann (1913) found that having more people work together on a task (pulling a rope) actually results in significantly less effort than when individual members are acting alone. Eight people, he found, didn&#8217;t even pull as hard as four individuals. Ringelmann thought that this loss of effort was due to lack of coordination but in the 1970\u2019s a researcher from the University of Massachusetts (Ingam) found that the effect was actually due to people in the larger group feeling less responsibility for the end result. Of course the real world of work is more complex than the simple experiment of pulling on a rope, but Ingams\u2019 research suggests that, all things being equal, smaller teams are generally more productive than larger ones. Counter balancing measures to reduce \u2018social loafing\u2019 include defining individual responsibilities that precisely measure each person\u2019s contribution and\/or making individual performance public so that each team member knows exactly how the others are doing.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"the-physical-environment-encouraging-teamwork\"><a class=\"anchor\" href=\"#the-physical-environment-encouraging-teamwork\"><i class=\"fa fa-link\"><\/i><\/a>The Physical Environment &amp; Encouraging Teamwork<\/h2>\n<p>The physical space that a team operates in can also have a major impact on their performance. In <em>\u2018Better Teamwork Through Workplace Design&#8217;<\/em> the writer Anat Lechner suggests that companies \u2018design in\u2019 spaces into the physical office environment to help promote collaboration. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Vary the types of workspaces<\/strong><br \/>\nEmployees need group spaces for co-creation, but there should also be areas for concentrated work (unassigned individual workstations), emergent social exchange (free-flowing hallways), and learning (rooms equipped with technology and tools).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Provide the right tools<\/strong><br \/>\nMake sure meeting rooms include tools like whiteboards that allow employees to record ideas and create a visual, side-by-side review of alternative solutions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Give project teams a dedicated space<\/strong><br \/>\nReturning to the same workspace each day, keeping meeting notes on the board, and leaving work on tables between meetings can help team-mates maintain a shared mind-set, sharpening their focus and speeding up the collaborative process.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"so-what%e2%80%99s-next\"><a class=\"anchor\" href=\"#so-what%e2%80%99s-next\"><i class=\"fa fa-link\"><\/i><\/a>So what\u2019s next???<\/h2>\n<p>Reflect on how accountable people are for their actions (or lack of them.) Does more need to be done to highlight the \u2018value added\u2019 work that each person does for the team?<\/p>\n<h3>Reading<\/h3>\n<p>Read <em>Building Conflict Competent Teams<\/em> by Rundle and Flanagan<\/p>\n<h3>On-Line<\/h3>\n<p>Watch: Mark de Rond, professor at Cambridge\u2019s Judge Business School<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=srgSpzGtw4M\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> talk about conflict and teams<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Courses<\/h3>\n<p>We have a half-day workshop on building trust within a team based on understanding how well people understand each other\u2019s motivations and personal preferences. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boulden.net\/course-self-awareness-teamwork.php\">View &#8211; Self Awareness and Teamwork<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Coaching<\/h3>\n<p>For top teams we offer a powerful coaching based intervention. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boulden-executivecoaching.net\/senior-team-building.php\">View &#8211; Structured Coaching for the Top Team<\/a><\/p>\n<p>And to end with a quote from a US polymath, Benjamin Franklin, on the pressing need for effective teamwork.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWe must all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cBy union the smallest states thrive. By discord the greatest are destroyed.\u201d Sallust High Performance Teams (HPT\u2019s) can generate superior results because of &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boulden.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boulden.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boulden.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulden.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulden.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulden.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":470,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulden.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions\/470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boulden.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulden.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulden.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}