Are you working in an organization where leaders are good at building powerful teams? Do the leaders in your organization create high performance teams?
One of the most powerful questions one can ask oneself is “How do I create teams that promote individual and collective performance?” Emotionally intelligent leaders create high performing committed teams.
Are you good at developing teams? Do you inspire your team by making work social and enjoyable? Are you adept at creating teams that produce intended results?
Teams are the most common business unit for high performance. Although the word gets used loosely and not always appropriately, there is universal acceptance that teams create opportunities for high performance results. A team’s performance includes both individual results and collective work products, yielding sums greater than its parts.
True teamwork promotes individual and collective performance. Effective teams value listening and communicating, sharing work responsibilities, provide support and can make work more social and enjoyable. Members are supportive of one another and recognize the interests and achievements of each other. When they are working the way they should, they are incredibly effective in achieving high performance results.
The essence of a team is common commitment. Teams evolve over time and have a pattern of development. During the forming stage, groups attempt to define their tasks and decide how to accomplish them. They sort out how the members will relate to each other. During the storming stage, members establish a pecking order within the group. Then, in the norming stage, members accept the ground rules and norms by which the members will cooperate. In the performing stage, the group has settled relationships and validated expectations and can turn to work for which they are mutually responsible. At this stage the team is capable of more work in concert that the sum of the individual efforts would have produced.
Teams differ from working groups because they require both individual and mutual accountability. While they also rely on sharing information, perspectives, and joint decisions, teams produce results through the joint contributions of its members. They are committed to mutual goals, as well as individual goals, and they share a common purpose. Teams develop direction and momentum as they work together to achieve a shared goal. Thus they commit to working together towards the same ends, even though each member may participate in different ways.
Management should not leave teams alone. Teams left on their own can be confused. Most successful teams shape their purpose in response to a demand or opportunity put in their path by higher management. This helps teams get started by broadly framing the organization’s performance expectations in alignment with the organization’s mission and purpose. Management is responsible for clarifying the team’s challenges. It should let the team develop a shared commitment to purpose, set specific goals, and determine its timing and work approach.
Working with a seasoned executive coach trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating leadership assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i and CPI 260 can help you become a transformational leader who builds powerful teams. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence, and who inspires people to become happily engaged with the strategy and vision of the company.
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