Based on this week's readings from the Denning text, identify the elements of high-performance teams and apply them to teams with whom you have worked in your organization. Next, Identify the importance of shared values and discuss the influence of shared values on your team's performance. Finally, examine the four patterns of working together and detail one positive and one negative experience. What could you have done to influence the outcomes?
High performance teams exemplify several key elements, they actively shape the expectations of those who use their output, rapidly adjust their performance to the situation, grow steadily stronger, are fueled by interpersonal commitments, and work is often carried out with shared compassion (Denning, 2011). Of these key elements, I feel that when the work is carried out with shared compassion - this is when the team starts to be most effective. I have worked in small sports teams, and that passion for the sport we played has brought everything else along with it. In the late 1990's, I worked for Hoechst as a sales representative selling drugs to vets. At a certain time of year we all went to a very flash hotel and committed to a sales conference - often working in several small groups to learn and present new products or ideas. I remember seeing one team, led by a guy called Keith Watson (who happened to be a good friend of mine) come up before us all and present their answer to a problem that is no longer important for this story.
The important thing though was not the answer - it was the energy that just radiated out from this team. Their smiles were larger than any other teams, they laughed, they made some good jokes, they made everyone in the audience feel good; and they just glowed. And it didn't stop there, they were together at dinner, in the down time they were sitting together at the pool or at the bar too. I remember thinking - "I'm not always going to be able to get onto Keith Watson's team, but if I ever get a chance to influence one of my own, it's going to be just like his". Clearly this team was exhibiting some if not all of the values espoused by Denning. Certainly, they carried out their work with shared compassion, and this continued throughout the conference. Later in the conference, other teams copied some of their ideas and formats, and I even saw some of the phraseology appear in the field - proof positive that they were actively shaping the expectations of those that listened to their presentations. It was also clear that as a group, they just grew stronger as a team throughout the week.
This experience, and from having the opportunity to work with Keith for several years afterwards that really helped me to adopt and mature this relationship building role. I work harder at team cohesion and collaboration than anything else - even above everything else. Most important of all is finding a shared value in the team as it exists, for without it it is hard to find the glue that will make that team soar higher than any other team. Denning (2011) agrees;: "To attract people from diverse backgrounds and cultures and get them working together, it helps if they discover what aspirations, goals, needs and dreams they have in common" (p. 171). Sometimes I have found this can be as simple as giving the respect of the elder members, on other occasions it is because we all believe very passionately in the product or service. On one rare occasion, we wanted to succeed because others said that we couldn't possibly work together. Having this common value was not just important - it is vital to success of the team. The influence that those values have on the performance of the team cannot be underestimated; even when the the results from that team do not seem to going they way that you want them too - those values are what holds the team together when things are not faring so well.
Among high performance teams, there are four patterns of working together: work groups, teams, communities, and networks. In a work group each person has a defined responsibility and had little need for active collaboration, they aim to get the job done. In contrast, teams are usually selected individuals with a leader, have specific operational objectives, and work towards that objective until it is met. Communities are different again. Community goals are decided by the community members, and rather than being selected by one person, members of a community are usually self selected. The driving force for a community is usually a passion for the focus of that community, so in theory a community should be stronger on shared values for that community. Lastly, Networks are like communities but the driving force is the usefulness of members towards each other. Network members want to stay in touch with each other so long as they are useful to each other.
I belong to a professional networking group, LinkedIn which has been a positive experience so far. This helps me stay in contact on a very loose scale with those I share common values with, especially with those who may be of influence in the job market should I ever find myself in the situation where I need to find a job. Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn members restrict their input to professional aspects of their life, and so it is not very intrusive. In addition, their are many useful articles posted on leadership and other areas of interest related to my job. I can use this as a source of input and information.
In so far as a negative experience, the one that I could share would be a community garden project I was involved in. Red Hook community attempted to set up a shared garden for people who didn't have the room to grow their own vegetables. I was involved because I shared the passion for local produce, but the community disbanded after just one season because those most passionate about the garden left to pursue other interests. Denning states that when members no longer perceive the value of the community it usually does disband as this one did. The negative experience came from maintaining the interest among the community members. While some were pressed for time, others really just gave up because the value of the garden was not greater than the time they had to put in. Before the project started, I was convinced that it would fail because we couldn't get enough people interested. This was not the case - keeping them in the community proved to be the impossible task.
References:
Denning, S. (2011). The leader's guide to storytelling: Mastering the art and discipline of business narrative. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
No comments:
Post a Comment