Teams
Good managers have always fostered teamwork. But highly effective leaders are now showing the performance power of building a team-based organization. Where teams have been effectively organized and led, the list of team outcomes have led to dramatic improvements in productivity, customer service, quality, process management, innovation, cost effectiveness, job satisfaction, morale, and financial performance.
Managers’ growing understanding of the power of a team-based organization has created a teams explosion. But many so-called teams, aren’t. They’re groups, committees, task forces, or councils. Managers are often confused by teamwork, “teaminess,” or team spirit. They don’t realize that groups can have a team spirit and show some teamwork, but still not be a true team.
Why Many Groups Aren’t Teams:
- Lack of shared vision and objectives.
- Ineffective meeting/decision processes.
- Infrequent/ineffective meetings/communication.
- Unclear expectations of each other.
- Fuzzy roles and goals.
- Misaligned structure/systems/processes.
- Priority overload and tyranny of the urgent.
- Operations-improvement imbalance.
- Weak feedback and learning loops.
Team Effectiveness Framework:
- Where are we going (our vision)?
- How will we work together (our values)?
- Why do we exist (our purpose)?
- Whom do we serve?
- What is expected of us?
- What are our performance gaps?
- What are our goals and priorities?
- What’s our implementation/improvement plan?
- What skills/processes do we need to develop?
- What support is available?
- How will we track our performance?
- How/when will we review, assess, celebrate, and refocus?
For additional resources on Teams, click here.
Click on each area below for more information on the Strategic Improvement Planning Process and Gap Analysis for your organization: