How Can You Build A High Performance Team?
How can you build a high performance team with the resources you have? That is the question many aspiring managers and leaders are trying to answer. In the article “Building High Performance Teams”, by Harvey Dubin, various strategies and options regarding how to build high performance teams are discussed. In this ever-increasing profit driven global economy, CEO’s will do anything to gain the edge on the competition.
“A high performing team will produce innovations and results that take the company to the next level. This is the team that will reduce costs, increase productivity, shorten time for research and development, and get products and services to market faster.” High performing teams undoubtedly create better business, but many companies struggle with the task of developing these teams. So how can you build a high performance team? It all starts with the individual characteristics of the team at hand.
First, and arguably most important, is the team composition. Do we have the right people with the right skills? At this level, the individual abilities of each team member should be diversified and highly skilled. Think of team composition as a foundation, you cant build a house or a corporation without a foundation. “When a business leader takes on a challenge that requires people to commit and perform in ways they never have before, one of the possible outcomes might be a high-performance organization and culture." This goes back to the aspect of team composition. If that business leader puts together a team, which perhaps hasn’t worked together before, and the team chemistry is spot on, the team might turn into a high-performance team. Bringing the members abilities and culture together in ways you have not thought of in the past, might just be the spark you need for your team excel.
Once the composition of the team has been settled, team goals should be established. Dubin goes on to say, “Building a high-performance team is not about people’s skills, abilities or knowledge. It’s about their commitment.” I agree with Dubin, in that, committed team members are more likely to succeed. Think about if you have everything invested in what you are doing, most of the time you will not fail. Now the challenge here is trying to find a group of team members who all share this drive. The company Delphi, a provider of mobile electronics and transportation components and systems technology, which recently moved is focus away from automobiles, is committed to training their managers and leaders in the new technology they are exploring. They partnered with the University of Dayton to help further their commitment. Committed students of the Delphi program help to find innovative ways to better Delphi’s existing technology. “We have documented- with the concurrence of Delphi’s finance activity- $100 million in savings… Those results come out of projects that students complete based on the education they’ve received.” As you can tell Delphi’s extraordinary savings, if most likely due their commitment to better there company, by doing anything and everything they can, and in turn they help students succeed as well. Think of it as one big high-performing team.
As long as the team can follow set up procedures like, keeping records, meeting deadlines and communication opinions, they team is set in the right direction to succeed. Making sure there are no “breakdowns” is key. “In this context, a breakdown is a situation where current performance falls short of committed goals.” Like previously stated if everybody is committed, whether it be cutting costs by 25% or doubling the company, or doing both at the same time, it IS possible.
- Casey