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HOW TO DEVELOP EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT TEAMS?

Develop effective management teams

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Jason Associates' methodology in how to develop effective management teams.

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Page 1: Develop effective management teams

HOW TO DEVELOP EFFECTIVE

MANAGEMENT TEAMS?

Page 2: 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

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Page 3: Develop effective management teams

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

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Page 4: Develop effective management teams

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;

Page 5: Develop effective management teams

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

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Page 6: Develop effective management teams

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 :

Page 7: Develop effective management teams

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.

Page 8: Develop effective management teams

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

Page 9: Develop effective management teams

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.

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Page 10: Develop effective management teams

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:

[email protected]

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)

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