Driving High Performing Teams

Set Down Pack 29th - 30th April 2015

 

Introduction Firstly I want to thank you for the energy and enthusiasm that you all put into the tw0 days that we spent together. Helping to create High Performing Teams is some of the most rewarding work that I do and your input over the two-days certainly proved this to be true once again.

Here are the various extra resources I promised to send on. There are also some pictures of the flipcharts we created together during the workshop.

My suggestion is that you don’t simply flick through them and think ‘Oh yes. I remember that, but that you pause on each and ask yourself a few questions such as…

“Where was I sitting when we did this bit?”

“What was the key learning happening at this moment?”

“How did I feel during that session?

“What do I think is key about this?”

“What have I done to use what I learned?”

I really hope that you found the workshop and this set down pack useful.

To reiterate one thing I said when we were together, our relationship with clients does not end when the workshop finishes. If I can be of any further service to you then please just get in touch.

Ben

 

The Roadmaps

To prompt your reflection of the two-days, I have included the Roadmaps that show where we invested our time.

 

High Performing Teams Success as a team, and becoming a High Performing Team, comes from achieving the alignment and balance of a number of key factors. The High Performing Team model is the outcome of two decades of research into team effectiveness and many years spent leading teams on active duty in the military, on expeditions to remote parts of the world and in many different business environments. I have found that many teams are great at parts of the model but that doesn’t make a great team. In fact, that often makes a poor team or under-performing team. The great teams are those that strike a complete balance, those that focus on the eight elements and are good at each. I use the word ‘good’ deliberately here – it is to really emphasize that being good at each is what is needed to be a great team. It is about providing enough focus, care and attention to each component rather than focusing on what is already going well or that which interests us. If Usain Bolt was great at sprinting but poor out of the blocks he wouldn’t be the world's best – it’s exactly the same with teams. The exceptional teams, the truly high performing teams, are those that focus on being brilliant at each of the eight elements - along with mastering the power of state.

 

Teams and Work Groups We explored the differences between teams and work-groups. In some cases a work group is what you need and at other times you need a team. When you have more than 12 people you will start to have sub-teams and broad brush team development for everyone becomes less effective.

Whilst at first glance much of what’s in the Team Model appears obvious, there are some secrets contained within it. Firstly, the best teams are clear about “Why” they exist and they also have a constant focus on “How” they work together and improve. They also focus on some key communication areas…

 

High Performing Teams

As part of the Check-In for the day I asked you to reflect upon and share your experiences of High Performing Teams. This highlighted a number of key things to me. 1. You already know what makes a great team You all intuitively know what it takes to build a High Performing Team. If you shift your focus to “How” your team operates and invest time in this area you will make huge gains

2. You need to close the knowing - doing gap The difference between an average team and a High Performing Team is like the difference between dating and marriage. One requires significantly more commitment and effort. If you want to build the best team in Samsung then you need to apply your learning and involve the team in the process. 3. The Model The High Performing Team model I shared with you is a really solid framework against which to build your teams!

 

State

We explored the “Power of State” and how this is one of the most important skills that we can master as leaders and team members. As leaders we have a huge impact on those in our teams in both positive and negative ways, whether we realize it or not. If followers tell us that they want their leaders to be INSPIRING, then managing our own state is a fundamental leadership skill. Are you paying attention to the words and language that you use when around your team? Are you conscious of how you return to your desk after meeting with your colleagues? Are you ‘leading’ the state of your team members in a positive why?

 

The Power of Language My strong personal belief is that language is the most powerful element that affects our state and the state of others. At the same time, it is the one that most people pay the least attention to, are the most careless with and blind to the impact it has. The words that we use not only affect our state, they shape our experience of life and create our reality. If we tell ourselves and others that we’re “not too bad”, we won’t just feel bad, we’ll feel “too bad”! Why not tell ourselves we are great? If we tell ourselves we are “really tired”, then that’s how we will feel. If we tell ourselves we are “really stressed”, then that’s how we’ll be and that’s how we’ll make others feel too. And think about the people you prefer to be around. Would you rather spend time with “energizers” who make you feel positive and upbeat or the “drains” who suck the energy out of the room?

Which would you rather be seen as, a “radiator” or a “drain”?

 

Conflict

It is not the presence of conflict that holds teams back, it is the opposite. Productive conflict is about having passionate, unfiltered debate around issues of importance to the team. Teams that trust one another are not afraid to engage in passionate, open conversations about issues that are of critical importance to the teams success. The best teams walk out of every meeting knowing that every thing that needed to be said was said and that all relevant information was placed on the table. Remember that false harmony is just as unproductive for teams as out right conflict and mean spirited personal attacks. The best place for teams to ‘hang out’ is just left of center. Please don’t be one of those teams that believe that one step closer to the right is one step closer to murder!

The Iceberg of Team Dynamics Just as much of an iceberg lies below the surface, many of the the things that create the dynamic in a team are hidden from view. We explored what some of these things might be and how the iceberg analogy goes a step further. If left unchallenged or left to fester, they have the potential to sink your ship, just like a real iceberg. If your ship has a hole in it, then your boat will never go faster, no matter what else you do!

 

Conflict

We explored how different people are comfortable with different levels of conflict. Some are happy to regularly engage in substantive conflict, for others the mildest disagreement will fill them with discomfort. We plotted our teams on the Depth-Frequency conflict model to get a better understanding of what may be happening. As the leaders of teams we need to be the ones to make changes to encourage healthy challenge within the team and we also need to be conscious of how our style may affect the team. Do we avoid conflict ourselves leading the team to do the same? Do we challenge a lot and make our teams feel afraid to challenge us? There are a number of ways in which we can encourage positive and healthy conflict.

 

Circles of Concern and Influence We explored our Circles of Concern and our Circles of Influence as a tool to help us feel more able to create changes in our team, even when there is a lot of change elsewhere within Samsung. We all have things going on in our lives that concern us; some are directly within our control, some we can influence and others are totally beyond our control. The most effective people and those that respond best to change focus all of their efforts, attention and energy on the elements that we can influence or control. This means that we choose to either “go in” to our circle of influence or we “go out” and let go of what we cannot influence. In doing this we begin to expand our circle of influence, gaining more control over our lives, our work and our state. When we operate in our Circle of Concern we tend to use “have” language. I’ll be happy when I have more money, if only I had more time. When we operate in our Circle of Influence we use more energizing language, we use “be” language. I can be more patient, I can be more effective with my time, I can be more tolerant. If you want to know more, then I’d recommend buying Stephen Covey’s book – “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”

 

Next Steps

At start of the workshop I said that I could share a number of ideas, tools and strategies with you but I could not make your teams into High Performing Teams. Only you can make your team a high performing team. And high performing teams become so when they focus on “How” they operate. Team development is not a “once a year thing” done offsite, it is an everyday thing that’s “just the way we work.”

One way to make this shift is to actively reflect on your learning – that may be talking about it or writing commitments and reflections down. Simply reading this set-down pack and “thinking about it” will have little impact though. So, here are some reflective questions that I know will be incredibly useful for you.

1. What is the most significant thing that you learned in the session that you have been applying?

2. What difference has your new learning made to your department, to your team or to you?

3. What can you do to get even more value from the session?

 

Keeping in touch Tel: 07980 802373 Email: ben@twentyoneleadership.com Twitter: @benmorton2 – for micro leadership and coaching tips LinkedIn: BenMorton2 Website: www.twentyoneleadership.com

Additional Resources Great Books: Don’t Just Manage Coach – Ben Morton Leaders Eat Last – Simon Sinek Legacy – James Kerr Winning – Clive Woodward Great TED Talks: How to Start a Movement – Derek Sivers What we Don’t Understand About Trust – Onora O’Neil Listen, Learn…then Lead – Stanley McChrystal