From effective to exceptional teams
RiverRhee Consulting Associates help teams to be more effective and efficient so that they can be more productive and generally happier in what they do. Inspired by Dr Rob Yeung’s book “E is for Exceptional” recently reviewed by Elisabeth Goodman “Banishing Monday morning blues: Being Exceptional”, we’d like to devote this newsletter to exploring how teams might cultivate capabilities for being not only effective but exceptional in their work.
First a quick round-up of some of the things we’ve been doing
John Riddell and Elisabeth Goodman ran an in-house workshop for a local business to introduce them to Lean and Six Sigma. This was very well received: “We have already started using the DMAIC model to support a number of issues/discussions. [For example we’ve] started the process to Define quality across our 4 task force areas.”
Having previously run a 1-day workshop on Lean and Six Sigma for Abcam’s PDM team in the UK, Elisabeth travelled to Cambridge Massachusetts to run a half-day taster version for the managers there, and a day’s workshop (in 2 half-days) for the Logistics team.
John and Elisabeth have made a good start on “Knowledge Management in the Pharmaceutical Industry” for Gower, and are enjoying interviewing current and past practitioners across a range of businesses and occupations. We’re still interested in hearing from others who might like to contribute their experiences and insights so do get in touch if you’d like to.
Elisabeth’s article: “Information Analysis – A Lean and Six Sigma case study” was published in Business Information Review 2012; 29 83-86.
The following descriptions of how teams could become not only effective but exceptional in their work are based on our own experiences and insights from what we do, as well as those of Dr Rob Yeung.
1. Encouraging each team member towards their 'authentic' role
In a high-performing (or exceptional) team everyone is performing at their best, doing what they enjoy most. It should be possible for individual team members’ roles to be shaped to get as close to their ‘authentic’ roles as possible.
Enlightened individuals take an ‘intrapreneurial’ or ‘self-employed’ attitude to their work. Enlightened managers help individuals through their career progression within the organisation or outside it. Performance reviews should be an opportunity to shape the job to the individual, not just shape the individual to the job.
2. Living a team vision
A team vision should be compelling for all team members, both when it starts up and on an on-going basis.
This kind of awareness of a team’s or organisation’s vision is also invaluable for effective business improvement or change management. Putting a planned organisational, product, service or other work-related change into the context of the overall vision focuses the team member’s minds on the value (or otherwise) of making the change, and on how to communicate the change to stakeholders.
3. Daring to deliver the team's best performance
Team members that dare have the courage to challenge the status quo, or respond to feedback from customers, which may instigate a significant change in direction. They will suggest solutions that no-one else has thought of (or dared to suggest). They will express or encourage disagreement with changes that others are confidently pushing through.
A team that dares actively pursues and ‘treasures’ each problem it discovers as another step in tackling the complexity of what we do.
4. Cultivating a spirit of continuous learning and creativity
Google, IBM, LinkedIn encourage their employees to spend 5-20% of their time on a project that they are personally interested in.
Teams that consciously make time to absorb new ideas, think, question and speculate will be better placed to produce new insights and breakthroughs. Applying Lean and Six Sigma techniques to a team’s work can free up in the order of 20% of their time for this kind of activity.
Investing in time to learn before, during and after events, both within the team and with others outside it will also reap its rewards.
5. Cherishing relationships within and outside the team
Building relationships and rapport with customers, suppliers and sponsors will position a team for exceptional success. It will enhance their understanding of the value they can and do deliver and give them the support they need for getting their work done. It will provide them with new knowledge and insights to feed their learning and creativity.
Nurturing relationships and rapport within the team will enhance mutual understanding, knowledge sharing, a healthy exchange of views and opinions and the ability to draw on the diverse strengths within the team.
6. Fostering a core of calm
Some teams that we work with operate in a quite frenetic environment. Others are facing quite dramatic change. The ability to come back to a ‘core of calm’ will make an important difference to team members’ ability to renew their energy and face another day.
Some of the things we’ve observed that help teams to achieve this include: regular ‘stand-up’ meetings to review performance and learnings against targets, 1:1 discussions between the team leader and individual members, Friday cake or pizza gatherings.
7. Exercising integrity in the community
At the end of the day, the reputation of the team is what will determine its success. If clients cannot trust them they will not come again, and may deter others from doing so. A team’s activeness in its community will enhance its visibility. A sustainable approach to the environment is increasingly becoming a pre-requisite. This ‘citizenship’ behaviour may be the final requirement for becoming an exceptional team.
A final note on the RiverRhee team
We have a new Associate, Lorraine Warne, joining our team. Lorraine is a performance coach and trainer, and her qualifications include Master Practitioner in NLP and a Post Grad certification in education. A recent testimonial from a client included: “No one I have met has the ability to transmit enthusiasm and to motivate people like Lorraine. She has empathy as her second nature and fine ability to respond to her clients' issues by providing fresh perspectives and alternative dimensions. She is skilled in isolating problems from their secondary issues of anxiety, shock and displacement, and in then rebuilding people into a new state of self confidence and enhanced self-esteem.”
Do get in touch if you would like to discuss some of the ways in which Lorraine and the rest of our team can help your team become more effective and even exceptional.
To find out more about RiverRhee Consulting, our range of off-site and in-house courses, see the RiverRhee Consulting website or e-mail the author at elisabeth@riverrhee.com.
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