High Performance Team Development

High Performance Teams (EAR's, or HPT's) are an important factor for the success of the company, because through the high levels of collaboration and innovation they generate they are capable of producing results.

What is a team?
A team is generally defined as:

"Two or more people working together with a common purpose."

This is a broad definition, but some common themes arise from research on the essence of effective teams. It refers to what team members need:

Have a clear objective or purpose or 'mission'
Have (or learn) the skills necessary to be able to do a good job
Assume personal responsibility to contribute to the achievement of the objective
Accept that you cannot do what you want, you should allow the actions to be coordinated with the other colleagues, which will require a level of trust in the group.
What is a high performance team?
The term "High Performance Team" simply describes a team that consistently shows exceptionally high levels of collaboration and innovation that produce superior results. Described for the first time in 1950 by the Tavistock Institute, these teams frequently achieve a spectacular leap in business within a year. The EAR is usually considered as a very united group, focused on its objective in such a way that it will overcome any obstacle to achieve the team's objectives.

What leads to effective teamwork?
The main keys to effective teamwork are that people have:

(i) an objective that really matters to team members and
(ii) the fundamental knowledge and skills to act competently.

Additionally, studies show a strong relationship between team effectiveness and flexibility, confidence, adaptability (the team has faith in their ability to solve problems), conflict management without conflicts arising and maintaining high morale. (Baker et al. 2005a; Gully et al. 1995, 2002)

Balancing skills and creative abilities
Within the high performance team people have knowledge and skills with which they can make a positive contribution to the achievement of the team's objectives. They are also able (at least to some extent) to exchange their roles, adapting to circumstantial changes such as an increase in the workload in a specific area. This need for qualified personnel means that the selection of the equipment is of vital importance in the development of the EAR. It also means that continuous learning and skills acquisition are vital elements within the EAR.

Creation of a shared culture and celebration of differences
It is also the case that team members understand that a variety of perspectives and styles will be needed to meet the different challenges and are willing to tolerate individual personality traits, cultural differences and problem-solving approaches. At the same time, the EAR will also develop its own “collective conscience” and will have a set of agreed values ​​or “basic rules” for dealing with each other and how they behave with clients, internal departments and other interested parties. As part of this there are robust methods for the efficient resolution of conflicts, so that disagreements do not become obstacles to the achievement of team objectives.

Have the "best team" aligned and working well
Patrick Lencioni en, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, highlights five key factors that must be managed to have an effective senior management team. These are:

Trust (this first component is the cornerstone of a good team and is the most important factor in the model.)
Positive conflict, based on the discussion of ideas and being open to doubts and concerns
Commitment to decisions and action plans. (So ​​there is no "talking outside of school" or speaking against colleagues.)
Be mutually responsible for the implementation of the plans
Focus on achieving collective results (eg, emphasis on team goals rather than purely individual goals)
To get these five factors correctly, Lencioni has a series of tools which he suggests using to work in each of the areas, it is vital if the Executive Team is going to move as a cohesive unit.

Whats Next?
Ask your team if the general objectives, purpose or "mission" are clear. If so, ask them how motivated they are to achieve it.
Think about the level of skills within the team. Is there enough interdisciplinary training or multi-tasking skills?
Try to read:
There is a me in the team: what elite athletes and coaches really know about Mark De Rond's high performance and Ten commitments to building Tom Massey's high performance teams.
Next time we will see some of the problems and difficulties that one encounters when developing an EAR, to finalize an appointment of the US sports star. Babe Ruth;

“The way a team plays as a whole determines success. It is possible that you have the largest group of individual stars in the world, but if you do not play together the club will not be worth a penny. ”