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Jason Associates' methodology in how to develop effective management teams.
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HOW TO DEVELOP EFFECTIVE
MANAGEMENT TEAMS?
How to develop effective management teams?
On your Management Team, you have outstanding individuals
reaching great individual or department results but they could
perform even better and add more value to the company if they
work effectively as a team. They could take more advantage
from each other (1+1=3)
YOUR CHALLENGE
2
How to develop effective management teams?
Management Team probably isn't the first image
that comes to our mind, when we hear the word
"team“ but even a Management Team needs to work
effectively as a team. Some might even say that a
Management Team should be the ultimate high-
performing team.
Building a team and working as a team is a very
tough responsibility. On top of that, the more
talented the team members are, the tougher it is.
The difficulty is not getting people to work and to
work hard. The true challenge is getting people to
work together, especially if it is a Management
Team, where each member has the tendency to
defend and manage his/her own “castle”.
The Management Team, when working in a team-
oriented environment, highly contribute to the
overall success of the organization. Even the Head of
a specific department is united to the other
organization members in order to accomplish the
overall objectives. The bigger picture drives individual
actions; each function exists to serve the bigger
picture.
eams can achieve great results but it is essential
that the barriers to team success are identified and
addressed. So what barriers are getting in the way
of your Management Team success?
Some possible causes could be identified:
Unclear expectations and responsibilities about
individuals vs. team;
Unproductive conflicts that don’t add value and are
wasters of time and energy;
To much focus on the individual and departmental
goals rather on the global ones;
Excessive competitive profile and/or culture;
Not have a respected and accepted leader;
Keeping on the comfort zone instead making change
happen.
The board operates under unique
circumstances that inhibit its ability to
function as other teams (…), consists of a
group of powerful people who are accustomed
to leading their own teams, ad involves fluid
roles and ambiguous power relationships.
David Nadler & Mark Nadler
A group of outstanding individuals does not
necessarily constitute an effective board.
Board performance depends upon the
interaction of particular people and
personalities in the boardroom context.
Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas
YOUR CHALLENGE
A T
3
How to develop effective management teams?
1. CULTURE
The top management should determine first what are
the benefits of a cooperating culture.
The messages have to be clear and coherent, especially
concerning organizational practices. We cannot expect
cooperation between management team members if
they are just recognized by their individual results; if
there are not spaces to discuss and decide together; if
cooperation is not valued.
2. AWARENESS
The team has to recognize its own strengths and
fragilities as well as its stage of maturity.
Some key questions should be answered in order to
understand the current reality and to determine the
ideal one; in order to identify the precise problems that
are preventing the management team from being as
effective as it should be.
We believe that any intervention to make a management team perform as an effective team has to consider three
main key layers:
The nature, structure, composition and operation of
a management team should reflect the challenges
faced by a company and the opportunities available
to it. Those seeking to join a particular management
team should aim to fill gaps in the experience,
knowledge and skills of existing members.
Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas
OUR APPROACH
4
3. TEAM WORK
It is important to create mechanisms and processes to:
� Facilitate the team work;
� Make it worthwhile and pleasant for each member;
� Improve pro-active cooperation;
� Make the organizational machine roll-on easily,
without entropies;
� Create dynamic between different parts / teams of
organization;
� Optimize best practices and organizational
knowledge;
You cannot create a culture of engagement by
edict (…). To the contrary the entire management
team has to be fully engaged at each step in the
process and encouraged by its leaders to step up,
speak out, and sign on. After all, that’s what the
new culture is about.
David Nadler & Mark Nadler
How to develop effective management teams?
ostering teamwork is creating a work culture that
values collaboration. In a teamwork environment,
people understand and believe that thinking, planning,
decisions and actions are better when done
cooperatively. People need to recognize and, even, to
assimilate, the belief that “none of us is as good as all of
us”. In a team-based organization, its culture is more
collaborative, empowering, towards the future than in
the traditional, hierarchical organizations. This implies
that team-based organizations adapt their way of
rewarding, recognizing, appraising, hiring, developing,
planning, motivating and managing people.
For instance it will be important: to reward people who
take reasonable risks to make improvements instead
rewarding the people who fit in and maintain the status
quo; to design reward systems that recognize both team
and individual performance; to plan to share gains and
increased profitability with team and individual
contributors.
These team-based organizations have to realize that the
more the climate support the teamwork, the more the
pay-back from teamwork will be high!
One of the most important keys to get great results from
your team is the creation of a common vision from all
the team members. This is essential to organizational
success and team building.
Some provocative questions:
Is the organization really interested in changing?
What did the Management Team achieved together?
OUR APPROACH
1. CULTURE
Talents win games.
Team work wins championships.
Michael Jordan
F
5
How to develop effective management teams?6
Competence Accountability Coordination Maturity Communication Collaboration
Do the members of
the Management
Team have the right
competencies? Do
we have the right
people in the
Management
Team?
Do the members of
the Management
Team feel
responsible and
accountable for the
objectives and the
achievements to be
reached together as
team?
Do cross-functional
and multi-
departmental
teams work
together
effectively?
Do team members
work together
effectively?
Do the team
members have an
established method
to give and receive
sincere feedback on
individual and team
performance?
What is the
maturity /
development stage
of the Management
Team?
There are 6 topics / issues to be covered in order to reach an appropriate level of awareness from
Management Teams about the way they work as team.
OUR APPROACH
1. Competence
Does the team feel that its members have the
knowledge, skill and capability to address the issues
for which the Management Team was formed? If
not, does the Management Team have access to
the help it needs? Does the Management Team feel
it has the resources, strategies and support needed
to accomplish its mission?
2. Accountability
Is reasonable risk respected and encouraged in the
organization? Do team members fear reprisal? Do
team members spend their time finger pointing
rather than resolving problems? Do all of the team
members know the role they are playing to support
the larger goals of the team or organization? Does
everyone know what the goals are?
3. Coordination
Have priorities and resource allocation been
planned across departments? Are teams
coordinated by a central leadership team that
assists the groups to obtain what they need for
success? Is the organization developing a customer-
focused orientation and moving away from
traditional departmental thinking?
4. Collaboration
Do all team members understand the roles and
responsibilities of Management Team? Do team
members cooperate to accomplish the team
charter? Has the Management Team established
group norms or rules of conduct in areas such as
conflict resolution, consensus decision making and
meeting management? Is the Management Team
using an appropriate strategy to accomplish its
action plan?
5. Communication
Does the organization provide important business
information regularly? Are team members clear
about the priority of their tasks? Does the
Management Team understand the complete
context for their existence? Do team members
communicate clearly and honestly with each other?
Has the Management Team adequate discussion
forums? Do team members bring diverse opinions
to the table? Are necessary conflicts raised and
addressed?
6. Maturity
Tuckman’s Model of Group Development (published
in 1965) remains one of the most commonly cited
model to understand teams’ evolution. It defends
that teams have to go through certain process
before they can settle down and work effectively.
Understanding the stages of development of the
team is key to successful team management.
2. AWARENESS
There are many key underlined questions within each topic / issue to raise in order the Management Team to
fully understand the dynamic of an effective team :
How to develop effective management teams?
6. Maturity | The 4 Development Stages (cont’d)
Stage 1 | Forming
This is the stage when the team members assemble and
get together. People are very polite, get acquainted with
each other and try to assess their own roles in the team.
This stage is marked by easy acceptance of each other,
avoiding controversies and direction and support from
team leader in settling down.
Stage 2 | Storming
At this stage, conflicts and competition arise as each
individual begins to start work.. Pressure of the workload
plus individual differences on several issues start
cropping up. Sometimes these issues could be cultural,
ethnic or simply an issue of assertiveness of one’s own
strength in the overall team equation. Interpersonal and
communication issues dominate this stage which
conduces often to conflict and confrontation.
OUR APPROACH
2. AWARENESS
7
Stage 3 | Norming
People settle down to more harmonious working
relationships. The focus now shifts to common team
objectives and performance related issues. A cohesive
team which knows its strengths and weaknesses now
moves to peak performance leveraging the
complementary skills of its members. The team leader
begins to delegate more effectively what improves the
creativity of its members.
Stage 4 | Performing
This is the final stage where there is independence and
interdependence, learning as well as sharing knowledge,
speed and efficiency. All glitches have been smoothened
out by the team leader. There are very high levels of
autonomy giving rise to emergence of new leaders. The
performance is it the peak due to high motivation.
3. TEAMWORK
There are 4 main different types of actions that could be included in a action plan to foster teamwork. This plan has
to be design with the active participation of the Management Team in order to get its engagement.
MODUS OPERANDI
/ CONDUCT CODE
We walk the talk
Define cooperation principles – Management Team Work Charter
Define methods and best practices
Clarify expectations from the team vs. contributions to the team
PLEASURE & FUN
We like to be
together
Foster opportunities for fun and sharing moments – help them to create the relationship Examples: teambuilding events; sport events; dinners / lunches with sponsors
COMMUNICATION
We know how &
what to
communicate
Create and prepare spaces for discuss, share and decide together:- Regular workshops: What is Department A doing?- What are the key topics we want to discus together during the year?-Let’s find a solution together (each team present a group solution)?-Share our major successes: what did we learn?
TRAINING AND
DEVELOPMENT
We develop
ourselves
According to the Management Team “portrait”, there are skills that should be improved (ex: communication, presentation, planning, delegating, meetings running...). Also there are knowledge that should be acquired in order Management Team “talk the same language”. These skills can be worked through coaching sessions, training lessons, workshops.
STEP 1Prepare the field
Why should Management Teams work as a team?
lthough each management team has its own differences, there are some steps you should take into account
developing effectiveness strategies for the management team.
How to develop effective management teams?
Reinforce values to encourage the key behaviours
Underline the added-value of behaving as a real team
Encourage the top managers to act as a Role Model
STEP 2Awareness
Who are we as a team?
Recognize team stage
Identify strengths and areas of improvement of the Management
Team to work as a team
Understand roles and responsibilities and define the expected one
STEP 3Design
What should we do to be and work as a team?
Actions brainstorming (engaging Management Team members)
Select actions according impact vs. complexity (resources)
Define team-based cooperation principles
Define communication and work processes
Anticipate obstacles and facilitators
STEP 4Implement & Measure
How to ensure implementation and sustainability?
Implement actions according the designed program / calendar
Measure progress (according KPI’s)
Analyze outputs and use them to adjust the program
Assure the top management monitoring
Management Team Portrait
Action Plan
Tableau de Bord
OUR APPROACH
4. PROJECT STEPS
8
A successful team leader understands the different stages of the group formation and
development. He manages the team effectively by moderating his team managerial styles
according to the stage of development in which the team is passing through.
A
How to develop effective management teams?
GET READY
Independently of what are your final objectives, improve management team effectiveness is always an excellent
solution for business growth.
Top leaders should communicate clearly that
teamwork and collaboration are expected. No one
completely owns alone a work area or a process.
Each team member should understand how
individual efforts are feeding the larger objectives.
What about...
... Identifying the real values vs. the expected values of the
team (make a culture study)?
... Creating possible scenarios , illustrating the bad
consequences of not working efficiently as a team
(produce a film, theater, game)
Everyone knows what are the roles and
responsibilities of each team member /
department. This clarification will strongly help to
support and achieve the common goals and vision.
What about...
... Defining the mission of each department of the
company and put it visible (create an organizational
puzzle and offer it to the Managers / Departments)
... Defining the expected behaviors and illustrate them to
the team (design cartoons with bad and best practices))
Teamwork is rewarded and recognized.
Compensation, bonuses, and rewards depend on
collaborative practices as much as individual
contribution.
What about...
...Promoting projects that imply the active participation of
different Managers / Departments
...Rewarding the Managers' availability and the
contribution for transversal projects
Don’t expect to solve this problem with a simple
“teambuilding” event. Such an event , to be effective,
needs to be preceded and followed-up with
meaningful activities in the workplace. You cannot
reach and build a culture of teamwork by “retreating”
them for a couple of days each year.
Think of team building as something
you work on every single day!
How can Jason Associates help you:
Either you are already developing engagement
strategies or not, Jason Associates can help
organizations in the following effectiveness
development projects:
Develop End-to-end Effective Management Team
Strategies;
Perform surveys that helps you understand the current
Management Team effectiveness level;
Design and implement specific initiatives for
effectiveness improvement;
Facilitate workshops for Management Teams for
improvement areas identification;
Organize inspirational corporate talks for management
teams.
9
JASON ASSOCIATES
Jason Associates is a Strategic Talent Management
consulting firm that combines deep knowledge of
people behaviors with expertise in talent attraction,
talent development, talent retention and
organizational transformation. Jason Associates work
closely with organization key-people of the
organization to participate in the challenges of building
and managing talent, and accelerating organizational
performance.
For further information, please contact Jason
Associates at:
www.jasonassociates.com
T: +351 213182930
Av. Liberdade, nº299 – 4º
1250-142 Lisboa
Portugal
www.jasonassociates.com
How to develop effective management teams?10
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cassidy, K. (2007). Tuckman Revisited: Proposing a New
Model of Group Development for Practitioners. The
Journal of Experiential Education. Vol. January 1
Coulson-Thomas, C. (1993). Developing Directors:
Building an Effective Boardroom Team. Policy
Publications
Heathfield, S. M. Twelve Tips for Team Building: How to
Build Successful Work Teams. About.com: Human
Resources
(http://humanresources.about.com/od/involvementteam
s/a/twelve_tip_team.htm)
Katzenbach, J.R. & Smith, D.K. (2005). Discipline of
Teams (HBR Classic). Harvard Business Review Vol. Jul 1.
Nadler, D. & Nadler, M. (2006) A Blueprint for Building
Better Boards – How to Engage as a High-performance
Team. Mercer Management Journal
(http://www.oliverwyman.com/ow/pdf_files/MMJ21_Blu
eprint_Better_Boards.pdf)