Week 5: High Performance Teams Discussion
Highly Effective Teams (graded)
What characteristics differentiate a high-performance team from the normal/average team?
Responses
Response
Highperformance
team
Author
Instructor Ohayia
Date/Time
8/4/2012 6:40:15 PM
Teamwork is a difficult process - everyone must participate fully, honor their assigned
task, and minimize any negative distractions to ensure the tam success!
Enjoy the discussion...see you in the threads!
Professor Ohayia
RE: Highperformance Ricardo Antezana
team
8/8/2012 9:22:03 PM
Modified:8/8/2012 9:24 PM
Professor I agree with my class mates when they point that the most important characteristic
of a high performance team is humility to listen to all that their teammates have to say or add
towards the common goal, that translates to good communication, as the lecture states, teams
work better when everybody is fully committed with the common goal and respect each
others opinions, and when they are proud of what they do, usually when people likes what
they do they have fun doing it.
RE: Highperformance Timothy Mark Thurman
team
8/8/2012 1:33:41 PM
In reading the lecture, one of the characteristics of a good leader was
humility. I think this can apply to all the members of the team. If a team
member will not accept help, admit when they're wrong, or trying to take over
the team then the team is likely to fail. Humility is an unnatural act of a lot of
people and requires their will and desire to be second to the goal of the team.
Humility in everybody, including the team leader, can make the difference
between a high-performance team and a failure.
RE: Highperformance Shavonda Marks
team
8/8/2012 8:11:23 PM
I agree that it does take more the team leader to display
humility. With humility comes being a good communicator also
helps. Not to mention a good listener which would apply to all team
members. It is hard to create team where everyone gets along, but if
the majority seems to have the same goals and desires it would make
the project run smoother.
RE: Highperformance Tiffany Bullard
team
8/8/2012 5:03:44 PM
I think a team that consistently reaches their goals and who can work together in harmony. In
order to succeed in this their must be adequate communication amongst all team members.
RE: Highperformance Steven Frank
team
8/5/2012 9:00:50 AM
Organization and communication. They really are the keys to effective teams
in projects.
Organization is important. Everyone needs to know what the teams goals are
and what part they play in achieving those goals. There's nothing more
frustrating than working hard to accomplish some outstanding work that
makes you proud only to find out that work was already completed. Or
having your work mis-placed (sorry Tiffany - at least I found it).
Communication is the big key. Everyone needs to be an adult and not avoid
conflict. Conflict needs to be resolved or it will destroy a team. We all need
to understand that when someone points out an issue that it is not a personal
attack. Someone point out that my work is incomplete or there is a typo is an
awesome thing for me. the way I look at it is that I don't care if my team
knows I'm a moron. I care that the client doesn't know there's a moron on my
team. Having someone double check my work just like I double check others
work is a bonus for me.
RE: High-
Elvis Niangoran
8/5/2012 10:49:25 PM
performance
team
Agree with you a high performance team should be a special breed
that can work together and have a common goal. To have to a high
performance team, each individual in your team needs to have these
habits.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Focus
accountability
responsiveness
Communication skills
RE: Highperformance Corinne Lisefski
team
8/6/2012 7:22:49 PM
I agree with both Steven and Elvis. And would add respect
for the other team members.
My supervisor and I work very well together and people
have commented on that fact. We both are able to talk
through issues/problems/and projects. Listen objectively to
the other's opinion and work out a good solution. There
have been times where our discussions have become
"heated" and there have been disagreements, but no matter
what we ultimately have respect for each other. Its that
respect that has allowed us to argue but still get the work
done and at the end of the day laugh about it. Our
relationship may not work for everyone, but it works for us
and allows the two of us get our work done. There is also a
third member, but she also works with other teams and while
she does work with us, its not as closely as my supervisor
and I do. Again there is respect from her towards us and
from us towards her.
All three of us have good communication with each other
and as a group. I'm not sure why we have good
communication, but I attribute some of it to the fact that we
are friends outside of work too. it is also very open and
honest. Any of us can go to the other one and say "Ok,
what's up, you're not acting like yourself?" or "I'm not in a
good mood today, can you give me a few minutes." I think
its the openness and honesty that have led to the
respect. That and we haven't ever "thrown the person under
the bus". There is no secret or hidden agenda with us, we
truly want the other ones to do well and we have each other's
back. There is a great amount of trust.
We are now in a state of transition, and looking for a new
department director, this transition, has caused us to adjust
our team and how we work together. Its been a little
different, but its working out well.
RE: Highperformance Paul Lindeke
team
8/8/2012 7:08:25
PM
I know exactly what you mean about respecting the other team
members. There has been a few groups that I have been a part
of where one of the members would get upset and stop
communicating with the rest of the team which caused us all
problems. Each person is different and some will take a
comment personally and get upset about it when it was not
meant as an attack. When I am in a group I like to critique
others and I like it when others critique my work to see if I
need to make changes. Getting upset about a comment is not
helping the team to succeed and it causes problems for
everyone. Of course most of the groups I have been a part of
have been very cool and we have no problems communicating
with each other and when everyone is focused on their task
and doing what needs to be done, then everything turns out
alright.
RE: Highperformance Instructor Ohayia
team
8/9/2012 2:35:55
AM
"Communication is the big key" - Steven;
"a high performance team should be a
special breed that can work together and
have a common goal." - Elvis; "I think its
the openness and honesty that have led to
the respect." Corrine; "Of course most of
the groups I have been a part of have been
very cool and we have no problems
communicating with each other and when
everyone is focused on their task and doing
what needs to be done, then everything
turns out alright." - Paul!
Thanks Folks for your insights!
Class I wanted to explore communications
a bit - as Steven indicted, communication is
very important, can you provide an
example of poor and effective
communication and how they would
impact the team?
RE: Highperformance Troy Brown
team
8/9/2012 8:13:48
PM
I think you could look at feedback as a effective or poor way
to communication with a team. Poor feedback or no feedback at all in a
team setting could cause more conflicts. People expect some type of
feedback especially when you are working on something together, if people
don't provide feedback with other team mates they might be perceived that
they don't care and that could start to develop poor working relationships in
the group.
On the flipside, positive and effective feedback can help a team strive and
provide another channel of communication to help build successful working
relationships. As long as it is used at the right time, even when you get
constructive feedback it will mostly likely help your team grow.
Below is a link to an article about providing effective feedback and tips. I
think one interesting thing I got out of the article is,"Effective feedback
involves what or how something was done, not why. Asking why is asking
people about their motivation and that provokes defensiveness. Ask, "What
happened?, How did that happen? How can you prevent that outcome in the
future? How can I have done a better job of helping you? What do you need
from me in the future?" I would totaly agree with this statement,
Article:
http://humanresources.about.com/cs/communication/ht/Feedbackimpact.htm
RE: Highperformance Nazar Eljack
team
8/9/2012
10:06:19 AM
Constant, effective communication among all project stakeholders ranks high
among the factors leading to the success of a project. It is a key prerequisite of
getting the right things done in the right way. As knowledge is power, sharing
knowledge empowering every project stakeholder.
A project communication plan is the written strategy for getting the right
information to the right project stakeholders at the right time. Each stakeholder
has different requirements for information as they participate in the project in
different ways.
For information to be used, it has to be delivered to its target users timely. As a
project manager, while developing your communication plan, you need to decide
how often to contact each stakeholder and with what information.
http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/project_communication.html
RE: Highperformance Steven Frank
team
8/9/2012
7:53:08 PM
Proper communication
definitely needs to be
constant. I feel that in
order to be effective, it
needs to be relevant. In
order to be relevant, the
information for the
recipient(s) can't be buried
in a huge 'data dump'. We
need to tailor information
to the audience - just like
our presentations in this
class. When I send out
meeting notes after a
meeting, I do a summary
of discussion/decision
from the meeting and
assignments for
takeaways.
At work I have 2 daily
change approval meetings
that everyone on my team
may need to show up for you never know if you
make the report to show
up or get a no questions
asked approval. The
approval boards send out
an email with a link to the
report. The report takes
about 3 minutes to pull
down and look through
(the early report can have
a thousand changes when
it's busy). The report is a
basic data dump from a
database with no real
formatting. The
formatting that is there is
designed for the approval
board, not change
submitters. This is
effective, but not efficient
communication.
Since I have to pull the
reports every day, I wrote
a script that formats the
report and sends it to my
team. The formatting is
specific for what my team
looks for on the report
with a little color coding
to make it more readable.
Some of my teammates
moved to other groups,
and word spread about my
report. At last count I had
400 people on the
distribution list. It grew so
large that I built a
distribution list that
people can add/remove
themselves to/from. For
each person on the
distribution, I'm saving
about 5 minutes per day. I
would consider this much
more efficient
communication.
RE: Highperformance Tiffany Bullard
team
8/10/2012 6:44:00 PM
I agree with Elvis because I believe all those habits on order to be
successful. Another ability that is important but often overlooked is the
ability to compromise for the the team. Often times it is easy to become
consumed with your own idea of how should work. You must have the
ability and be willing to step outside yourself and do what is best for the
team.
Highly
Effective
Teams
Darren Coleman
8/6/2012 2:38:02 PM
For me I think it starts from leadership. The ones in charge can make this a well oiled
machine or a lemon. I want to follow a team leader that is knowledgeable, trust
worthy and understands how to make this project run on all cylinders. Normal and
average leaders look at projects as a nuisance versus as something to be proud of. I
want the leader that cares and not the one that could care less.
RE:
Highly
Effective Kim Easter
Teams
8/8/2012 11:25:42 AM
It has been my experience that normal and average leaders tend to choose
project team members based on preference rather than skill. I have observed
many projects close or be delegated to other teams because PM's chose the
wrong team members or SME. A high functioning team
possess characteristics that were previously mentioned i.e communication,
respect, responsiveness and leadership. I would add that a high performing
team is one that chose members based on skill-set and integrity. Having
integrity on a team encompasses trust, transparency, and a sense of
accountability because everyone will feel obligated to contribute to the
success of the project.
RE:
Highly
Effective Troy Brown
Teams
8/6/2012 6:44:20 PM
Modified:8/6/2012 6:45 PM
I agree with you Darren you need some that is passionate about their job and I
think that rubs off on the rest of the team. Someone that cares about the
project and the people on the project. I hate it when leader say who cares it
isn't my problem I think that is when you as a leader isolate yourself from
other people and other departments, which makes you very ineffective as a
leader. I also like to add that a effective leader is someone that puts forth the
effort to accommodate the needs of his/her employees, but will also challenge
their employees when the time to right to get the best out of them and best out
of being a leader. I think this a a great way to get the best out of your team.
HPT
Robert Allen
8/6/2012 3:21:36 PM
To answer this I had to refer to a text from a previous class (one which covered most
of what this class seems to cover, except in more detail):
"High-performance work refers to work approaches used to systematically pursue
ever-higher levels of overall organizational and human performance." (Evans 256)
Evans, Lindsay. Managing for Quality and Performance Excellence, 8th Edition.
South Western Educational Publishing, 01/2010. <vbk:1111509360#outline(6.6)>.
The irony here, for me at least, is that the term "high performance team" should rather
be called something like the "doing it right team". Any well run business should run
on high performance teams. And "common sense" should be common. Sadly neither
are true :)
This details it further:
Understand the key factors that drive workforce engagement, satisfaction, and
motivation.
• Design and manage work and jobs to promote effective communication, cooperation,
skill sharing, empowerment, innovation, and the ability to benefit from diverse ideas
and thinking of employees and develop an organizational culture conducive to high
performance and motivation.
• Create an environment that ensures and improves workplace health, safety, and
security, and supports the workforce via policies, services, and benefits.
• Develop a performance management system based on compensation, recognition,
reward, and incentives that supports high performance work and workforce
engagement.
• Assess workforce engagement and satisfaction and use results for improvement.
• Assess workforce capability and capacity needs and use the results to capitalize on
core competencies, address strategic challenges, recruit and retain skilled and
competent people, and accomplish the work of the organization.
• Make appropriate investments in development and learning, both for the work-force
and the organization’s leaders.
• Manage career progression for the entire workforce and succession planning for
management and leadership positions. (Evans 247)
Evans, Lindsay. Managing for Quality and Performance Excellence, 8th Edition.
South Western Educational Publishing, 01/2010. <vbk:1111509360#outline(6)>.
Highperformance
team
characteristics
8/6/2012 8:27:50 PM
Venkat Yetrintala
Here are the characteristics of high performance team:
- Shared Purpose and Direction
- Motivating Goals
- Commitment to Individual and Team Roles
- Multi-Directional Communication
- Authority to Decide or Act
- Reliance on Diverse Talents
- Mutual Support and Trust
Apart from these, overall environment generally needs to be supportive to reinforce
the positive and minimize the negatives.
RE:
Highly
Effective
Teams
Andrea Johnson
8/6/2012 10:11:51 PM
Highly effective teams consists of members who genuinely care for their teammates
and protect them. I read this in the lecture and I thought about how when people are
put into "groups" they automatically fend for themselves, which is why the "groups"
aren't productive. This is definitely a difference between a normal group and a highly
effective team.
RE:
Highly
Effective Instructor Ohayia
Teams
8/7/2012 5:05:45 AM
Thanks for getting us started folks! Effective teams
demonstrate the following characteristics:





A clear understanding of the project objective
Clear expectations of each person’s role and
responsibilities
A results orientation
A high degree of cooperation and collaboration
A high level of trust
Which of these do you think is most important?
RE:
Highly
Effective Oral Bestman
Teams
8/7/2012 7:40:50 PM
All characteristics are very essential to the developing and
maintaining high effective teams. Without clear understanding of the
project objective, clear expectations of each individual role and
responsibilities achieving the project outcome will be difficult
because not everyone has the same objective and understanding. In
addition, in order to achieve team cohesive, the team build trust with
each other, collaborate forming idea, and acceptant other input and
suggestion without ego and fear. An effective team has all
characteristic enhance the team outcome collective to achieve the
project objective.
RE:
Highly
Effective Andrea Johnson
Teams
8/7/2012 11:52:22 PM
I feel that without having a clear understanding of the project
objective any type of team would be heading for failure. The project
objective is the sole reason for each team member, their roles and
responsibilities, degree of cooperation, or their level of trust.
RE:
Highly
Effective Damion Alexander
Teams
8/7/2012 11:14:04 AM
Modified:8/7/2012 11:18 AM
I would have to say that a clear understanding of the project
objective is important followed by a high degree of cooperation and
collaboration. For each member of the team to be totally committed
to the team, goals and objectives, they must have a clear
understanding and have the ability to collaborate. When team
members work together in unity, they begin to develop trust in one
another and are aware of their individual roles and responsibilities.
When you have these characteristics in place, you can count on the
workload not being too excessive and having organizational support.
Lack of cooperation and support within the team can cause project
failure, and the goals must be achievable from the beginning.
Source: Week 5 lecture: Advanced Program Management
RE:
Highly
Effective Darren Coleman
Teams
8/7/2012 5:38:19 PM
For me it would be "a clear understanding of the project
objective" because if the PM doesn't understand what we are to do
then the project is useless. Someone has to be able to make sure we
are going in the right direction. The second for me would be a
results orientation so we know the end. How can a project begin
without knowing what the end should look like. I need to know if I
complete this class then i am one step closer to getting my
masters. Last for me would be "a high level of trust" I have to be
able to trust your leadership and know you have the company's best
interest at hand.
RE:
Highly
Damion Alexander
8/8/2012 5:10:30 PM
Effective
Teams
I agree with you Darren, because you need to know what
direction to go in to fully understand the project. You
wouldn't know if you were doing something right or wrong
without guidelines and a goal. And how would you know
what results to look for if you don't know how it's supposed
to turn out. Possessing these characteristics will reduce
wasted time and frustration.
RE:
Highly
Effective Troy Brown
Teams
8/7/2012 6:43:04 PM
Modified:8/7/2012 6:44 PM
Though I agree with Damion and Darren that you need a
clear understanding of the project objectives to make the
project successful by any means, but that does mean or make
your team effective it just gives you an understanding of
what needs to get done. For example, I'm on a project team
now that is not working very effective, though we are
getting the job done we don't have cooperation and
collaboration from all of the team team members. And this
has hurt our project becuase people are not willing to
work together. I think in order to have a effective team you
need cooperation and collaboration between all the members
in the group. and from there you will start to build a high
degree of trust between each other. Once you get everybody
on board and stay start to work as a team you then get the
end result of a successful team.
RE:
Highly
Effective Corinne Lisefski
Teams
8/9/2012 7:48:00 PM
For me the most important is "a high level of trust".
I feel the other characteristics have the same basic "root" - effective
communication. Without effective communication, those
characteristics will not happen or happen well. However, with out
trust you can not have effective communication.
Our department director recently left, and there has been a complete
change in the atmosphere of our department. People are more open
and communicative. Information is readily and easily
shared. Whereas before, it was often given sparingly and not
easily. This is also true for the other departments that communicate
with us. Before I came to my current department I had made and
cultivated many working relationships both inside and outside the
agency. When I moved to the Procurement department, I was
directed not to talk to other departments and that all information that
was given out had to be through my department director. And all
information that I received was given to me by director and often in
bits and pieces. (He was famous for saying, ( "I have information,
that you are not aware of." and still not share the
information.) Those relationships I had fostered,
slowly dwindled and faded. People began not to work with
us. Other departments felt they couldn't trust us (or rather our dept.
director). It was hard to work as a team both in my department coworkers and with outside departments, when we felt we couldn't trust
each other or the information we had, or the person giving us the
information.
RE:
Highly
Effective Robert Allen
Teams
8/9/2012 11:05:36 AM
Although all are important, I have to select "A clear understanding of
the project objective" as probably the best "only" choice. From it
one could argue that many of the others could be worked out.
To get such a clear understanding you need to have good directives
from the PMs.
RE:
Highly
Effective Charlese Adams
Teams
8/8/2012 8:13:34 PM
The most important characteristic would be a clear understanding of
the project objective. Without a clear understanding of the project
objective, the team members would go around in circles trying to
attack the issue or come up with the ideas needed to move forward
with the project. With a clear understanding, everyone can
practically be on the "same" page and the time brainstorming and
coming up with solutions or ideas would prove to be more productive
then if they didn't understand the project objective.
RE:
Highly
Effective Courtney Little
Teams
8/11/2012 8:45:18 PM
While these are all extremely important, in my experience the high
level of trust is the most important because even with all of the other
things if you don't fully trust your team then you will be worrying
they will not hold up their end of the responsibilities. You might
also second guess them with solutions or question their results.
Highperformance
team
characteristics
Nazar Eljack
8/7/2012 9:05:19 AM
‘High performance teams typically reflect strong extensions of the basic
characteristics of teams’ .
According to their book The Wisdom of Teams, these strong extensions grow out of an
intense commitment to the team’s mutual purpose. The qualities that distinguish a
high performance team from other ordinary teams can be summed up as follows:
High performance teams have:





A deeper sense of purpose.
Relatively more ambitious performance goals compared to the average teams.
Better work approaches or complete approaches as the authors term it.
Mutual accountability; acknowledgement of their joint accountability towards
a common purpose in addition to individual obligations to their specific roles.
Complementary skill set, and at times interchangeable skills.
http://www.teambuildingportal.com/articles/team-performance/qualities-highperformance-teams
High
Performance
Emilia Crespo
8/7/2012 9:56:48 PM
Characteristics of a high-performance team is one that works together to achieve one
solid goal. If one person alone can do a job, than two or more that work together can
accomplish much more. A high-performance team will have higher quality
production, wereas a normal/average team will have less quality because what is
making the average is that as a team they lack team work.
-Emilia
RE: High
Performance Tyrone Labad
8/8/2012 1:20:15 AM
A group of exceptional professionals with multi diversity and
mutli specialty skills aligned towards one business goal which is either a
stretch target with stringent deadlines , needs a high performance team and
highly effective team members. Some of the biggest and complex projects in
terms of deployment , flawless execution and conceptualizing a plan for
execution needs top levels of effectiveness. Some of the key characteristics of
high performance team are
A) Collaboration
B) Creativity
C) Multi functional skills sets
D) Highly motivated
E) Exceptional Problem solving skills
F) Eye for detail
These are some of the critical characteristics which define a broad framework
of putting together a high performance team . For Ex The London Olympics
has a team of more than 5000 professionals in which the core team is the high
performance team and the synergies blend with a team collaboration, which is
only focused on "ONE" objective to make London Olympics the best sporting
event of this decade.
RE: High
Performance Kim Easter
8/9/2012 8:39:15 PM
I find that high degree of cooperation and collaboration to the most
important of all the other characteristics of a high performing
team. "The team leader can't force a team to be supportive and
trusting--it's a natural result of shared responsibility, shared success,
and mutual respect. The high-performing team achieves mutual
support and trust because they have a history of working together to
achieve grand dreams and results. They have met challenges,
overcome obstacles, backed each other up in good times and bad.
The Total Team has earned each other's trust."
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/413346
RE: High
Performance Emilia Crespo
8/11/2012 12:08:50 PM
Tyrone,
All that you listed is very important in a high performance team, I
would place Exception problem solving skills as the most important
because if a team has all of the above but unable to communicate the
information the chances of anything getting completed decreases.
Experience
with highperformance
team
Instructor Ohayia
8/8/2012 2:42:56 AM
Class - Have you ever been part of a high-performance team or witnessed one in
action? Share your experience with the class. What qualities made this team high
performance?
RE:
Experience
with highVenkat Yetrintala
performance
team
8/8/2012 1:02:48 PM
Yup, I do have one. I still remember my first job at an advertizing agency,
what a difference our team made. I think the colloboration from everyone,
common goal, unique skill set, crystal clear roles, very effective process
and good leadership made our team so successful. Actually same exact team
we used to do freelance work and we were super sucess with that too.
RE:
Experience
with highOral Bestman
performance
team
8/8/2012 1:48:14 PM
Yes, I have been part of a high-performance team one of the qualities that
stood out more to me was how they collective work together to resolve
problem that other individual presented to the group. Another, quality I did
observed was the team wiliness to go beyond the standard requirement, to
achieve the most positive result. One example, risk management is factor in
our job, and this team will have open discussion about alternative ways
workers could perform their jobs without putting their safety at risk,
individual presented their individual technique they use to reduce their risk
factor, this help other individual to used alternative risk reduction method,
and the department benefited as the result of the team collective effort.
RE:
Experience
with highJenna Pingitore
performance
team
8/8/2012 8:07:43 PM
I have both been in and witnessed one in action. It is a great experience when
you are a part of a high-performance team because you really see the qualities
that make them good at what they do. You will often notice that they have
great time management skills, great communication skills and overall great
organization. They know what they need to do and get it done and they make
it happen. If you look at the opposite end of the spectrum with a low
performance team, they often seem unmotivated and don't want to go above
and beyond in anything. These are often the people that are happy in the
position that they are in (ie, they don't want a promotion) and just do the same
thing every day without looking for more "tools" for their "tool belt".
RE:
Experience
with highCourtney Little
performance
team
8/8/2012 6:36:14 PM
I was fortunate enough to be a part of a high-performance team at one point in
my career. I was a Corporate trainer for VZW and my boss had a real knack
for selecting people that worked incredibly well together. It was an absolute
pleasure to work with these people because everyone got along very well and
you could really count on people to follow through on their part. There was 4
of us in my center and 5 counter parts in two sister centers. We were in
communication constantly and always bouncing ideas off each other. The
environment was not competitive and no one felt threatened if someone came
up with a better idea or solution. We dealt with any conflict in an open forum
and kept everything professional. All of the different personalities
complemented each other and when someone with a weakness in say,
organization, ran into an issue another person whose strong suit was that
stepped in and offered help or best practices.
Everyone was very adaptible and thought outside of the box when
needed. We always stepped up as a team under tight deadlines for a
training or when faced with a task that required a short turn around time.
I can only hope that I have the ability to be a part of a team like that again.
RE:
Experience
with highElvis Niangoran
performance
team
8/9/2012 11:33:29 AM
I worked for walmart as an operation manager for 4 years, and during my
time with the company I was part of the market group in charged of at least
12 stores in the columbus, OH area. I worked for several Market Managers
and most of them were different from each others. Each week the market
group will go to all the stores to come up with new strategies and ideas to
bring more customers into the stores. One thing that I realized was that one
of Market Manager was a very knowledgeable person. In each store went to
he had a different vision on how that store can operate, while walking the
entire including the stockroom he will teach and train us and the store
managers. He won't just tell us he will demonstrate on how and do it himself
and show as an example. He will also take critics and comments from the
team members. When most employees saw that a $300,000 salary man
would not mind rolling up his sleeves to stock the shelves most employees
were eager to do the same. To me I think he showed that he was not just a
manager he encourage people to work more and harder to make the stores
looks good.
RE:
Experience
with highEmilia Crespo
performance
team
8/12/2012 6:17:23 PM
That is great especially as a marketing manager. The manager is
unable to always see the ins & outs of the daily activities. Therefore,
they're not always able to generated new ideas because they're not
expose to it. The manager should always recommend and asked for
feedback from it's employees, this is the only way to incorporate
change and improve the current procudures. I have came across some
managers that feel they know everything, never ask for feedback and
these are usually the ones that deal with a low turnaround of
employees. If people don't feel acknowledge or value, the chances of
them sticking around decrease.
-Emilia
RE:
Experience
with highKyle Simmons
performance
team
8/8/2012 9:40:58 PM
I am currently a technical Support Manager of a HPT. I have a team of 9
Application Support Engineers that supports some of the biggest media
outlets in the nation. With having such a large set of products to support each
member of the team is considered a subject matter expert in all fields and can
be inner changeable to any position. With the tempo trying to drive a very
interrupt oriented environment the team is able to keep it all together through
time management and responsibility.
RE:
Experience
with highKim Easter
performance
team
8/9/2012 9:06:59 PM
Modified:8/9/2012 9:13 PM
I was once a member of a high performing team. We were premiere
and known for being innovative and getting the job done. It started
with our top leader. She was a very sophisticated lady who was a
looker, tiny, and very well-dressed. However she was ruthless. She
was the director of our facility. Every project and initiative that was
high-profiled, she negotiated until we had them. She knew everyone
and held everyone accountable. She insisted that management
practice an open door policy and we, management, be available for
our direct and indirect reports.
The people that reported directly to her were the area
managers. They had to eat lunch everyday with the director. We
would see them walking to the cafeteria and they would all follow
slightly behind her so that she would be front and center. She
ensured that they met with us, the lst line managers, weekly. She
kept count and would unexpectedly attend meetings that she knew
were scheduled. We all had to open our calendars
to our entire team. The AMs were controlled and monitored and
were developed. They were developing applications that made our
processes efficient.
I was one of the 1st line managers. We respected the roles of
our leaders and worked our butts off the prove that we were the
elite. We were completing one initiative after the other and some
times concurrently and other times simultaneously. We were
privileged to participate in some awesome training and team building
exercises. It was fun and everyone benefitted. Managers had to
meet with their teams at least once a week and 2 hours monthly. It
was monitored. We were allowed to do team building exercises and
activities to promote team spirit and competition. It did get rough at
times with some people not having the ability to handle defeat but we
pushed through it.
The reps who reported to us were highly motivated and appreciated
their positions. They were truly inspired to learn. They were able to
monitor their own performance so that they could adjust their
behavior to correct any deficiencies in their production. They
enjoyed their accolades and incentives.
But mergers, and acquisitions changed the dynamics of the
leadership and the overall purpose of the organization. Being bigger
and faster took precedence over integrity and loyalty. The team did
not change with the organization. Leaders were moved and replaced
and the environment became dog eat dog. Other leaders who
survived the shift became stagnated and did not increase their skillset therefore crippling the team that was once high performing
to antiquated struggling used-to-es.
Highly
Effective
Teams
Melinda Larsh
8/8/2012 6:19:38 PM
I think two of the most important compents of the a highly effective team are role
clarity and understanding that in order for each individual to succeed the team must
also succeed. Role clarity is important because if you don't understand your role on a
team you can easily become stressed and distracted because you don't understand how
to help the team succeed. Secondly if everyone know the team must succeed for the
individual to shine then your team will be more effective because they will help their
team members when they need to and can.
RE:
Highly
Effective Tyrone Labad
Teams
8/9/2012 7:21:32 AM
The importance of work teams appears to be gaining in strength as jobs get
bigger, organizational structures get more complex, and more and more
companies become multi-national in scope . In today’s corporate
environment, it appears the team – not the individual – holds the key to
business success. One of the keys to developing high performing teams is to
remember that successful teams do not simply happen. They take much
effort and time. They take proper guidance and support from the team leader.
They require an organizational culture which enables and fosters team work.
To attain a high level of team performance, PM
must be knowledgeable about what factors influence team dynamics and
effectiveness.Teams can continuously improve their effectiveness by focusing
on improving their functioning in five key areas: Goals, Roles, Procedures,
Relationships and Leadership
building highperformance
software
Venkat Yetrintala
development
teams
8/9/2012 3:25:53 PM
I work for a software development company and inherently software development is a
human endeavor. We are trying to build Agile teams for better performance, output
and transparency. When we hire new team member, we deliberately look for
following criteria:
- Hard work / work ethic
- Technical aptitude
- Communication
Without a doubt to build a great team you need to find a great people.
Here is an interesting case study from forrester research:
http://www.ultimatesoftware.com/pdf/miscellaneous/forrestercasestudyultimatesoftwarereinventsitsdevelopmentshoptostayonitsgame.pdf
Barriers of
Effective Instructor Ohayia
Team
8/10/2012 9:46:18 AM
Barriers of effective teams!






Unclear Goals
Unclear Definition of Roles and Responsibilities
Lack of Project Structure
Lack of Commitment
Poor Communication
Poor Leadership


Turnover of Project Team Members
Dysfunctional Behavior
Class – choose one of the barriers above and discuss how it would impact your team
effectiveness.
RE:
Barriers
of
Melinda Larsh
Effective
Team
8/11/2012 6:41:04 PM
Lack of commitment- Without commitment to the project you will have team
members who do not complete their task, either not on time, or not at all. If
you have a project where expertise is needed and the expert is not committed,
you could also see a product that doesn't meet quality standards, which could
cost you more money or even worse it could cost you the client.
RE:
Barriers
of
Courtney Little
Effective
Team
8/10/2012 7:36:22 PM
Poor communication could be a major impactor on the effectiveness of a
team. Without clear and consistent communication to the entire team, people
will be all over the place. Considering I work for a communication company,
my team has very poor communication skills. If someone finds something
out they don't share it among team members like a change in process or
procedures so this of course affects the team. If we don't know, we are
unable to distribute the information to our teams and the next thing you know
it's a huge customer detractor because we're not doing something correctly.
People communicate in so many different ways (email, phone call, face to
face, memo, etc.) and what you communicate is just as important as how you
communicate. You need to leave room for questions and many people are
inundated with emails each day so they don't read all of them.
It's been my experience that the best thing to do is always communicate face
to face if you can, set up meetings at regular intervals to touch base, and keep
open forums to discuss changes as they happen. Open communication is
absolutely key to team effectiveness.
RE:
Barriers
of
Elvis Niangoran
Effective
Team
8/10/2012 8:03:25 PM
When it comes to commitment, the most critical issues that team members
must align themselves around include rules of engagement regarding
timeliness at meetings, responsiveness in communication, and general
interpersonal behavior. They must also commit to other principles such as
purpose, values, mission, strategy, and goals.
RE:
Barriers
of
Corinne Lisefski
Effective
Team
8/10/2012 10:06:48 PM
In my department, we are in a transition period. Our department director left
and we have those duties split between two people. One y is my direct
supervisor, and the other is a woman. All three of us have been friends since
I've started there. We worked together even when I was in another
department. We have been able to talk about things both in work and
personal lives to and have been a great support to each other. However, when
the department director left and my too friends/colleges had to "step up",
there has been a slight adjustment to how we work together.
Overall I don't think our team effectiveness has changed that much, other than
we are short staffed and things take longer to get out. But we refused to be
beaten and have taken to staying late if need be, to get the work done or keep
it moving.
RE:
Barriers
of
Ricardo Antezana
Effective
Team
8/10/2012 10:31:29 PM
Lack of commitment as well as the other barriers have a big impact on team effectiveness,
if one or more members of the team lacks commitment to the projects is like the project is a
dead end, I have experienced a few people part of a team, in charge delivering the change to
the employees and they are the first ones not believing on it, instead of convincing
the employees of the positives of the change, they think the change is going to bring a
negative outcome to the organization. I think everyone has their own opinion about an
specific change, but if some one does not believe on the project shouldn't be part of the team
to begin with, be honest and express their feelings about it and excuse themselves from the
team.
RE:
Barriers
of
Charlese Adams
Effective
Team
8/10/2012 11:12:30 PM
Dysfunctional behavior would definitely impact our team effectiveness. I
would describe dysfunctional behavior as people committed to a team project
that lack focus and may only come to the scheduled meetings to gossip or talk
about other issues that are not relevant to the project. Another example is of
members that continually take unscheduled leave from work. Taking
unscheduled leave hurts the team as a whole because the other members will
have to pick up where the absent member has left off. This would impact a
present member's own task of things that must be completed for the project.
Those tasks will need to be put aside to complete the absent members' tasks
and then put them behind. (I hope I'm making sense!)
RE:
Barriers
of
Shavonda Marks
Effective
Team
8/11/2012 3:59:48 PM
I would have to choose the unclear definition of roles and
responsibilities. There have been instances where I worked on a project team
and the project manager seems to lose control of the project. There might be
one "aggressive" team member who seems to know what is best for the team
and overthrows the project manager's role. This usually leaves the rest of
team clueless about their own roles and responsibilities.
RE:
Barriers
of
Timothy Mark Thurman
Effective
Team
8/11/2012 10:44:17 AM
I'm sure we've seen all of these at one point or another. The one that I think is
most common and covers most areas would be lack of projects structure. This
can lead to incomplete work and inefficient use of time and resources while
the team tries to figure out what to do next or how best to function. While the
fix of poor project structure would seem relatively easy to fix, it isn't always
clear what needs to be done. Let's say a project has 10 steps and it's poorly
structured in steps 1, 2, and 3 that effect steps 8, 9, and 10. The symptoms
aren't discovered until it's too late and the damage is already done. Also there
may be more fixes necessary than there are symptoms so the project will still
lack the necessary structure to function at it's best.
RE:
Barriers
of
Tyrone Labad
Effective
Team
8/10/2012 2:07:44 PM
Unclear Goals is a major reason especially when applied to organisations
going through organisational changes or any merger's are acqusitions happen.
For ex in a specific large Banking Organisation, there was a consistent dip in
one of the financial products. Leadership team organised meetings with the
top bosses. There was lot of buzz around these meetings which were very
closed door. So the grapevine resulted in creating rumours about the CEO
being asked to leave and the entire top management is soon going to be
changed. This example is a perfect situation of poor communication and
alignment of business goals .
RE:
Barriers
of
Steven Frank
Effective
Team
8/10/2012 5:43:41 PM
At my work, the big thing right now is lack of project structure.
Upper management is focusing on new business so much that the
new business isn't being managed properly. They sign the contract
and move on to the next contract to sign. The problem is that we
can't fulfill the new contract because there are no processes.
My account has added new international regions and new services to
the existing client and upper management implemented the new
service rollout. The major issues we have with the new services are
1) there is no process for new services 2) the groups doing the work
in the new services don't know what the scope is 3) we have new
groups involved in providing the services that have no engagement
process. We're being set up to fail on all the new contract work.
RE:
Barriers
of
Kyle Simmons
Effective
Team
8/12/2012 11:45:56 PM
Dysfunctional team behavior bars the way for a successful to succeed. In my
dealing with team dysfunctions I can say that personal ego's plays a big role
in holding a team back. When you take a thriving team and put one person in
the middle that looks for the "I" in the team objective then you risk not only a
loss of mutual respect from team members as well as unity that cultivates
productivity and excellence.
Road to high
performance...
Instructor Ohayia
8/11/2012 5:53:44 AM
Class - If you have not been part of a high-performance team, what kept the teams you
have been on from being high performance?
RE: Road to
high
Paul Lindeke
performance...
8/11/2012 4:13:55 PM
The teams that I have been on that have not been high-performance are the groups that have
had poor communication and some of the members were not focused on what they were
supposed to do. I was part of one group where the other members left because they were
having problems and couldn't keep up with the work load so they quit and I had to complete
the project I was on by myself which caused me to be stressed out but I was able to complete
it. If I had known the other members were having a tough time then I could have done
something to help them but they did not communicate with me so I did not know.
RE: Road to
high
Oral Bestman
performance...
8/11/2012 5:37:24 PM
when individual don't engage in a common goal using all their resource to
gain advantage, or to produce the best possible outcome, than the team can
not performance at it max. Also, at time when group are form, Leader forget
to treat each individual in that group as a part to the overall success of the
group. When individual within a group opinions are over look, or discounted
without a genius reason, their contribution to the team succuss become
disruptive.
RE: Road to
high
Corinne Lisefski
performance...
8/11/2012 2:49:07 PM
The two things that have kept the teams at my organization from being high
performance are lack of trust and lack of effective communication. These
two things coupled with the organization's current culture have lead to most
of the teams not being a high-performance team. This is true for teams within
the same department and for teams that involve one or more departments.
RE: Road to
high
Jenna Pingitore
performance...
8/11/2012 8:13:10 PM
Although I have been a part of a high performing team, I have also been a
part of a team that was not a high performing team. When I was a part of a
non-high performing team, it was because not all members of the team were
top performers and there were many that really just came to work to collect a
paycheck and not to do anything beyond what they absolutely had to do.
When you are on a team that does not want to work to be high performing,
that makes it difficult if there are only a few members of your team that want
to be on a higher level.
RE: Road to
high
Troy Brown
performance...
8/11/2012 9:22:35 PM
You bring up a good point Jenna, not all members of a team will put
forth a 100% effort. It might be who they are or that they have other
interest than the project they are working on. At my workplace we
run into this all the time where people get assigned to a project that
they really don't want to be on to begin with. And when they are on
these teams they drag their feet, which makes it harder for the rest of
the team to accomplish their goals.
RE: Road to
high
Jenna Pingitore
performance...
8/12/2012 8:04:16
PM
That is a great way of putting that, Troy. When you have
people that may be assigned to a project that they don't wish
to be on from the beginning, you will absolutely get some
pushback and lack of top performance when you may be
used to seeing that person as a top performer. In my current
role, we are pretty steady with the information that we do on
a day to day basis, so there are not many new projects that
are introduced. Having said that, when there are new
projects to be taken on, people are usually interested in them
because it breaks up the monotony of their daily routine. If
you work with projects on a daily basis, how do you
overcome the lack of desire to be on a certain project?
RE: Road to
high
Timothy Mark Thurman
performance...
8/12/2012 1:57:00 PM
I can't say that I have been a part of too many high performance teams. The
biggest issue I ran into was poor management and weak team cohesion. Most
managers I have worked under had their own agenda and usually checked out
at 4:59 (proverbially). This was just another job for them and it showed. They
never took the time to learn the craft that they managed or connect with their
team to establish any sort of credibility. The same was true for the teams they
managed. There was very little respect for the leadership so their instructions
often fell on deaf ears. This was not always the fault of the management, a lot
of the companies I worked for had strict policies that limited a manger's
ability to do their job effectively.
RE: Road to
high
Damion Alexander
performance...
8/11/2012 11:08:27 PM
The teams I was around weren't being managed per personality or lead by
example. The teams also weren't accomplishing challenging goals. When you
lead by example, you always do what you say and work in the trenches next
to your employees. Many times I didn't see the leader working side by side
with the other team members.
Why
do
teams
fail?
Instructor Ohayia
8/12/2012 4:33:22 AM
Class - Let's look at the opposite—a team that is considered a failure. Why do teams
fail? What can be done to turn a failing team into a high-performance team?
RE:
Why
do
Ricardo Antezana
teams
fail?
8/12/2012 8:39:46 PM
According to the lecture teams fail because internal and external factors,
among the external factors are the excessive work load assigned to the team
members from their regular work, that is not related with the project, the other
would be the lack of organizational support, the organization assigning the
wrong resources to the project maybe because the project objectives and goals
are not align with the organizational goals and objectives. Among the internal
factors that cause a project to fail are poor team dynamics, lack of
communication, team members not a 100% committed with the project, lack
of strong leadership, team members in constant conflict with each other. if a
project manager is able to prevent or overcome all this issues the project have
a bigger probability to succeed.
RE:
Why
do
Darren Coleman
teams
fail?
8/12/2012 11:11:03 PM
I have noticed that some fail out of fear of conflict. We often times hide our
true thoughts and feelings to keep harmony on the team. No one will voice
their opinions or question shaky opinions. Conflict and the storming stage are
par for the course with any team. Conflict can be healthy as long as the team
doesn't stay there.
To turn it around can be done through communication. The team needs to
know that you are just like them. The leader can not be afraid to ask for
help. High performance team results can be achieved by helping the team get
rid of individual behavior.
RE:
Why
do
Andrea Johnson
teams
fail?
8/12/2012 11:44:59 PM
One reason that teams fail is because of the workload that they have within
the team as well as outside of the team. Some team members may have a lot
of responsibility placed on them at work and then again when they go
home. For example, single parents who hold important positions with their
employer. Another reason teams fail is due to the fact that they all do not
share the same understanding of the project. I once worked for a union and a
co-worker of mine was a relative to a board of trustees member. When we
were placed on projects together his attitude towards performing his job
duties was very minimal because he received his position from who he knew
and felt as though that he could not be touched even when he performed
badly. He had no respect for other team members or the outcome of our
projects.
RE:
Why
do
Melinda Larsh
teams
fail?
8/12/2012 6:38:54 PM
Based on my experience I would say there are two most common reasons
why team fail. Unclear roles and responsibilities which causes confusion and
disengagement in the project. Another reason I have seen projects fail is due
to resource utilization errors. In the company I work for you are often sharing
resources with other project leaders, so you may allocate 20% of your team
members day be spent on your project but they may get involved in other
projects and not have that time to give to your project. Then it is up to the
project manager to discuss with other project managers which project should
be priority.
RE:
Why
do
Charlese Adams
teams
fail?
8/12/2012 7:10:22 PM
I believe the top two reasons why high-performance teams fail is because of
lack of communication and lack of leadership. Lack of communication, I
would consider number one because when the team is not communicating
with one another or being clear about the objectives and the tasks that need to
completed, it causes confusion. Sometimes a task leader is not able to hand a
portion of a project over to a member and give the instruction to complete the
work if they do not understand what is going on. I'm not necessarily saying
that the task leader has to hold the member's hand while completing the work
but to provide instruction on what needs to be completed and offer help
where it is needed.
RE:
Why
do
Tiffany Bullard
teams
fail?
8/12/2012 9:25:13 AM
I think a lot of teams fail because they fail to plan accordingly. When the original plan does
not go as expected they have nothing to fall back on. This is why I believe every project
manager should have a risk management plan in place just in case the risk does arise. That
way they can react quickly and get the project back on course. Having a risk management
plan could essentially save the entire project.
RE:
Why
do
Shavonda Marks
teams
fail?
8/12/2012 10:13:06 AM
I think the team fail due to the following things:
- Absence of clear goals
- Poor decision making
- Lack of mutual accountability
- Lots talking but little action
- Closed minds
http://ezinearticles.com/?Teams---5-Reasons-Why-Teams-Fail-toDeliver&id=2291928
In a few projects I have worked on, the major reasons the team failed was due
to lots of talking but little action and closed minds. Even though we provided
great ideas that were cost effective and would have been a positive impact on
the department, it was never implemented. It seems like the support of the
project manager is always good within the team meetings. It seems like when
the project manager and sponsor meet the decisions are changed.
RE:
Why
do
Nazar Eljack
teams
fail?
8/12/2012 3:29:45 PM
Teams are put together to combine the knowledge and expertise of team
members, this helps to gain greater strategic thinking and enhanced creativity
in business solutions. When teams fail to perform as expected, an attempt is
usually made to pinpoint and blame the people responsible. However, the
answer doesn't always lie in replacing the team or firing the ‘scapegoat’ but in
answering the question, ‘What went wrong with the group as a whole and
why?' Unless we make an attempt to identify the underlying causes, it's
unlikely the solution will be found.
Factors Affect Team Performance
1. No Trust Between Team Members
2. Ineffective Interaction and Unproductive Team Meetings
3. Poor Role Clarity
4. Losing Focus of Business Objectives
5. Faulty Analysis of Market Conditions and Flawed Company Policies
6. Poor Time Management
http://www.teambuildingportal.com/articles/team-failure/why-team-fail
RE:
Why
do
Paul Lindeke
teams
fail?
8/12/2012 4:16:57 PM
There could be a number of reasons why a team fails but the most important factor is lack of
communication between members. In order for a team to be successful the team members
need to be focused on the tasks that are assigned to them and communicate with the other
team members so that everyone knows what is going on and if someone is having problems
with their part of the project. If a member is having problems then the other members can
step in and help that member out so the project can be completed on time and successfully. If
a team is failing and not doing what needs to be done, then the leader needs to step forward
and talk to the whole team and find out what is going on and to see if there is a way to change
the team into a high-performance team.
RE:
Why
do
Robert Allen
teams
fail?
8/12/2012 6:06:43 PM
What causes a team to fail? To answer that let me borrow a quote
from the Hollywood movie G.I. Jane :)
"Master Chief John Urgayle: Remember, there are no bad crews,
only bad leaders. "
That is an interesting premise and would definitely apply to a team
of Navy SEALs as shown in the movie. For us lesser humans it's
still true to some extent, but not as an absolute.
A good team with a poor manager will find it difficult to achieve
success. And a good manager with a so-so team may be able to
bring out the best in his team and have success.
Managers who cast blame, don't take on responsibility, or can't
delegate (i.e. they take on too much responsibility) are
problematic. Teams who don't respect the manager, or the work, or
who resent the technical direction the project is taking, can be a
problem.
Robert
RE:
Why
do
Kim Easter
teams
fail?
8/12/2012 9:56:05 PM
The teams that I have known to fail were do to the following
factors:
Reason 1: Absence of clear goals - A team can not succeed when
there is ambiguity in its processes.
Reason 2: Poor decision making - In a team there are a whole
host of opinions, views, suggestions and ideas to be considered.
Without a clear decision making process, the team runs the risk
of being like a spinning top - going round and round but never
going forward.
Reason 3: Lack of mutual accountability - Most people are great
at being accountable individually however hide behind others
when being mutually accountable for the results of the team.
Reason 4: Lots of talking but little action - I have worked with
people who only focus on the negative aspects of
things. They are more reactive than proactive which is
sometimes too late.
Reason 5: Closed minds - I have worked in management for
several years and have made a point to stay abreast of current
processes as well as increase my skill set however my managers
have not and refuse to consider changing some of the things we
do which has resulted in us losing project to more advance and
current teams.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Duncan_Brodie
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2291928
RE:
Why
do
Kyle Simmons
teams
fail?
8/12/2012 11:48:24 PM
One reason that I have observed is that there is no buy in from all crossfunctional team members essentially creating too many outcomes when there
should only be one.