Building A High Performance Team

Building a High Performance Team

University of Phoenix Online

MGT331

2004

When someone thinks of a high performance team they may think of a race car teams pit crew or maybe even a football team. While these are in fact high performance teams, the business community utilizes high performance teams in a different way. Organizations use high performance teams to optimize results by expanding the realm in which employees' work together to achieve a common goal(s). By building high performance teams, organizations can stay on top of the competition and unlock results that would never be achievable by a group of individuals. How does a group of individuals become a high performance team and how does diversity effect behavior within these teams?

Putting together a high performance team is no walk in the park. First, you must combine people that have complementary attributes. People are a resource and allocating resources to the proper departments is half the battle. Once the right people are in order the goals of the team must be made very clear and everyone must be made accountable for the results of the team's efforts. (Shermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2003), provides the following steps in building a high performance team (Chapter 10, Pg. 5):

* "Communicate high performance standards."

* "Set the tone in the first meeting."

* "Create a sense of urgency."

* "Make sure members have the right skills."

* "Establish clear rules for team behavior."

* "As a leader, model expected behaviors."

* "Find ways to create early "successes."

* "Continually introduce new information."

* "Have members spend time together."

* "Give positive feedback."

* "Reward high performance."

All of these steps require one common thing to make them useful, communication. Without communication, organizations and teams cannot be successful. When teams communicate properly, information and ideas can flow freely. Communication is also a necessity when it come to addressing and resolving conflict. Conflict can be positive. Most people think of conflict as negative and counterproductive. On the contrary, conflict can be extremely productive as long as communication is utilized to resolve it. Feedback should be used on a regular basis to insure that the team is staying on course and everything is going according to plan. It is not only essential that teams communicate but management as well. Management must make their expectations and objectives for the team clear. One area that communication is absolutely necessary is when it comes to managing diversity with in a team.

When diversity is treated with understanding and patience it will become an asset to any team. Diversity can range