Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Dr. Bruce Gobdel, retired Crowe Horwath LLC Partner and founder of the Leighton School of Business CEO Roundtable. We hope you enjoy Bruce’s wisdom and perspective.
Building a high performance leadership team and implementing sound strategies and tactics are the two most critical activities for enhancing long-term organizational effectiveness. While studies show organizational success is often greatly impacted by “being in the right place at the right time” and/or being blessed with weak competitors, organizations with high performance leadership teams are highly effective and efficient at taking advantage of the opportunities and threats presented to their organizations.
What Do We Know About High Performance Teams?
The research on high performance teams is voluminous. However, the topic does not need to be complex. A couple of key points can help focus our understanding:
- High performance teams are comprised of skilled individuals. It is hard to achieve with limited talents.
- High performance teams are effective over an extended period. They are not one-shot wonders. They routinely exceed expectations. They deliver on time and on budget. They make the “trains run on time.”
- High performance teams are efficient. They judiciously utilize their assets. In addition to managing their physical assets, managing the time and energy of the team members is a high priority.
The above three items are almost definitional in nature. The magic of high performance teams, however, comes from cohesion. This is where the team functions as one. It is the element that makes the team greater than the sum of its parts. Cohesion requires highly devoted individuals with a shared vision, commitment to team goals and decisions, broad engagement in decision-making, understanding and respect for individual strengths and weaknesses, and effective communication and conflict resolution processes.
Further, high performing teams are disciplined in their focus on sound strategies and tactics. The descriptor “sound” is carefully chosen because there are numerous examples of teams that achieve high levels of success with sound, but maybe not the “best”, strategies and tactics. The disciplined implementation of sound strategies will trump the more poorly implemented “best” strategies every time.
Finally, high performance teams are adaptable. Because leadership cannot be certain in its predictions about the future, teams must be open, observing, and quick to change course as conditions evolve.
What, Then, Are The Steps Needed To Build A High Performance Team?
- Start With Talent. It is important that the high performance team possesses high levels of the critical skills required for organizational success. The starting point is to honestly assess the skills among the existing team members. If skills are lacking, then instituting a course of training, repositioning, or hire is critical.
- Gain Consensus On Challenging Goals. Establishing stretch goals that elicit passion and commitment among the team is an important step. These goals cannot be imposed. They are better developed by the team. Routine evaluations, along with recommitment or revision of goals, are healthy activities designed to maintain team focus.
- Define Team And Organizational Values. Clarifying shared values provides the foundation for decision-making and relationships. Values-driven organizations often achieve greatness.
- Implement Measurement Systems. Measurement systems allow for tracking the controllable factors that lead to team goal attainment and success. They contribute to team discipline and provide early warning for needed course changes.
- Define Team Operating Practices. Clarity of roles and team operating rules make for greater team efficiency. Building these as a team is a worthwhile and healthy activity.
- Create A Supportive Environment. A supportive environment can take many forms. One element of this is an office layout that supports frequent contact and easy interaction among team members. Channeling pressure and interjecting fun into the environment can also be highly impactful.
What’s The Risk?
The alternative to building a high performance team and a successful organization is mediocrity. Mediocrity has a way of building a malaise within the organization. Beyond under-achieving as an organization, the participants are cheated in their need for personal challenge and growth. Building a high performance team is demanding, but choosing the path of mediocrity is an unfulfilling option for all.
This content was written and shared by guest blogger, Bruce Gobdel.
Bruce is a retired partner with Crowe Horwath LLC. He earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting, master of business administration in organizational behavior, and doctor of business administration in organizational behavior all from Indiana University. He was a licensed psychologist and a certified public accountant.
After a long and successful career in public accounting and consulting, Bruce continues to consult with select clients and founded and leads the Indiana University at South Bend’s Leighton School of Business CEO Roundtable.
Bruce has been heavily involved with the South Bend community and has held numerous leadership roles with local nonprofits including the Michiana YMCA, United Way of St. Joseph County, Madison Center, and the South Bend Human Rights Commission.
Connect with Bruce on LinkedIn.
