High Performing Teams

Introduction This paper will cover several(prenominal) topics related to high- manageing police squads and belong groups. It will discuss how these two kinds of featplace commonaltywealth sets and how they differ in their pursuit of fundamental lawal strategy and comp ar these differences to realistic squads. It will identify the characteristics of successful head upers of high-performing police squads and finally discuss why high-performing group ups argon important to organizations. High-Performing Teams and Work GroupsBefore we can define high-performing teams or work groups, we will need to define the term team first. A team can be defined as a tenuous number of people with antonymous skills who are committed to a common end, set of performance goals, and set about for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. That definition lays master the discipline that teams must treat to be effective (Katzenbach, 2005). Organizations utilize teams to perform operat ional and project based tasks.People running(a) in teams deplete the capacity to solve complex line of works that cannot be solved by individuals working alone. People working in teams bring more(prenominal)(prenominal) resources to a task, including a variety of perspectives, hit the sackledge, skills, and experience (Capella University, 2008). This diversity of perspectives, knowledge, skills, and experience allows a team to outgo the sum of its parts and is a critical component of a team being labeled as a high-performing team.Teams come in some(prenominal) forms, they can be permanent or temporary, they can be leader-led or self-managed, and they can be co-located or practical(prenominal). Regardless of their purpose and form, all teams are made up of individuals interacting interdependently to achieve common organizational goal. Furthermore, all teams share the following clear boundaries, common tasks, differentiated member roles, autonomy, dependence on others, and co llective responsibility (Capella University, 2008). Teams definitely are forms of work groups, save not all work groups are teams (Brounstein, 2011).A work group is overly a collection of individuals however they may not have complementary skills, a common purpose or a set of dual-lane goals. In a work group, each member is responsible for wholly their own individual contributions. He or she achieves outcomes or makes their contribution to the organization in (relative) isolation. Individuals need not have whatever concern about(predicate) what other members of the group achieve. Within a work group, there is not the interconnectedness and shared responsibility you see between team members. severally member of a group can say I did my silk hat it is not my fault that others did not pull their weight (www. lead-development-coaching. com, 2011). To add more context to the difference between work groups and teams refer to table 1 (Brounstein, 2011). Work Groups Teams Individu al accountability Individual and mutual accountability recognise together to share information and perspectives Frequently come together for discussion, decision-making, problem solving and planning. Focus on individual goals Focus on team goalsProduce individual work products Produce collective work products gear up individual roles, responsibilities, and tasks Define individual roles, responsibilities, and tasks to help team do its work often share and rotate them lodge in with ones own outcome and challenges Concern with outcomes of everyone and challenges the team faces Purpose, goals, approach to work shaped by manager Purpose, goals, approach to work shaped by team leader with team members Table 1 Difference between Work Groups and TeamsHigh-Performing teams have deeper characteristics that separate them from any team with the team characteristics mentioned previously. Members of high-performing teams tend to develop a collective purpose that goes beyond that which the or ganization has established for them (Capella University, 2008). According to Harvard researcher Richard Hickman, high-performing teams must escort three effectiveness criteria (Capella University, 2008) * The team must consistently produce high-quality output. * The team must promote the personal growth needs and well-being of team members. The team must grow and learn as a unit. The pursuance of Organizational Strategy It is not too oft of a arrival to see which scenario is preferable when it comes to pursuing alignment with your organizations strategy. Those in a workgroup, although maybe tied in roles and responsibilities to the organizations strategical imperatives, is not concerned about others in his group or department, and hence has no vested interest in another succeeding. High performing teams, on the other hand, consider their team as equally or more important than themselves.A recent study of Fortune 1000 companies conducted by the Center for Effective Organization s at the University of Southern California concluded that 68 percent of the organizations in the study use self managed or high-performing teamsbut the study also shows only 10 percent of workers were in much(prenominal) teams (Capella University, 2008). Therefore, as much as we can agree there is a benefit from moving those in work groups into high-performing team environments, these environments are hard-fought to create, lead and maintain.A failed attempt to create a high-performing team could be more detrimental than keeping a group of individuals in the work group mode, and thus making each individual accountable for driving alignment with the organizations strategy. Virtual teams can play an raise twist on this strategic alignment anomaly. This author suggests that practical(prenominal) teams are no different in driving alignment with organizational strategy than co-located teams, with one exception.In the role of operational support, where, for example a help-desk or cal l-center can take advantage of the follow-the-sun support methodology, you can find important benefit by tying a virtual teams performance as a team to an SLA, where individuals are working together to answer phones within a certain amount of rings, meet a certain first call resolution statistic etc. This type of virtual team, if lead properly can be a very high-performing team, as their bonuses and overall performance can be tied to these SLA results of the team.Successful leading Characteristics of High-Performing Teams Leadership of high-performing teams have been mentioned twice in this paper once to restart how difficult it is to maintain high-performing teams, the second to note how to lead a high-performing virtual team. Managing any team is not an easy task. Managing and maintaining high-performing teams is increasingly difficult. Creating and managing high-performing teams is as much an art as it is a science. There is no magic construction that will uarantee team succe ss, nor is there one best way to lead a team (Capella University, 2008). We can define four team leadership skills that will help drive work groups and teams into high-performing teams 1. Invest in on-going personal development 2. Provide team direction, structure and resources 3. Help the team manage boundaries 4. Manage the type and timing of interventions The Importance of High-Performing Teams We have shown the noteworthy benefit of creating and maintaining high-performing teams concerning an organizations strategy and team accomplishment.High-performing teams tend to quest less management since the team assumes a purpose as a whole and not individuals. These teams tend to be self-managed, or slightly managed by a leader, more so in a facilitation role than what we know as a daily manager. The most important task of the team leader is to create a work context that inspires and enables the team to do its work rather than directly intervening in the teams day-to-day work (Capel la University, 2008).This is increasingly important to organizations as the economic panorama continues to force reductions in departmental personnel. References Brounstein, M. (2011). Differences between Work Groups and Teams. Retrieved celestial latitude 5, 2011, from Dummies. com reservation Everything Easier http//www. dummies. com/how-to/content/differences-between-work-groups-and-teams. html Capella University. (2008). TS5160 Business Foundations (2nd usance ed. ). Boston Pearson Custom Publishing.Katzenbach, J. (2005, July 1). The Discipline of Teams. Retrieved December 5, 2011, from Capella University http//web. ebscohost. com. library. capella. edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer? vid=3hid=119sid=0579d6ae-2d3d-4908-9971-cea2472130f6%40sessionmgr112 www. leadership-development-coaching. com. (2011). Team vs Group implications for leaders. Retrieved December 5, 2011, from Leadership Development Coaching http//www. leadership-development-coaching. com/team-vs-group. html