Creating a High Performance Team

Steps for Creating High Performance Team

There are three useful steps to follow when creating an HPT (Ezine articles):

  1. Create a Common Mission A mission is defined most clearly by a set of shared values among members of the team such as contribution, determination, altruism, and/or loyalty. When developing an HPT, enlist the services of employees that share similar values on a fundamental level. After all, team direction and level of motivation are determined by the amount of shared values within the team. Without a common mission, all teams will eventually disintegrate and become ineffective. Some possible shared values for HPTs include adding value to every interaction with customers and other team members, honesty, and integrity.
  2. Designate Roles The next step is to designate roles because each team member excels at something different. It is essential to first understand what assets the team possesses, particularly with regards to desired work-related outcomes and tasks to be fulfilled. All corporations can benefit from a thorough analysis where employee strengths are evaluated and made readily available for team use. Once employee strengths are understood, it is important to assign roles and tasks on a deliberate basis. These tasks come from desired outcomes, which result from corporate strategic goals. Working backwards from tasks, assign employees to an area of primary strength. Overall, it is important to remember that team members are most valuable in positions where they contribute the most and are productive.
  3. Build Individual and Collective Accountability The final step is to build individual and collective accountability. Accountability is an area where most teams fail, leaving management wondering why they continue to fail to meet expectations. Each team member should be responsible for something individually, while the group is responsible for the entire project. Creating accountability on an individual and group basis allows management to pinpoint areas of remediation for specific teams and individual employees. Application of these principles will enables organizations to build a quality HPT in which productivity can increase and creative ideas can take form.

Example: HPTs at Volvo

Volvo’s plant in Kalmar, Sweden is a good example of a team approach with a clear direction. The plan has had a great deal of success, including reducing lead time by 25%, improving quality by 40%, and boosting efficiency by 30%. When their plant manager was asked how they did it, he responded that good teamwork calls for clearly defined targets and a plan for reaching them. Those targets have to be accepted by everyone on the team, and it must be possible to measure them. Volvo management sets the target for the teams, but all the sub-goals are left up to team members. Targets vary depending on the company’s needs, but the target at Volvo was greater customer satisfaction.

Reference

See 3 Ways to Create a High Performance Team (Smith, L., 2005) for more information about this topic.