Team Building - Building Optimally Performing Teams

Why is my team under-performing?
Why can't I get everyone on the same page? 

Our clients ask us these questions with heartfelt concern in their voices. "We need to move smarter and faster if we are going to be competitive!" Is another concern we hear often.  In our professional experience, team performance is seldom due to individual members not being smart. In fact, we’ve worked with teams in which the average IQ was very high, yet some members couldn’t wait to get out of the meeting room. The problem, simply put, is they where not on the same page. Our solution to this problem is to implement a process that develops the critical skills that build relationships and remove barriers which block  performance.

A consistent theme that runs through our work and project design is, “We are in the Age of Relationships; this is not a go it alone world.” And team performance is about relationships and the Japanese proverb - "None of us is as smart as all of us." It starts with exploring individual mindsets. Do team members have mindsets that support this core belief or is their thinking contrary to this premise? Building team performance is a matter of team members being committed to a belief that the power of the team holds more potential than the power of an individual.

The First step and most critical step in building team performance is aligning mindsets, team vision and values. When this preparatory work is accomplished, team performance will sustain itself under stress, which is a given in the global economy. The science of stress confirms that when confronted with stressors, individuals will revert to mindsets that may disrupt the functioning of the team, survival of the fittest, not realizing that that power of the team creates the greatest safety. Therefore, aligning and hardwiring team vision and values is critical. For more on Hardwiring read Hardwiring R³ and the 3D Learning Model (PDF)

The Second step in our process is to elevate team emotional intelligence (EQ). Once again studies validate that teams with higher overall team EQ perform at higher levels. By teaching team members how emotions affect performance and helping them learn to self-manage their emotions, members become more adept at sensing their colleagues’ emotions and using this information to improve team performance. Emotions and innovation are like a lock and key - emotions are the keys to unlocking innovation. Teams that have higher levels of EQ not only outperform, they out-innovate their lower EQ competitors.

The Third step is to teach powerful listening and questioning skills. Our belief is that each team member has two key responsibilities to contribute to high level team performance:

• Listen with the intent of understanding and advancing the dialogue
• Formulate and ask powerful questions that engage all team members in identifying the core issues and challenges confronting the team and expanding the possibilities and opportunities for solutions
  

A model that we incorporate in this step is adapted from the work of Otto Scharmer, Theory U. By using experiential exercises and debriefing we help team members recognize the voices of judgment, cynicism and fear. They recognize that these voices shut down communication and innovation, preventing teams from reaching their potential and performing at high levels.

These Three Steps are the building blocks of Optimally Performing Teams. Teams don’t under-perform because the members aren’t smart (IQ) enough. They under-perform because they are not aligned and committed in mindset, vision and values. They are not EQ smart and their skills in listening and questioning are under-developed.

Once these steps are hardwired your team is ready to take on the challenges confronting your business. Contact us for a consultation on how we can assist you in creating a foundation that solves your team's performance issues.  Optimally performing teams and success are not luck; they are built on high performing relationships.