Chapter 10: High-performance team leadership

Chapter 10: High-performance team leadership

In this chapter, we learn that, because teams are so commonly found in most organizations today, there is need for managers to learn how best to work with teams and to help ensure that teams perform at their peak.

There is need for careful thought to be put into deciding whether to form a team for a particular purpose to meet a particular need, or to work through individuals acting alone and once the decision to form a team is made, there is need to ensure that the team has focus and delivers the results for which it was formed.

Leaders have to establish the team work processes by creating the team charter, use action and work plans, delivering the results and learn from the team experience

Team bring together the best talent available to solve a problem, one way to improve the team emotional intelligence or ability to work together is for the team to know about each other’s position and responsibilities, team experience, expectations, personality, and cultural differences
More and more professionals are using virtual teams to connect to and work with other around to globe. Today most team work is virtual.

Managers need to understand the people side of teams and learn how to address issues such as cultural differences, different personality types within the group and varying expectations of members from the team and the team experience.

In the organized private sector here in Nigeria, there is a prevalence of teams in many organizations. There are sales teams, marketing teams; production teams etc. focused on helping organizations achieve their set goals and objectives. Hence, understanding team dynamics is crucial to one’s success as a manager.

Question

1. What is a high performance team and what is teamwork?

·        A team is a small group of people with complementary skills, who work actively together to achieve a common purpose for which they hold themselves collectively accountable.

·        Teams are one of the major forces behind revolutionary changes in contemporary organizations.

The nature of teamwork.

·        Team members actively work together in such a way that all of their respective skills are utilized to achieve a common purpose.

·        Teamwork is the central foundation of any high performance team.

2. What is team building?

·        Team members and leaders must work hard to achieve teamwork.

Team building helps in achieving teamwork.

Team building: A sequence of planned activities designed to gather and analyze data on the functioning of a group and to initiate changes designed to improve teamwork and increase group effectiveness.

Five step process.

·        Problem or opportunity in team effectiveness.

·        Gathering and analysis.

·        Planning for team improvements.

·        Actions to improve team functioning.

·        Evaluation of results.

3. What can be done to improve team processes?

·        Increased emphasis on teams and teamwork:

·        Presents challenges to people accustomed to more traditional ways of working.

·        Creates complications due to multiple and shifting memberships.

·        Requires team leaders and members to deal positively with group dynamics issues.

·        Requires ongoing team building.