Creating and Measuring Team
Success
May 2004 - BEK Best Practices Newsletter
How many dysfunctional teams have you participated
in? How many dollars have been lost because your teams
aren't agreeing to disagree or are marching to multiple
agendas? Probably more than you care to remember. Many
organizations make deadly mistakes such as missing market
windows or paying more to achieve results because of broken
teams. Regardless of the size of your company or organization,
the successful ones collaborate among teams and team members.
Teams that succeed are the ones that listen to one another.
They solve challenges together. They compromise. They agree
to disagree and move on. In short, they all want the right
thing for the company and are willing to put their personal
feelings and beliefs aside in order to achieve this goal.
Since most companies are trying to do more
with less, the following five easy steps will enable your
teams to operate more efficiently with less stress, and
to achieve the desired results.
Define the
Purpose
Why does the team exist? If there is not a common understanding
of the function of the team it is difficult for the team
to be successful:
- Is the team's purpose in sync with the strategic
goals and objectives of the organization?
- Are the people on the team committed to the purpose
of the team?
If your team is clear about its purpose,
you can use this purpose to make sure your team is on target.
It also makes handling conflict much easier because you
can remind your team of their purpose and their commitment
to that purpose.
Set Specific
Goals
What are the specific measurable results that you are using
to hold your team accountable? Don't have any? Don't feel
bad. Most people never think to hold a "team" accountable.
When you establish accountability, create metrics that
contribute to key organizational goals. Specific, achievable
goals challenge your team to strive for excellence while
helping them feel confident. Your team's goals should also
take into account the needs of customers or key stakeholders.
After all, your customers are the lifeblood of your business.
Define Roles
How often have you heard "it isn't my job" or "I
thought so and was going to take care of it"? Passing
blame or trying to pass the buck can be detrimental to
your team's success. Team members should:
- Understand what has to be done, who will do it, and
where help may come from, if necessary
- Know who will make decisions and how the decisions
will be made
- Be able to resolve conflicts that may arise during
the life of the team
Be supportive of one another in any way possible
Communicate
How Your Going to Get Things Done
How are you and your team going to get things done and
deliver on your commitments? If you are dependent on one
another for information, how will you manage getting them
the information they need? Most teams members don't really
talk to each other enough to figure out the most efficient
way to get something done. Collaboration is key - it is
more efficient and more fun! Things to do:
- Coordinate activities - know what each person needs
and when
- Use common processes and tools
- Share how you plan to get something done and how
you will make decisions with your team members
- Talk to key stakeholders early and often - iteration
is valuable, and it is better to identify what you
don't know, misunderstandings, or errors earlier rather
than later when the impacts are bigger
Leverage Skills
and Experiences
Let's face it - some people are better at some things than
we are! We each have our strengths and weaknesses, and
some of us are more "seasoned" than others. In
order to have a powerful team, you have to send your ego
to the parking lot and ask yourself these questions:
- Do you have the right people with the right skills
and experiences on your team? If not, do your team
members have mentors or backups that they can go to
for guidance?
- Do you have team members who know more than you do
about certain parts of your deliverables? Good, you
need them.
- Do your teams utilize the resources outside of the
team to get things done?
The right combination of experience, knowledge,
ability and sometimes temperament can make or break the
success of a team.
XYZ Company, a medium size business, was
developing a real-time reporting product, based on new
technology. As usual, time to market was critical. Before
the requirements were finalized, a cross-functional release
team was formed by the executive sponsors. Because start-up
resources were scarce, the team members wore several different
hats. One person was responsible for product and program
management. Engineering had one representative (and only
five developers on the project), and one person each for
quality assurance, documentation, training, support and
manufacturing. A product marketing resource was added as
the product got closer to launch. The team worked together
to define what they wanted to achieve based on customer
and company goals. For example, customers wanted a significant
amount of real-time information in order to better manage
their business. They also wanted to view the data they
way they wanted (they wanted to customize their own views
rather than have a vendor tell them how to view the information).
(See the product objectives below) From a corporate perspective,
the goals included:
- Significantly contributing to add-on revenue
- Helping to close new business
- Position the company as the leader in management
reporting
- Create extremely satisfied customers
The team had a number of different measurements
that they tracked throughout the development lifecycle
(as opposed to just tracking at the end) that ranged from
product performance and development progress, to team dynamics.
They understood their roles and the roles of others and
they weren't afraid to leverage the strengths of others
(even though it may not have been the other persons responsibility).
For example, even though there was quality assurance, documentation
and training were invaluable in terms of providing significant
user interface feedback as they created product documentation
and training materials. The team knew they wouldn't always
agree (and they didn't) so they defined five key product
objectives that were specific to the success of the product.
The objectives were:
- Color (the product had to provide color)
- Customization (the product had to be customizable
by the user)
- Graphics (the product had to provide graphics)
- Adherence monitoring (users had to be able to set
thresholds and view when they were above/below)
- Interoperability
When they were having difficulty making the
hard choices or reaching some kind of agreement they would
go back to the basic objectives they defined and use them
to make the decision. For example, if a feature tried to
creep its way in if it didn't significantly apply to one
of the product objectives the feature was cut. Essentially,
the team collaborated. They spent time together. They used
the KIS model (keep it simple). They agreed to disagree
and once a decision was made it stuck because someone didn't
walk out of the room and go lobby elsewhere for a different
decision.
Measure how well your team is performing
regularly. Measure results, processes and relationships:
- What worked and why?
What could be improved and how?
A little up front effort when you are forming your teams
will go a long way to their overall success and the success
of your company.
Next month's topic: Pricing Strategies - Are
You Set Up for Success?
For more information, contact BEK Enterprises
at:
Web: www.bekteam.com
E-mail:
Phone: 720-304-3300
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