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• Are Your Teams Performing

Are Your Teams Performing?

written on September 21, 2010 by Joe Mayer

Teams, teamwork, high performance teams seem to be some of the most used words when reading about what makes successful companies tick.  And most business owners will confirm that this is the case in their companies, too.  When I look at the financial results however, it becomes clear that, in fact, the bottom line performance of the companies are average and gross margins and profit margins have not dramatically changed in years.  Where is the disconnect?  Most team leaders are only focusing on results and not the accountability of the team members.  I define accountability of team members the willingness to:

- Put the success of the team ahead of one’s own interests (as member of a department or group within the company) and
- The willingness to remind other team members about their responsibilities when they are not living up to the standards (performance, attendance etc) of the team.  From analyzing team failures I know that the second issue is the most difficult to address.  It is easy to hold somebody accountable for results.  However, it is exceedingly difficult for most leaders to hold somebody accountable for their behavior, and behavioral problems are always early warning signs that the team will most likely not achieve set goals.  Calling on somebody for a behavioral issue forces an issue and is uncomfortable.  It easily can be seen as a personal assault and the person called on might respond with hostility and will in turn question the other person’s fitness to be a team member.  Not an easy but crucial test for teams.
 Addressing behavioral problems is a learned skill.  Team members will pick up on the way the team leader handles situations and will start policing themselves mirroring the team leader’s behavior.  In most cases this ends in avoidance instead of utilizing the opportunity to strengthen a team by forcing an open conversation about a behavioral issue and strengthening the trust and coherence of a team by letting everybody off the hook.  Again, the results are below average results.  Not addressing behavioral issues is nothing else than letting a team member down and wasting everybody’s time.  So how to get back on track?

We recommend a one day team retreat where the focus needs to be on:

- Assessing the team’s trust level
- Assessing how conflicts are resolved
- Teaching skills for keeping emotions out of conflicts and, lastly,
- Developing and agreeing on a model for future conflict resolution
Without trust there can be no effective team; without team members putting the team’s interests above their personal interests we cannot achieve stretch goals or breakthrough outcomes.


© 2010 Copyrighted by Dr. Joe Mayer, Managing Partner of the Mayer Business Group, who helps business owners, professionals and their key employees to grow their businesses by focusing on vision and strategy.  Joe can be reached at JMayer@MayerBusinessGroup.com; www.mayerbusinessgroup.com