Decoding Team Productivity
Companies around the world continue to invest millions of dollars on team building. Google famously spent years trying to decode the qualities associated with a successful team. Silicon Valley giants like Uber, Facebook and Salesforce partner with third party specialists to provide impactful team building experience to their employees.
Flashback to 1965, when Bruce Tuckman introduced the FSNP Model (Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing) for achieving team effectiveness. In 1972, when Richard Beckhard introduced the widely popular team effectiveness model GRPI. GRPI stands for goals, roles, procedures and interpersonal relationships. Over the years, several team performance models have come up such as: The LaFasto and Larson Model (2001) the T7 Model of team effectiveness (1995) and many more. The core theory of all these models can be distilled into the following ideas. Team effectiveness is determined by a combination of internal and external factors.
Internal Factors:
· Goals
· Skills and Roles
· Procedures/Processes
· Interpersonal Relationships/Team dynamics
· Meaning/Impact
External Factors:
· Organization Environment
· Rewards and Recognition
In my previous job, I worked as an Area Sales Manager. Sales teams provide one of the best settings to observe team dynamics, individual and team response to goals, rewards and recognition.
During my experience in managing a team of 6 people, I firsthand saw the importance of clear goal setting. SMART goals, clearly defined roles are the precursor to team performance. Team procedures and processes should be defined such that they complement the smooth functioning of the team, rather than impose unnecessary rules and decrease productivity. Team dynamics can make or break a team. A positive and conducive team atmosphere can push individuals to think as one team and punch above their weight to achieve tremendous success. In addition, it’s important that the team members find meaning in their work, and truly believe that they are making an impact to the organization, both at an individual level as well as team level. Such belief can make teams work wonders and come out on top in all situations. Organization environment, rewards and recognition play vital roles in driving a team to achieve its goals. A highly effective team can stop performing if the members feel that the organization does not support them or do not recognize their work.
As a student at UC Davis, we are all part of a practicum project, which we work on as a part of our curriculum throughout the year. Our team works with a non-profit organization and my experience working with a non-profit organization has been different from that of a corporate in some respects. Our team roles were not defined by demonstrated competence or skills, rather than our backgrounds and past experience. Our team has well defined roles, processes and procedures. From the very beginning, we put in effort to get to know each other well and build a conducive atmosphere for everyone to work in. All of us belong to different countries and ethnicities and are extremely mindful that everyone must feel a part of the team. The practicum project is important for us as a team, as well as individually since for many of us it’s the first real-life analytics project we have been a part of, and the project offers ample learning opportunities for us. We are building skills and learning techniques that will help us in our careers later. Thus, evaluating my team from an internal perspective, I think we are an effective team, dedicated to achieving our project goals.
From an external perspective, our client has given us clear, achievable goals and is readily available for support and discussions. We have regular meetings to discuss the progress of the project and implementation of our analysis. However, as a team, we do not get hard deadlines or deliverables and break down the project goals according to our best judgement. In my opinion, to bring out the best in a team, it’s important to keep pushing the team by stepping up the difficulty and complexity of deliverables, introducing experimentation and creativity and setting milestones which help push the team to perform better.
I’ve worked as a consultant as well as a team manager prior to UC Davis. Based on my learnings, I try to push my team to deliver more and better when I think that we are lagging as a team. Having previously managed a team with people of diverse backgrounds and age-groups, I keep out an eye for everyone and ensure that each member feels comfortable and positive working in the team.
For a team to function to the best of its ability, all factors, internal as well as external must compliment each other. Lack of one or two can reduce team performance and even demotivate the team. All factors put together will yield synergy and enable the team to achieve its goals.
References:
https://www.wrike.com/blog/6-different-team-effectiveness-models/
https://zenkit.com/en/blog/7-popular-team-effectiveness-models-and-what-theyre-best-suited-for/
https://leadershiphq.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/when-teams-work-best1.pdf
https://www.hoganassessments.com/four-models-of-team-performance/
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/28/what-google-learned-in-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html
http://www.mspguide.org/tool/tuckman-forming-norming-storming-performing