A study undertaken by Ernst and Young Centre for Business
Innovation showed a direct link between top team
effectiveness and company valuation. The survey concluded
that 35% of an investment decision was driven by non
financial data such as "execution of corporate strategy"
and "management credibility". Moulding and shaping the top
team is a key function of the CEO's role but few get it
right. What are the characteristics of an effective top
team and what can a leader do to deliver top team
effectiveness?
How do you define a team?
A real team has a task that demands a high level of
interdependency ' something that can only be accomplished
together as a team. The team also has reasonably stable
boundaries so that membership is not constantly changing
and it is easy to tell who is on the team.
What makes for an effective team?
Richard Hackman of Harvard University, working with the Hay
Group, identified five conditions of top team success:
- Clarity of Direction
- Appropriate Structure and Rules of Working
- Right Mix of People
- CEO Support and Sponsorship
- Individual and Team Development:
It is easy to make the assumption that a top team made up
of successful, strong willed individuals, does not require
help from the CEO. However, the research that Hackman and
others have done comparing highly effective top teams with
average or poor performing teams suggests the CEO can and
should play a key role in ensuring the team's success.
What the CEO can do:
1. Establish a clear and compelling direction.
Leaders of effective teams communicate a vision to the team
rather than assume that the team shares it. If the leader
doesn't communicate this vision a vacuum is created, one
that all members rush to fill with their own individual
priorities and goals. These individual goals do not add to
the collective or interdependent goals.
In short, leaders of effective teams communicate a vision
to the team rather than assume that the team shares it.
2. Create an appropriate structure
Size matters! A CEO who wants to create a successful team
will populate it with 6 to 8 team members and no more.
More individuals may mean competing interests, more
personality clashes and a greater risk that factions will
form. A CEO may let the team grow if he or she is fearful
of offending key players, however, the question the CEO
must always ask is "Given the team's goal, do they have the
expertise to deliver it?".
Set the rules. CEO's will facilitate effective team
working if they overtly define two or three 'norms' or ways
of working for the group. Rules such as 'never play
politics' or 'deliver what you say you will' or even 'no
Blackberries at the table' clarify for the team what is and
is not acceptable behaviour. The CEO has a role to play in
enforcing these rules and other procedures such as
effectiveness of team meetings.
In short, leaders of effective teams don't play politics
but focus on what and who will deliver the goal.
3. Get the right mix of people working together
People on outstanding teams are not necessarily more
driven, nor more committed than members of less
accomplished teams. What people on the best teams
contribute is the ability to work with others.
In particular, CEO's can facilitate outstanding performance
by recruiting people with two critical characteristics:
Empathy ' the ability to understand others. This involves
listening to others and is critical to buy in ' members of
a team will only buy in to the team process if they feel
they are both heard and understood. Resentment builds if
people feel they have not been listened to.
Integrity ' behaving consistently with the organisation's
values ' even when it may be risky to do so. Integrity is
critical as it involves individual team members trusting
one another to deliver what they say they will.
In short, leaders of effective teams must recruit team
members with empathy and integrity and lead by example by
speaking their mind and 'walking the talk'.
4. CEO Support and sponsorship
CEO's can ensure the effective performance of the top team
by providing information, data and resources to deliver the
team goals.
Compensation structures which encourage and reward team
members who buy in to the team goals, send a strong message
about what a company values.
In short, leaders of effective teams support and reward
team based behaviours
5. Provide Individual and Team Development
CEOs of outstanding top teams review team performance
openly discussing how the team is doing, what it is doing
well, what it is doing poorly and what its members have
learned.
These same CEO's also provide individual coaching to team
members.
In short, leaders of effective teams review performance and
coach individuals and teams to get better.
An outstanding top team delivers real benefits: - they
advance the CEO's agenda much more quickly than an average
or poor performing team and they enable a company to
weather the tough times more effectively (because all
members share and buy in to the same vision). Outstanding
top teams don't just happen ' they are created and nurtured
by the clever CEO who understands their power and value.
----------------------------------------------------
Pam Kennett is Founder and Director of Chiswick Consulting
Limited a management consultancy which provides advice and
direction to clients in marketing and human resources. Pam
has more than 20 years experience working with CEOs to
deliver more through better people management practices.
Contact her at pam@chiswickconsulting.com or visit
http://www.chiswickconsulting.com .
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