5-Step Antidote to Underperforming Teams

Mark Affleck http://www.yellowchairstrategy.com Posted November 2013


What’s going on, here?

Research at Harvard University shows that most

teams underperform despite the incredible

amount of time and money invested in them.

Because they work!

Despite that sobering reality, there’s a reason why

people throughout history have been working on teams.

Shockingly, the studies reveal that it’s even common to have members disagree on what the team is supposed to be doing! Perhaps a bigger surprise is that in many cases people do not know who is on or not on the team. Incredible.


CATALYZE connection, creativity,

and cohesiveness among team members.

In an idealized scenario, teams can:

INCREASE overall productivity,

efficiency, and the speed of work.

DISTRIBUTE the allocation of work

and promote healthy in-team competition.


Most leaders know the “must-be-done” imperatives for making a team

successful. That’s not the issue. They just don’t act on them. Instead, a

transactional focus takes over the process and marginalizes performance.

So Why do Teams Fail?

That’s too bad because even the slightest increase in discipline

behind forming and leading teams would send the success rate

skyrocketing from its current mooring in mediocrity.

Why is it so hard to make teams succeed and actually produce the positive outcomes that can be generated in an ideal scenario?

Here’s my take on that question after 25 years as a CEO Leader:


The End of Transactional Thinking

Any discussion about 21st Century teams should

start with an acknowledgement that teamwork is

DIFFERENT today than it was yesterday.

Teamwork today is not built

around the anachronistic Post-WWII

hierarchical model which focused on

a TRANSACTIONAL mindset.


That’s yesterday.

That leads to teams that miss the mark by merely:

Studying the situation

Reviewing the competition

Creating a Strategic Plan

There’s a good reason why yesterday’s transactional approach no longer works. It puts a team in a “we do things…” mode.

“We do things…”


Today’s TRANSFORMATIONAL

Ultimately, it produces healthy teams that:

Teams in the 21st Century cannot be transactional because organizations can’t be transactional!

Confront reality and avoid denial.

Create distinction over the competition.

Build a discovery-based Strategic Frame.

orientation leads teams in a

much more positive direction.


This new era with its white-hot competition and ever-tightening margin squeeze–what I call the

White-Hot Competition

If teams are one of the most effective ways to reach the organization’s goals, then

those teams must be charged with the same performance and accountability standards that the ChangeAge demands. That demands transformation and building transformational teams is not a choice. It’s an imperative.

ChangeAge –means organizations must be

transformational just to keep up.

Welcome to the ChangeAge. THE TRANSACTION ECONOMY IS DEAD.


RECAP: Underperforming Teams

Teams are a key ingredient in achieving organizational success. They work.

But team success is not automatic. Research shows that most teams underperform.

Underperforming teams wrongly operate in transaction mode when a transformational model should be used to keep up in an environment that is constantly in flux.

Here’s a quick review of what we’ve established to this point:

5-Step Antidote to Underperforming Teams. Against this backdrop and challenge, on the next few pages you’ll find my…

Before addressing the 5 antidotes to underperforming teams, here’s a recap to this point…


THEME Antidote #1

In order to produce transformational results, teams responsible for making a vision become reality must have a “guiding light” theme that can spark and sustain

commitment to the mission.

Commonly built around a metaphor, the theme serves as inspiration and ballast to

keep the team “between the rails” as it moves forward. The theme also provides the

glue needed to bind everyone together in unity.

Every team needs a theme.


One of the best examples of an effective unifying theme can be seen in the NFLevolution Program. Until recently, the NFL had actually denied the link between football and brain injury. Only when it could no longer fight the findings with a straight face did the NFL reverse its position and acknowledge the correlation between football collisions and long-term brain damage.

That led to the launch of a comprehensive new Theme Platform

called NFLevolution, a multi-million dollar commitment to make changes in the rules, equipment and treatment for brain injury.

All of the NFL’s strategies and programs move through the NFLevolution theme filter.

THEMEAntidote #1


Obviously a theme cannot do the team’s work, let alone produce transformation. The team needs Leadership Direction that creates an overarching purpose to reach a specified and shared vision end-state.

DIRECTION Antidote #2

A team’s direction is its

STRATEGIC FRAME.

merely be another way to say “if we do this, we’ll be successful.” The direction must clearly capture and communicate the team’s goals; strategic context; action plan; and support systems—information, operations, and communications.

The Direction Purpose must be deep and significant. It can’t

However, there’s a caution sign on this road.


It’s no wonder that the success rate of teams has gone down as the average number of members has gone up over the past 20 years

under the guise of “promoting inclusion.” That inclusion goal has been met while performance goals have been eviscerated.

ROLES Antidote #3

With a compelling theme and clear direction set, teams that transform must also make sure each member’s role is clear to them–and to the others.

Building a successful team actually starts

at the outset when the team is assembled. The right number of people—I believe the optimum count is 5-8—must be assigned to the team.


SNIPER: The difficult-to-find ability to score goals.

ENFORCER: The tough guy who forces the opponent to “play fair.”

GRINDERS: The gritty guys who establish and maintain energy.

PENALTY KILL: Skill players and grinders who kill off penalties.

PENALTY TEAM: Players who can score when the opponent is penalized.

Play Hockey!

Equally important to member selection is the mix of

players on the team so multiple roles are represented.

If everyone on the team was a visionary, or a tactician, or financial analyst…the results would be disastrous.

The hockey example is perfect for organizational teams trying to put the most efficient and effective combination of skills and experience in play.

A great example of role clarity comes from ice hockey where every team fills the following roles:

ROLESAntidote #3


Renegades are the team members who have the courage to say, “Wait a minute…” or wonder out loud “What if…”

or stand up and ask Why…”

The Renegade One last—and unpopular—point on roles is that

every team needs a RENEGADE. That’s right, a real-life deviant who can challenge the inexorable push for homogeneity which stifles creativity, learning, and ultimately thwarts success.

In the end, it is essential that every member on a team clearly understands their own individual role along with how their role relates to the other roles being performed. It’s important at this stage that every member on the team knows the whole is bigger than their individual part, and they are participating in something bigger than themselves.

ROLESAntidote #3


Once the theme, direction, and roles are established…

Members must individually and collectively

commit to the team’s mission and its goals.

It must be a “covenant commitment” with the

full responsibility that comes with that name. Without it, there’s a good chance one or more team members will never

reach the required “all-in” level of involvement.

COMMITMENT Antidote #4

But it cannot be a passive commitment.


The best teams are those that have a healthy

culture based on honesty and trust. That culture will breed an atmosphere which values the freedom to share all ideas as often as necessary.

When people are working well together, they feel comfortable expressing opinions to build healthy discourse. Without this tension to float key issues to the table, the team will have difficulty reaching the transformation goal.

COMMITMENTAntidote #4 Trust & Honesty


Of course it’s mandatory that everyone

commits to the team’s Vision, Mission, and Goals. But there are two additional dimensions to the commitment a team

makes. Members must also:

Drop all facades and offer genuine collaboration.

COMMITMENTAntidote #4 Engage & Participate

1

2

Be active and energized participants in the process.


Even if a team has a unifying theme, clear direction, defined roles, and makes a covenant commitment…

Teams must operate with an action bias that flexes along the way when

the environment signals the need for a course correction. Those course corrections, collectively, ensure continuous improvement over the team’s life span.

It must still take action to move forward and get

the work done! The team must execute against the strategic imperatives that have been established or the entire process will be nothing more than a giant drain of resources.

MOVE! Antidote #5


The Author

CEO Change Leader Strategist Issues & Crisis Manager As CEO of YellowChair Strategy, he helps leaders transform their organization to “survive today and thrive tomorrow.”

MARK AFFLECK

THAT’S A WRAP

For more information, please contact Mark Affleck at http://www.yellowchairstrategy.com

There you have it—the 5-Step Antidote to transform underperforming teams.

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5-Step Antidote to Underperforming Teams