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Develop a high-performing team
Improve your group's performance with the SCORE framework
IN THEIR groundbreaking 1993 article The Discipline Of Teams in the Harvard Business Review, Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith define a team as "a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable."
That definition lays down the discipline that teams must share to be effective.
Katzenbach and Smith discuss the four elements - common commitment and purpose, performance goals, complementary skills and mutual accountability - that make
teams function.
They also classify teams into three varieties - teams that recommend things, teams that make or do things, and teams that run things - and describe how each type faces different challenges.
Most executives advocate teamwork. And they should.
Teamwork represents a set of values that encourage listening and responding constructively to views expressed by others, giving others the benefit of the doubt, providing support, and recognising the interests and achievements of others.
Such values help teams perform, and they also promote individual performance as well as the performance of an entire organisation.
But teamwork values by themselves are not exclusive to teams, nor are they enough to ensure team performance.
Building high-performing teams
Teams have become a principal building block of the strategy of successful organisations.
With teams at the core of corporate strategy, your success as an organisation can often depend on how well you and other team members operate together.
Yet not all teams are created equal. Some fail to perform, or they perform below expectations. Some start out well but later lose their focus and energy.
It is critical for managers and team leaders to find ways to ensure their teams are working effectively and are achieving results. When a team becomes aligned, a commonality of direction emerges, and individual energies harmonise.
Members have a shared vision and an understanding of how to complement each other's efforts. As jazz musicians say: "You are in the groove."
SCORE characteristics
A high-performing team demonstrates a high level of synergism - the simultaneous actions of separate entities that together have a greater effect than the sum of their individual efforts.
It is possible, for example, for a team's efforts to exemplify an equation such as 2 + 2 = 5!
High-performing teams require a complementary set of characteristics known collectively as "SCORE".
These qualities are described below:
Strategy and purpose
High-performing teams with a cohesive strategy and team purpose articulate a strong, uniting purpose that is common to all team members.
They will describe how they work together by defining team values and ground rules or team charter. Finally, they will be clear about what they do by defining key result areas.
Clear roles and responsibilities
Successful teams determine overall team competencies and then clearly define individual member roles and responsibilities.
High-performing teams realistically examine each individual's responsibilities in terms of personality, interest and ability, resulting in an accurate understanding of each member's accountability and contribution to the team.
Open communication
Communication is the key component in facilitating successful team performance; its lack limits team success.
Effective communication relies on the proper use of communication channels such as e-mail and voicemail.
Rapid response
A high-performing team is adaptable and responds quickly, as necessary, to changes in the environment, using creativity and "outside box" thinking.
When faced with a problem, these teams brainstorm possible solutions and create innovative resolutions.
Exemplary and effective leadership
An effective team leader is able to adjust his style as necessary, depending on the task at hand and the skill level of each team member performing that task.
The team leader also plays a critical role in raising morale by providing positive feedback and coaching team members to improve performance.
Flexible leadership
In high-performing teams, leadership shifts during the stages of team development based on team needs.
Unlike organisational leadership, which remains somewhat constant, team leadership can shift from directing, when the team is being formed, to more delegating, when the team is functioning effectively.
To transform into a high performing team, an easily implementable framework such as SCORE would assist in achieving that end goal.
Improve your group's performance with the SCORE framework
IN THEIR groundbreaking 1993 article The Discipline Of Teams in the Harvard Business Review, Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith define a team as "a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable."
That definition lays down the discipline that teams must share to be effective.
Katzenbach and Smith discuss the four elements - common commitment and purpose, performance goals, complementary skills and mutual accountability - that make
teams function.
They also classify teams into three varieties - teams that recommend things, teams that make or do things, and teams that run things - and describe how each type faces different challenges.
Most executives advocate teamwork. And they should.
Teamwork represents a set of values that encourage listening and responding constructively to views expressed by others, giving others the benefit of the doubt, providing support, and recognising the interests and achievements of others.
Such values help teams perform, and they also promote individual performance as well as the performance of an entire organisation.
But teamwork values by themselves are not exclusive to teams, nor are they enough to ensure team performance.
Building high-performing teams
Teams have become a principal building block of the strategy of successful organisations.
With teams at the core of corporate strategy, your success as an organisation can often depend on how well you and other team members operate together.
Yet not all teams are created equal. Some fail to perform, or they perform below expectations. Some start out well but later lose their focus and energy.
It is critical for managers and team leaders to find ways to ensure their teams are working effectively and are achieving results. When a team becomes aligned, a commonality of direction emerges, and individual energies harmonise.
Members have a shared vision and an understanding of how to complement each other's efforts. As jazz musicians say: "You are in the groove."
SCORE characteristics
A high-performing team demonstrates a high level of synergism - the simultaneous actions of separate entities that together have a greater effect than the sum of their individual efforts.
It is possible, for example, for a team's efforts to exemplify an equation such as 2 + 2 = 5!
High-performing teams require a complementary set of characteristics known collectively as "SCORE".
These qualities are described below:
Strategy and purpose
High-performing teams with a cohesive strategy and team purpose articulate a strong, uniting purpose that is common to all team members.
They will describe how they work together by defining team values and ground rules or team charter. Finally, they will be clear about what they do by defining key result areas.
Clear roles and responsibilities
Successful teams determine overall team competencies and then clearly define individual member roles and responsibilities.
High-performing teams realistically examine each individual's responsibilities in terms of personality, interest and ability, resulting in an accurate understanding of each member's accountability and contribution to the team.
Open communication
Communication is the key component in facilitating successful team performance; its lack limits team success.
Effective communication relies on the proper use of communication channels such as e-mail and voicemail.
Rapid response
A high-performing team is adaptable and responds quickly, as necessary, to changes in the environment, using creativity and "outside box" thinking.
When faced with a problem, these teams brainstorm possible solutions and create innovative resolutions.
Exemplary and effective leadership
An effective team leader is able to adjust his style as necessary, depending on the task at hand and the skill level of each team member performing that task.
The team leader also plays a critical role in raising morale by providing positive feedback and coaching team members to improve performance.
Flexible leadership
In high-performing teams, leadership shifts during the stages of team development based on team needs.
Unlike organisational leadership, which remains somewhat constant, team leadership can shift from directing, when the team is being formed, to more delegating, when the team is functioning effectively.
To transform into a high performing team, an easily implementable framework such as SCORE would assist in achieving that end goal.
