Leading Change through Teams (Part II of II)
By Paul Breaux
Managing Partner, SBS Partners
(This is the second of a two-part series on effective leadership in organizations.)
In Part I of Leading Change through Teams, information on the need to understand the development, structure and process of teams to create positive, effective change was discussed. The three common constraints that most often cause teams to fail in achieving the vision and goals set before them were explored in detail. Leaders often misunderstand why they are not achieving the results they want through the teams they create. In review, the three most common reasons that prevent teams from accomplishing the goals set before them are:
1. The disease of me: Often, the individual and functional agendas of each team member can have more impact than what is best for the team and the organization. Leaders need to effectively diagnose this challenge in order to provide the skills and tools necessary to enable team members to work together to accomplish the tasks before them.
2. Leaders who need teams don’t know how to lead teams: Few team leaders have enough expertise, the right tools or the needed skills to enable their teams to drive change efforts successfully.
3. Measuring performance is the new frontier of leadership: Being able to articulate what success looks like and how success will be measured is a critical component of leading effective teams.
Once these three challenges are understood and identified, the question then becomes: how do leaders work with their teams to create the change they are looking for? This question assists leaders in approaching team leadership in a new way as they investigate the various skills and tools necessary to lead teams more effectively and efficiently. In doing so, leaders save time and money; maintain and develop positive, working relationships; and create long-term effective change.
The Seven Fundamentals to Leading Teams will help leaders overcome the three common constraints while also achieving their goals. Before these Seven Fundamentals are explained further, it is important to review three preliminary points:
Point 1: There are three key distinctions between a team and a group
• Teams have common goals that require joint action; groups do not.
• Teams have to work interdependently to achieve their common goals; groups do not.
• Teams have collective work products; groups do not.
Point 2: Leaders need to ask if they really need a team to solve a problem or address the challenge at hand
The answer is yes only if the challenge or problem is too complex or difficult that no one person could solve the problem or address the challenge. If the problem or challenge can be solved without the need for a variety of points of view, aptitudes and skill-sets, then by all means don’t commit the time or the resources that teams require.
Point 3: There is no set number of individuals required for a team to be successful
The number of team members depends entirely on what the team is being called to do; however, a common “rule of thumb” is anywhere from five-to-12 with seven-to-nine as ideal.
Seven Fundamentals of Leading Change
Now, assuming a leader decides they need a team and have begun to assemble individuals who will participate on that team, the Seven Fundamentals become a critical aspect to whether or not that team will be successful in creating change that lasts. Following is brief overview of the Seven Fundamentals:
Fundamental # 1: Sponsor the Team
As an organizational leader, someone needs to own the change initiative, lead the team, and ultimately be accountable for its success. Team sponsors need to: (1) select and form the team to address the challenge or problem; (2) frame and present the problem to the team; (3) kick-off the team; and (4) steward the team through the completion of its work. Sponsors should create a sponsor document that provides the overall guidance for the work of the team.
Fundamental # 2: Charter the Team
While the sponsor of the change initiative team articulates the basic scope of the work, the initiative team “charters” itself. The charter is a document that clarifies the team’s understanding of the problem or challenge, identifies how the team will work together and clarifies the outcomes that the team will be responsible to produce. Ultimately, the sponsor and the team need to sign off on the charter document.
Fundamental # 3: Understand the Challenge
Based on the sponsor’s initial understanding of the initiative, a team needs to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the challenge they have been given. This fundamental is one that is most often missed. Teams tend to make numerous mistakes with respect to the challenge. The two most prominent ones are: (1) teams think they understand what the sponsor presents without checking for understanding, and (2) teams puts too much or too little trust in the sponsor’s point of view without diving deeply into the problem to gain its own new understanding of the problem or challenge.
Fundamental # 4: Use Your Strengths
Team members have different personality preferences and points of view. For teams to be successful, they must appreciate the variety of strengths team members have and utilize them aptly. It can be useful for teams to take an online team assessment to help them understand the different skill sets, learning styles and strengths each team member brings to the table. A 15-20 minute online exercise can provide invaluable information on team member instinctual preferences when serving on a team. A popular tool often used for this purpose is the Team Dimensions Profile. It is an inexpensive and informative assessment of various team member instinctual team preferences. In addition, teams that have a strong common bond such as those within the Catholic community can find great strength by drawing on what unites them, such as their Catholicism (e.g., Franciscan, history of your parish community).
Fundamental # 5: Build Team Ability and Willingness
In order to improve the performance of a team, all members must gradually build and balance its ability (capacity to get results) and willingness (internal desire to get those results). In the early stage of team develop, teams are very willing, but have little ability. In the middle stage of team development, teams have some ability, but less willingness because there are struggling with the problem or challenge at hand. And the later phase of team development, teams finally move into higher levels of ability and willingness. Sponsors or leaders of teams that anticipate these normal stages of team development will be able to more quickly move through each phase and reach higher levels of team performance more efficiently.
Fundamental # 6: Develop Team Skills
A specific set of skills will enable teams to increase its capacity to get the results they want. Problem Solving, Meeting Management and Change Enablement are three skills essential for initiative teams to drive needed change. In addition, helping teams Balance Advocacy and Inquiry, Give and Receive Feedback and Have Critical Conversations are higher level team skills that significantly enable teams to build their capacity for higher performance.
Fundamental # 7: Measure for Success
Setting performance measures during the beginning of the process will help teams know its destination and know when it arrives. By being able to document a few key financial and non-financial units of measure, leaders can better guide and demonstrate that the team is getting the results it seeks because units of measure were clarified during the beginning of the project, tracked throughout the project and assessed at the end of the project.
The Seven Fundamentals combine leadership transactional skills with personal formational practices that offer leaders the right programmatic mix to enable their teams to overcome their self-centered diseases, build the expertise to lead their teams and, ultimately, demonstrate the results they want through proper performance measurement.
Mr. Breaux is a Managing Partner of SBS Partners. He spends about half his time working with the Catholic Church and half the time working with the business sector. Mr. Breaux helps clients use their strengths to create economic and social value for their clients, companies and communities. He has 17 years of business consulting and management experience serving Catholic organizations and other sectors that include healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, IT, non-profit the and federal government. Additionally, he holds a bachelors degree from Louisiana State University in History and a Masters degree in Pastoral Ministry from Boston College. Questions or inquiries may be directed to Mr. Breaux by phone at 985.307.0094 or via email at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).