The single most common mistake of team development

The most common mistake I have come across is people saying they are part of a team when in fact they are really a working group and the difference between the two is palpable. You’ll understand this if you’ve ever been part of a high performing team!

When you are on a true team there is an energy and enthusiasm that can be felt, they are clear about their purpose and there is a commitment to deliver individual as well as collective results. 

Katzenbach and Smith define a team as a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals and approach for which they hold themselves accountable.

• Do you consider yourself to be part of a team?
• If yes, do you ever spend time reflecting on how you are performing, or how you can make significant performance improvements?
• Do you hold yourself individually accountable and mutually accountable with your team mates? 

If you don’t consider yourself to be part of a team you’re likely to be a member of a working group where you interact with team members primarily to share information, best practices and make decisions to help each individual perform within his or her area of responsibility.  There is no common purpose that binds people together or joint work products that call for a team approach or mutual accountability.

So What?

All teams start out as a working group, an array of individuals coming together to get a job done. As a leader it’s important to recognise this as the development journey from working group to high performing team takes time and effort not just from you, but from every member in the team.

The question is do you want to harness the collective energy, skills and experience you have to deliver outstanding results? If you do then the journey is worth taking.

There is no one best place to start, or one best thing to do. What I would say is hire an experienced facilitator or team coach to support you and the team to get there.

As the team leader you need to be seen as part of the team which is why using an external facilitator is worth it – it also demonstrates that you are prepared to be led which signals to the team that any one of them can take the lead when necessary

Indicators of High Performing Teams

So where are you and your team on the scale from work group to high performing team?

Use these indicators as a starting point and use a 1 to 10 scale where 1 is low and 10 is high. It will hopefully give you some idea of where to start if you want to enhance performance.

1. Trust – the team trust one another to get things done
2. Healthy Challenge – the team are prepared to challenge each other to achieve the optimum result possible and accept this as an essential way of operating
3. Commit to action – when a decision is made they all commit to delivering and deliver what is needed when it’s required
4. Accountable - they hold each other accountable and are ready and willing to give each other honest feedback on contributions made
5. Focus on Results – they focus on what collectively has been agreed

If you know there is work to be done and you are not quite sure where to start email me and we can explore options to move forward.

 “When a gifted team dedicates itself to unselfish trust and combines instinct with boldness and effort, it is ready to climb.”

Patanjali