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| 4/6/2011
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HRDQ
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| April 2011
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“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.”
– Henry Ford
Navigating the Seven C’s of effective team performance
 In business, as in most human endeavors, the best teams win. A work group, a business unit, or an organization that functions effectively as a team will always outperform one that doesn’t. Sure, that’s easy to say, but what does it really mean to function effectively as a team? What factors must be present for great teamwork to exist? And how do you know great teamwork when you see it? Studies show that effective team performance is the result of several interrelated factors that create optimal conditions for success. This research identifies seven key skills that separate high-performing teams from the rest:
- Clarity
- Capability
- Collaboration
- Commitment
- Communication
- Continuous Improvement
- Creativity
Each of these skills—we’ll call them the “Seven C’s”—have a uniquely important role in the creation of an effective team. Developing and improving these seven areas will increase overall team effectiveness.
The Seven C’s of Effective Team Performance
Clarity
Effective teams have clarity of purpose and agreement on individual and team roles. Clarity of purpose focuses a team on what it needs to accomplish and how that goal fits within the organization’s larger priorities. Clarity about roles and responsibilities is also important to team success because it’s critical for team members to understand, agree upon, and accept their individual roles. Teams with a great deal of clarity find it easier to make decisions and act on ways to accomplish goals together.
Capability
Forming and developing a team with the appropriate amount of know-how is at the core of team performance. It’s the team’s skill set that determines how individuals should align their skills within the team. But at the same time, it is important to strike a balance between team members who already possess necessary skills with team members who still need skill development. How those capabilities are used and dispersed depends on the way the work processes are designed and implemented.
Collaboration
Before a team can achieve a collective goal, individuals must be able to work effectively both independently and as part of a team. Research confirms that the most effective teams are cohesive, cooperative, and creative. In other words, they are collaborative. It’s what enables the interaction, integration, and synergy required for teams to achieve their goals. It also forms the basis for the efficient use of resources, problem solving, decision making, and change management.
Commitment
Commitment boils down to two important and related factors: accountability and trust. Simply put, commitment is about team members who “keep their word.” Teams cannot succeed without it. Commitment provides teams with both balance and strength. It motivates, strengthens, and prepares teams to face tough challenges.
Communication
The quality of the team’s communication determines the effectiveness of the various links team members have with each other, as well as other teams, resources, and stakeholders. Teams must employ various communication channels—including all available technologies—to be connected, informed, and coordinated. High-performing teams have an open communication structure that enables all members to participate. Open, honest dialogues lead to better choices and decisions.
Continuous Improvement
Teams oriented towards continuous improvement are more likely to be resilient and effective. That’s because they are better able and better prepared to face new challenges with skill and confidence.
High-performing teams are not only committed to their individual performance, but they are also more likely to evaluate performance, evolve team processes, and improve interpersonal dynamics.
Creativity
Innovation and creativity are very often identified as key factors in team and organizational performance. It is widely recognized that when an organizational environment encourages creativity, team members can solve problems and discover new ideas more effectively. To foster innovation and creativity, organizations must create an environment that supports risk-taking; encourages diversity of membership, thinking, and contribution; promotes patience; and tolerates ambiguity.
Integration and Interdependence of the Seven C’s
While it’s important to focus attention on each of the Seven C’s, it’s their integration and interdependence that creates the potential for exceptional team performance. The challenge is to focus attention on the Seven C’s, both separately and in relation to each other, as a team navigates the dynamic waters of their performance challenge.
Source: Tall Ships: Building Effective Teams |
Five skills every supervisor needs for success
 What made a good supervisor twenty or even ten years ago is not necessarily what makes a good supervisor today. While there may not be a quick and simple answer, there are five skills that, when learned through time and exposure, make supervisors more effective:
- Guiding the Work
- Organizing the Work
- Developing Your Staff
- Managing Performance
- Managing Relations
The ability to balance the goals of the organization with the needs of the work group is the common thread runs through all of these skill dimensions. It’s the primary role of supervisors to create a link between management and employees. Supervisors are accountable to management for getting the work done according to expectations, yet they are also accountable to their employees for their well-being and development. Figure 1 below illustrates this concept.
Figure 1. The Supervisory Skills Model.
Guiding the Work
Guiding the Work means understanding what the needs of the organization are and planning group work effectively to meet those needs.
Do
- Support organizational goals
- Get employees involved in planning
- Act decisively
- Make plans to review progress
Don’t
- Tell employees you disagree with management
- Prepare detailed plans without employee input
- Put off making decisions
- Fail to assign responsibility for tasks
Organizing the Work
There is an almost constant need to assess priorities and assign work. Organizing the Work involves assigning people and allocating resources to accomplish work goals.
Do
- Set schedules to meet organizational goals
- Use others’ expertise when necessary
- Pay attention to what’s happening in the informal organization
- Involve others in reorganizations
Don’t
- Accept work changes without question
- Show favoritism
- Fail to assign responsibility
- Try to have complete knowledge of all work
Developing Your Staff
The ability of supervisors to develop their employees is based upon strong knowledge of each individual. Developing Your Staff involves increasing employees’ skill levels by learning their individual strengths and assigning tasks according to development need.
Do
- Delegate work that develops employee skills
- Get to know employees on an individual level
- Inform employees about the status of requests
- Set expectations for results
Don’t
- Complete tasks yourself because they require effort
- Treat employees as a group, not individuals
- Forget to tell employees about the status of requests
- Delegate only to people who already have the skills
Managing Performance
The obstacles to employee performance can be found both within the employee and in the work environment. Managing Performance includes tracking employees’ performance and helping them to meet both their personal objectives and those of the organization.
Do
- Track performance and provide regular feedback
- Judge performance by how it affects the organization
- Remain objective
- Get commitment from employees to improve performance
Don’t
- Review performance only once a year
- Judge employees before you talk with them about their performance
- Allow yourself to become emotional
- Try to fix every problem
Managing Relations
As organizations become more connected, both internally and externally, the ability to manage relations with other groups has become a key skill for supervisors. Managing Relations with other groups is critical to ensuring that the work group is effective and that organizational goals are met.
Do
- Keep others informed about your plans
- Consider requests for help based on the needs of the organization
- Become familiar with other groups’ work
- Develop relationships with other supervisors
Don’t
- Attempt to acquire resources by complaining about your group’s situation
- Try to have complete knowledge of other groups’ work
- Turn down all requests for help that inconvenience your group
- Accept work from other groups without question
Maintaining Balance and Perspective
Mastering the five supervisory skills takes time and a fair amount of practice. It is unreasonable to expect that supervisors will know how to handle every situation from the get-go. But with the right resources and skills, supervisors can achieve a balanced perspective that considers both the organization and work group needs.
Source: Supervisory Skills Questionnaire
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“Learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.”
– Peter Drucker
Why and how some people learn more than others
 Why might two people, matched for age, intelligence, and need, who are exposed to the same learning opportunity react differently? It’s not uncommon to see one person emerge from a training session with loads of enthusiasm, ready and able to articulate and implement what has just been learned, while another complains that the training was a waste of time and that nothing of value was learned. Why, with other factors apparently in common, does one person learn while another does not? The answer lies in differing preferences for how we learn—our learning style.
Learning style is the term used to describe the attitudes and behaviors that determine an individual’s preferred way of learning. Most people are unaware of their learning style preferences. They may only recognize that they feel more comfortable with some types of training than others. Most often, learners don’t have a say in how they choose to learn. That’s why it’s important for trainers to have an awareness of their participants’ learning styles. It’s the key to selecting the training approaches that will produce the best results.
The four personal learning styles
Through years of research, experts in the field of adult learning have pinpointed four distinct learning styles: Activist, Reflector, Theorist, and Pragmatist. While it’s important to note that no one style is better than another, the strengths of a particular style may be more important for learning in one type of situation than another. And over time, people develop personal preferences for certain stages of the continuous learning cycle (Figure 2 below). All of this has important implications for effective learning.
Figure 2. The learning styles as they correspond to the learning cycle.
Activists: “I’ll try anything once.”
Activists involve themselves fully in new experiences without bias. They are open-minded and they like to problem solve with brainstorming. As soon as the excitement from one activity has died down, they are busy looking for the next. Activists thrive on the challenge of new experiences but become bored with implementation over time.
Learn Most
- New experiences
- Business games and role-playing exercises
- Group learning and brainstorming
Learn Least
- Passive activities such as reading and lectures
- Repetitive activities
- Assessments requiring analysis and interpretation
Reflectors: “Let me think about that.”
Reflectors like to stand back to ponder experiences and observe them from many different perspectives. They collect data and take time to listen to others before coming to any conclusion. Their decisions include both past and present observations.
Learn Most
- Observation such as videos and meetings
- Research and investigative pre-work
- Structured training experiences
Learn Least
- Role-playing exercises
- Activities with time restrictions
- Fast-paced exercises that don’t allow reflection
Theorists:“If it’s logical, it’s good.”
Theorists problem solve in a vertical, step-by-step, logical way. They are interested in basic assumptions, principles, theories, models, and systems. Theorists prefer certainty and feel uncomfortable with subjective judgments and lateral thinking.
Learn Most
- Models and theories
- Question and answer formats
- Complex problem-solving simulations
Learn Least
- Activities that require emotions and feelings
- Open-ended exercises or sensitivity training
- Concepts that are not backed by research and statistics
Pragmatists: “There is always a better way.”
Pragmatists respond to problems and opportunities “as a challenge.” They are most interested in trying out ideas, theories, and techniques to see if they work in practice. They return from management courses brimming with new ideas they want to try out in practice.
Learn Most
- Models that can be emulated, demonstrations
- Training that focuses on practical application
- Coaching and feedback
Learn Least
- Theory and presentation that lack real-world substance
- Activities with no opportunity for practice
- Training that doesn’t produce immediate results
The Importance of Matching Training to Learning Style
Because each learning style corresponds to a specific stage on the continuous learning cycle, individuals usually have a preference for one phase over the others. It’s not surprising that they are most likely to learn when the activities to which they are exposed involve the style they prefer. Similarly, when there is a mismatch, they are less likely to learn. As a trainer, the key to maximizing your results is to match training methods with learning styles whenever possible.
Source: Learning Styles Questionnaire |
Becoming a truly remarkable leaderInterview with Kevin Eikenberry, author of Remarkable Leadership We are all given a unique set of talents when we are born. While these abilities help us to evolve as leaders, others need to be nurtured and developed. Learning to become a remarkable leader requires a continuous upward climb. We recently interviewed Kevin Eikenberry, author of the acclaimed book, Remarkable Leadership: Unleashing Your Leadership Potential One Skill at a Time. We asked him about him about what it means to be truly remarkable and how trainers can help today’s leaders achieve this ideal. Q: How do you describe Remarkable Leadership and how does one become a Remarkable Leader?A: When you think about the word “remarkable,” it means that something is worth talking about. Remarkable Leadership is a choice that leaders make to become the best, most effective leader they can be. The goal isn’t to be talked about or to become the center of attention, but rather to be noticed for their skills and effectiveness so that they can make a positive difference for others and the organization. You become a Remarkable Leader by making a deliberate choice to learn, by making a deliberate choice to improve, and by making a deliberate choice to make a difference each and every day. Q: How did you realize the need for a different type of leadership training solution?A: Talking to clients and observing the obstacles that organizations have in helping leaders grow. The challenge that organizations face is that training becomes an event. They build a workshop (or identify one to send people to), and then measure performance based on people’s attendance. This is a fine thing to measure, but it doesn’t measure leadership development! We try to develop tools and solutions that match the way learning really happens. Training is an event, but learning is a process, so the goal is to provide solutions that become an ongoing learning process rather than a training event. Q: How does Remarkable Leadership differ from other leadership training programs?A: Within the Remarkable Leadership brand we have a variety of solutions, from the book to training materials to membership in our Remarkable Leadership Learning System—an ongoing “one skill at a time, one month at a time” approach to becoming a better leader. All of these solutions are process-focused, proven, practical, and most importantly, bite-sized bits of learning. Q: What is the advantage of the modular approach?A: Simple. It’s application! When people leave a general leadership workshop, regardless of how well-designed it is, or how skilled the facilitator is, they are in “overwhelmed mode.” They have a ton of new ideas and a ton of work to do when they return. We like to say that when they get back to work, real life happens. By modularizing the material, people leave a short session with some specific and actionable ideas. While we as designers and trainers can’t guarantee they will go back to work and apply it, we have, through our design and the module approach, improved the likelihood that they can find one or more things to try right away. And success, of course, builds on success, so once people have successes they will be open to more learning and be more excited about the next module. Q: Who is the target audience for Remarkable Leadership?A: Leaders at all levels from new, first-line managers to C-level participants, have had great success with Remarkable Leadership, but the examples and situations are probably best suited for first-line and mid-manager levels. That being said, we firmly believe the best success is achieved when organizations include a vertical slice of leaders in the same session. While some of the more experienced or senior leaders may “know” some of the ideas, a refresher is always valuable and the interaction and relationships that can be built with a cross section of leaders involved can be a powerful part of the process. Q: What results can trainers expect to see after facilitating Remarkable Leadership?A: Trainers can expect leaders to be better equipped to do the challenging and complex work of leadership. The program does not guarantee that people will try newly learned skills and ideas (nor will any other program for that matter). But Remarkable Leadership provides a platform for growth, comprehensive materials to support it, and ideas trainers can use to provide ongoing support people outside of the classroom, which is where the real application happens. Q: Are there any specific Remarkable Leadership stories you can share with us?A: I’ve delivered Remarkable Leadership training in various forms and formats over the past four years. It’s given me lots of valuable feedback. The most powerful stories come from people who found encouragement and inspiration from the program and then returned to work to make a difference in their organizations and for their teams. We’ve heard lots of stories of promotions, improved working relationships, successful change, and coaching efforts. But more important than my own experiences are those you will create as you use Remarkable Leadership with your leaders. About the AuthorKevin Eikenberry is the chief potential officer of The Eikenberry Group, a learning and consulting company that provides a wide range of services, including training delivery and design, facilitation, leadership coaching, organizational consulting, and speaking services. His expertise includes leadership, teams, and facilitation. Kevin has worked with many major organizations such as Chevron, John Deere, Southwest Airlines, and the U.S. Marine Corps. In addition, he is the author of many books, including Remarkable Leadership – Unleashing your Leadership Potential One Skill at a Time, From Bud to Boss – Secrets to a Successful Transition to Remarkable Leadership, and Vantagepoints on Learning and Life.
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Free Trainer Education Series
Free Webinars—Register Today!
Ten Ways to Develop Remarkable Leaders
with Kevin Eikenberry
April 14, 2011, 2:00-3:00 EDT
DARE to be a Successful Project Manager
With Lou Russell
May 18, 2011, 2:00-3:00pm EDT
Seven Steps to Effective Coaching Meetings
with Ken Phillips
June 22, 2011, 2:00-3:00pm EDT
Leadership Unlimited: Removing Barriers to Your Potential
with Roger Pearman
July 13, 2011, 2:00-3:00pm EDT
Using Courage to Transform the Workplace
with Bill Treasurer
August 10, 2011, 2:00-3:00pm EDT
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