HIGH PERFORMANCE TEAM BUILDING
The point of team development is to raise the ability of the team to perform at new levels. I would suggest that the definition of a high performing team is a team that exceeds objectives and deliver outstanding results that are greater than the total of each individual’s performance. High performing teams provide a space for each member to share their greatest talents and skills, while providing a space of meaningful belonging where those talents and skills can interact to create greater value. Perhaps most important, high performing teams enjoy working together and share a real solidarity around their passion for the work they are engaged in.
With this definition in mind, we can look at seven aspects of a team that make for such levels of performance. But first, let's remember where we came from.
There have been many frameworks and models for team development over the years. Each reflects the context of the time in which it was created and each new framework or model stands on the shoulders of the ones that preceded it. Dinnie Muslihat published a great piece on Zenkit back in August of 2019 wherein she describes the seven most well-known and propagated team development models. I encourage you to read that article and see how each model is best applied.
Over decades of work with teams, my colleagues and I have developed a framework for team development that is comprised of a mix of those decades of experience in the field working with real-world teams in business, as well the wisdom of experts in the field including Patrick Lencioni, Richard Hackman, Jon Katzenbach, Douglas Smith, and Bruce Tuckerman to name a few. The frameworks, models and methods these researchers have developed all have value to add and my colleagues and I have found that taking the best from each has delivered amazing results.
In 1972, Richard Beckhard introduced the GRPI model which stands for Goals, Roles, Procedures, and Interpersonal Relationships. This model sets the foundation for the minimum a team requires alignment on and commitment to, in order to coordinate action effectively.
Setting Clear Team Goals is essential to providing a sense of business purpose to a team’s existence. Goals serve as the compass of the team. Triviam Consulting's 7-D framework sees goal setting as an extension of defining a team’s purpose.
Roles refer to each person being clear about the position they occupy on the team. In addition to position, Triviam Consulting's 7-D framework identifies the unique skills and value that each person brings as well as their areas for development. This allows other team members to know how each person can be counted on, and what areas will need to be complimented by other team members.
Procedures are required in order for the team to operate successfully. Beckhard says, “This includes, but isn’t limited to, decision making methods, workflow procedures, conflict resolution strategies, and communication best practices.”
Interpersonal Relationships are key to successfully developing a team of any kind. The key and currency for building relationships is trust. People’s ability to produce more and achieve more complex outcomes is directly correlated to the amount of trust they hold between themselves.
Triviam Consulting's 7-D framework takes these components and further develops them into more detailed dimensions of development for high performing teams. In doing so, each component transforms into a dimension with different levels of contribution to performance.
TRIVIAM CONSULTING'S 7-D TEAM DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK
Triviam Consulting's team development framework has seven dimensions, each with three levels of contribution from least effective to most effective. Here is an overview of each dimension.
1. Purpose refers to business, team and individual purpose. All three have a role to play in creating meaning for high performing teams. The least effective way in which purpose contributes to team performance is through its absence. The next level of contribution purpose can provide is by simply being present within a team even in a superficial way. The most effective way purpose provides a valuable contribution is when it is shared at the business and team levels and connected to each person’s sense of individual purpose. 2. Culture and Values refers to a shared understanding of what is acceptable and not acceptable behavior as well as the values that underlie behaviors. When values are not shared and understanding of what is acceptable is not aligned, culture and values contribution to effectiveness is dysfunctional and discord exists. When values become shared and people align behind acceptable behaviors, culture and values increase their contribution to a team’s effectiveness. High performing teams have a culture and values that are consciously created. 3. Interpersonal Relationships are at the heart of what determines the power of team performance. The currency of relationships is trust and therefore the level of trust existing between team members in part determines the extent to which they can collaborate and achieve. Teams are least effective in their ability to collaborate when the level of interpersonal relationships is based on self-interest. As individuals build trust a mutual respect begins to form that is the foundation for collaboration. When individuals move beyond mutual respect to solidarity, they are maximizing the currency of trust which in turn raises the level of effectiveness and outcomes that can be achieved via their collaboration. 4. Roles and Responsibilities are required to move from beyond a collection of individuals to a team. Confusion is the state of unclear roles and responsibilities within a team that makes coordination, alignment and synchronization almost impossible. The next level of effectiveness roles and responsibilities can contribute to team performance is when they are clearly understood and carried out by all members of the team. High performing teams move beyond clarity to synchronization wherein their coordination develops a rhythm and sequence that is conscious within the team even if not stated. 5. Processes guide team coordination and collaboration. When not consciously developed they can be disconnected leading to confusion and disorganization. Teams can up the level of contribution of processes by identifying and connecting them so that all processes serve a meaningful purpose. High performing teams go beyond connecting processes to streamlining them, ridding them of superfluous activities and cycles, and making them support agility. 6. Team Leader Fit has to do with how well the leader works with the team. The team leader is a team member in charge of the group and how the group perceives the leader is important to building a high performing team. In the beginning the leader needs to establish rapport and trust just as all other members. However, different than all other members, the leader needs to set and hold the standard and expectation for behavior, approach, accountability and responsibility. The leader casts the longest shadow and their ability to build trust, demonstrate empathy, speak clearly, and see with vision set the strength of their leadership and capacity to lead as perceived by others. Simply put, the leader gets what he or she deserves. The team, its makeup and performance are a reflection of the leader. 7. Organization Support for Team refers to the extent to which the greater organization supports, sponsors, and backs up the team. This is often a factor of team performance as well as ongoing communications with the greater organization and key stakeholders which combine to form the team’s reputation. High performing teams care for all external stakeholders. They keep them informed of their work, progress, challenges and solutions. They are not afraid to take on challenges from within the organization regarding their approach and methods. High performing teams are not about saving face. They are about being highly effective, innovative, and tenacious in their pursuit of desired outcomes. High performing teams know that even teams cannot be successful in a vacuum. They require connection and support from people outside the team. They understand their interdependencies with other parts of the organization and manage them with an attitude of client service excellence. After all, budget, resources, and authority usually come from outside the team. Great teams know how to continuously win their constituent’s support.
CONCLUSION
There are many successful team development models available. Each reflects the decade and consciousness of the time they were created in. The best frameworks and models stand on the shoulders of previous frameworks, expanding and evolving concepts about how people work together and develop.
Through over three decades of experience, my colleagues and I have worked with many different frameworks. Today, we have developed a new framework called Triviam Consulting's 7-D Framework for Team Development. It is a synthesis of the best approaches of previously existing models and frameworks by some of the industry's greatest practicioners in the field of teams, teaming and team development. Triviam Consulting's 7-D framework focuses on purpose, culture and values, interpersonal relationships, roles and responsibilities, processes, leader fit and organizational support. These dimensions reflect the key areas impacting team development and success as we enter the 2020s.
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