Leading Effective Teams

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• Leading Effective Teams
• Dr Catherine Hannaway
• Senior Fellow, Durham University

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Why Teams?

• There is a significant and negative
  relationship between the percentage of staff
  working in teams in acute hospitals and the
  mortality rate in those hospitals, taking account
  of local health care needs and hospital size.
  Where more employees work in teams the death rate
  among patients is significantly lower.
• Borrill West, Aston University, 1999

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Why Teams?

• They bring together complementary skills and
  experiences that exceed those of any individual
• enables a better response to multifaceted
  challenges
• In jointly developing clear goals and approaches,
  teams establish communications that support
  real-time problem solving and initiative
• as a result teams can adjust their approach to
  new information and challenges with greater
  speed, accuracy and effectiveness
• They provide a unique social dimension that
  enhances the economic and administrative aspects
  of work
• overcoming the barriers that stand in the way of
  collective performance
• Teams have more fun!
• fun both sustains and is sustained by team
  performance

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Individual
Team
Task
Prof John Adair Effective Leadership
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http//www.nhsleadership.org.uk/workstreams-clinic
al-theleadershipframework.asp
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Focusing on team basics
Performance results
Mutual Small number of people Individual
Problem solving Technical/function Interpersonal
Accountability
Skills
Specific goals Common approach Meaningful
purpose
Personal growth
Commitment
Collective work products
Katzenbach and Smith (1993)
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Characteristics of High Performing Teams

• Leadership
• Membership
• Ownership
• memory of high performing teams
• Accountability
• Good philosophy
• Shared purpose
• Shared understanding
• Clarity of individual and team roles
• Shared values
• Trust
• Timeliness of actions
• Celebration of success
• positive feedback, team feeing valued
• Empowered
• Support from within the team
• Laughter
• Desire for all to succeed
• Common vision

• Feeling safe to take risks
• External positive affirmation that you are doing
  a good job
• Successful team accepts feedback and acts on this
  feedback/seeks feedback
• Reflective
• Reflect on own team performance
• Self evaluation
• Trust other people to cross cover
• Self support themselves and the team
• Task significant to themselves and others
• Like each other
• Respect everybodys strengths
• Build on things that work well
• Share goals - fun, clear
• Same mind set
• Organised - Commitment
• Think differently, happy with the mix
• Want to support each other fair
• Honest about performance
• Not blamed getting rid of fear

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The Team Performance Curve
High-performing team
Real team
Performance impact
Working group
Potential team
Katzenbach and Smith
Team effectiveness
Pseudo-team
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How Work Groups Form into Effective Units or
Teams (Bruce Tuckman)

• 1 Forming
• 2 Storming
• 3 Norming
• 4 Performing
• Important that
• Group Members recognise they belong to the group
• Have effective working relationships based on
  agreed goals
• Understand one another and are prepared to share
  ideas and feelings

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Some Thoughts on Leading Teams

• Genuine concern for others
• Ability to communicate and inspire
• Decency
• Humanity
• Humility
• Sensitivity
• Respect for others
• Prof Beverley Alimo-Metcalfe summarises the 7
  qualities as the leader being a servant not a
  hero

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Belbin Team Roles Categories
Action-orientated roles
shaper
implementer
completer/finisher
People-orientated roles
co-ordinator
team worker
resource investigator
Cerebral roles
plant
monitor evaluator
specialist
Belbin (1993)
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Approaches to building team performance

• Establish urgency and direction
• Select members based on skills and skill
  potential, not personalities
• Pay particular attention to first meetings and
  actions
• Set some clear rules of behaviour
• Set and seize upon a few immediate
  performance-oriented tasks and goals
• Challenge the group regularly with fresh facts
  and information
• Spend time together
• Exploit the power of positive feedback,
  recognition and reward

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Further Reading

• Belbin, R Meredith (1998) Team Roles at Work. BH
• Borrill, C.A., West, M. (2000c), Team-working and
  Effectiveness in Health Care, Aston Centre of
  Health Service Organisation Research (ACHSOR),
  University of Aston, Birmingham
• Borrill, C.A., West, M. (2000a), How Good is Your
  Team? A Guide for Team Members, Aston Centre of
  Health Service Organisation Research (ACHSOR),
  University of Aston, Birmingham
• Katzenbach J.R. and Smith D.K. The Wisdom of
  Teams Creating the high performance
  organisation Harvard Business School Press