Effectiveness of Team Culture

8/14/2019 Effectiveness of Team Culture

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An Assignment

On

Leading Through

Teams

Submitted by,


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Reshma T

Kalpana M

Team

A team comprises a group of people or animals linked in a common purpose.

Teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are high in complexity

and have many interdependent subtasks.

A team is made up of a group of people working together to achieve a common

goal. An effective team has certain characteristics that allow the team members to

function more efficiently and productively. An effective team develops ways to

share leadership roles and ways to share accountability for their work products,

shifting the emphasis from the individual to several individuals within the team. A

team also develops a specific team purpose and concrete work products that the

members produce together

A group in itself does not necessarily constitute a team. Teams normally have

members with complementary skills and generate synergy through a coordinated

effort which allows each member to maximize his or her strengths and minimize

his or her weaknesses.

Team size and composition affect the team processes and outcomes. The optimal

size (and composition) of teams is debated and will vary depending on the task at

hand. At least one study of problem-solving in groups showed an optimal size of

groups at four members[1]. Other works estimate the optimal size between 5-12

members.[citation needed] Less than 5 members results in decreased perspectives and

diminished creativity. Membership in excess of 12 results in increased conflict and

greater potential of sub-groups forming.

Effective Team

Effective team building starts by establishing your team's core values and never

breaking them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groups_of_peoplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animalhttp://www.hci.ee.upatras.gr/pubs_files/c80_Avouris_Margaritis_Komis_2004_ED_MEDIA.pdfhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groups_of_peoplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animalhttp://www.hci.ee.upatras.gr/pubs_files/c80_Avouris_Margaritis_Komis_2004_ED_MEDIA.pdfhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed


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The difficulty many people feel when they're working in a team setting comes from

the fact that often they feel that the team's values don't reflect their own.

The reason for this is that whether or not we admit it: "the world revolves around

us."

Our values define who we are.

On a team, the collective values define the culture, good or bad, functional or

dysfunctional, of that team.

Great teams respect and closely share core values. On most teams, it seems, where

conflict and animosity arise most often is when someone's values get trampled on.

Effective Team Building: The Common Traits of Successful

Teams

Love comes when manipulation stops; when you think more about the other person

than about his or her reactions to you. When you dare to reveal yourself fully.

When you dare to be vulnerable.

~ Dr. Joyce Brothers

Commitment: Obviously, we don't want people on our team who are not

dedicated to the process of building a great business. Commitment to the process,

is the most valuable trait a team member can have.

Commitment is the blood that breathes life into any team, it's the core of

effective team building.

Without commitment any actions you're team takes will be ineffective. Finding

synergy is about getting everyone on the same page, commitment wise.

Integrity: The core of all business. People's integrity defines nearly every aspect

of their lives: their relationships, words, actions, and thoughts. All good things

flow from the integrity of your team. People with high integrity can stay


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committed to the core purpose of your team. Teams with integrity stand firm in the

face of danger, their personality doesn't shrink in face of stress.

Love: Great teams love themselves. Each member loves all the other members of

the team. They innately understand that what the team achieves it achievestogether. Even when two team members don't see eye-to-eye on something, they

respect the other's opinion.

A loving environment creates the seeds of success. Personal satisfaction and

fulfillment occurs when teams feel comfortable, and people are able to be

themselves. This is when a productive and stable team can emerge for you.

Strategies for Developing an Effective Team.

How does it work?

Effective teams will have open-ended meetings and develop active problem-

solving strategies that go beyond discussing, deciding, and delegating what to do;

they do real work together. When necessary, individuals in a team will set aside

their own work to assist other members of the team. In a well-functioning team,

performance is based not on an individual member's ability to influence other

members, but rather is assessed directly by measuring the work products of the

whole team. Rewards based on the whole team's effort help underscore the

importance of team responsibility.

How to use it:

There are several ways in which a supervisor can help clinic managers and staff

become a strong team:

1. Establish objectives together: Define performance objectives with the team

and make sure that all team members understand the objectives and what

actions will need to be taken to achieve them.


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2. Develop a participatory style: Encourage staff to suggest ways to improve

services. Listen to their ideas and acknowledge their points of view.

Encourage team members to discuss issues and to find solutions together.

3. Focus on contributions: Define objectives for having all team members

actively contribute to the meeting. Introduce team members to the ways inwhich they can participate.

4. Organize meetings: Hold meetings with the whole team during supervisory

visits. Discuss supervisory and clinic objectives and encourage the team to

discuss their concerns.

5. Organize the team: Define roles and responsibilities together. If everyone

has a clear role, individuals will be less likely to become frustrated and will

be more willing to work together. Agree on who will assume leadership

roles for different team activities.6. Explain the rules: Discuss all norms and standards that have been

established for this clinic by the Ministry or the organization. Explain the

rationale for these rules and discuss their implications in day-to-day practice.

7. Promote team responsibility: Encourage members of the clinic team to

take responsibility for completing specific tasks and to solve problems as a

team. Introduce rewards only if the entire team meets objectives.

8. Establish time commitments: Schedule when and how each team member

will devote time to team work. Determine if team work will require other

staff to take on extra work, and, if so, discuss this with all staff and obtain

their commitment. Monitor actual vs. planned time carefully and clarify all

adjustments in schedule.

Seven Characteristics of an Effective Team

1. Team members share leadership roles

2. Team develops own scope of work

3. Team schedules work to be done and commits to taking time allotted to do

work

4. Team develops tangible work products

5. Team members are mutually accountable for work products

6. Performance is based on achieving team products


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7. Problems are discussed and resolved by the team

10 EASY STRATEGIES TO BUILD GOOD TEAM

CULTURE

Add fun, build performance and improve team culture with Neil Oakes easy to

implement, no nonsense strategies to:

Improve the culture of your firm

Generate trust

Add an element of fun

Achieve the necessary level of performance that high profit firms require.

Client Relationship Management - practical approaches to gaining more

work from your client

Staff leverage remains one of the most significant drivers of profit in legal firms.

Much has been said about the quantitative aspects of leverage but qualitative

considerations are equally important. Having the right number of people isirrelevant if they are not productive.

Increasingly, leadership is emerging as the most important differentiator between

high performance law firms and their average competition. Again and again

commentators are emphasizing the importance of organizational culture to attract

talented people, to maximize their potential and to retain them.

In smaller firms, partners are often the HR department, work getter, work doer,

staff motivator, mentor, trainer and coach. Such firms find it difficult to implement

a strategy of "culture improvement." Available time beats them. More often than

not firm culture is left to chance. To assist partners in smaller firms, we would like

to suggest the following easy to implement, no nonsense strategies. These

strategies will improve the culture of your firm, generate trust, add an element of

fun and achieve the necessary level of performance that high profit firms require.


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1. Do unto others.

People are motivated by and strive for a fairly homogenous set of factors.

Kindness, respect, recognition, inclusion, friendship and security are all important

to most people. Exuding enthusiasm and initiative as a direct result of being lucky

enough to have a job is uncommon to most people. Chances are that the keys toloyalty and motivation are to be found in kindness, respect, recognition, inclusion,

friendship and security.

Think about the business mentoring relationships that you enjoy the most. You can

be sure that these mentors are people who exhibit the big three pillars of

leadership. These are inspiration, enthusiasm and honesty. We all enjoy and value

these traits. If you are leading a team of people, rate your performance in each of

these three factors on the way home every night. Perhaps you might ask a trusted

employee to act as a coach to help you improve.

2. Clearly defined structure with constant, honest feedback:

Think about the involvement that parents of the 1950's and 60's had in their

children's education. Contrast that level of involvement with the involvement of a

2002 parent. Parents these days would not dare miss a parent teacher night or

sporting fixture. One even sees universities promoting parent/student information

sessions. We would not have been seen dead at university with our parents.

Parents of old were not necessarily bad parents but times have changed. Education

is far more competitive than it used to be. When studying undergraduate degrees in

the 70s & 80s, any grades greater than a credit represented a gross abuse of

opportunity and cost of time.

The candidates that most of us are employing now have been elite performers.

Most will be assessed as being among the top 2% of their leaving year. These

people have received constant feedback on performance for their entire life.

Taking them out of such an environment and placing them in a legal firm where

they crash to the bottom of the ladder over night and, at best, receive annual

feedback on performance must alienate them. At very least it places them in an

unfamiliar environment. These people need constant, honest and tactful feedback


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on performance. The more capable they become the more they require a coach not

a supervisor.

A good coach helps people to bring out the best in themselves. A supervisor makes

sure that people are doing what they are asked, and colouring within the lines.

In our experience, happy, profitable teams usually have staff solicitors reporting to

and taking instructions from one person. Rotation from team to team may be

desirable early in one's career, but at any one time any lawyer should only report to

one partner.

This enables the management of workflow, management of work and client

priority, team and relationship building, without forcing a lawyer to be an internal

firm politician too early in their career.

3. Meet twice weekly to compose and review To Do lists with those you

supervise:

When we encounter staff solicitors who seem incapable of recording six hours of

productive time every day, they usually point to insufficient, quality work, saying

"I don't get enough of the correct type of work to enable me to record my budget."

To manage this problem and to enable you to provide the desirable level of

feedback, we suggest that you meet with all staff that you supervise, individually

twice weekly to compose and review To Do lists.

Review time sheets, activities completed, activities To Do and any assistance

required. Remember your One Minute Manager - don't accept upward delegation

without a struggle. Short-term goals, measurement and instant feedback will

improve communication, throughput of work and practitioner skill levels. Don't

forget that you are the coach. This process helps you and helps your staff. It should

not be a discipline tool.

4. Constantly listen for opportunities to review and improve systems and

processes:

Formal staff meetings are difficult, suggestion boxes are worse and prizes for the

best idea seem to loose their attraction after a while. Constant incremental


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improvement seems to work. To this end partners need to remain ever vigilant.

Walk around and listen for ideas. They may often be accompanied by a sigh or

expressed as a frustration but there might be a spark for improvement in any

comment.

Be prepared to workshop complaints over morning tea or lunch with a few of the

team and resolve them the same day that they arise. Show people that you are

serious about finding opportunities to improve.

Follow up any new or altered approach to ensure that it is working as well as was

envisaged. Celebrate all small victories with appropriate genuine praise for all

involved.

5. Regularly lunch with the whole team:People will no longer work well for you because they have to, most do not. Fear, as

a motivator, ceased to work when the demand for talent outweighed the supply.

People will only work to their full potential if they want to. They will only want to

if they like you.

Social engagement is essential if you want someone to like you. We like our

friends to like us. We like them to show interest in our lives, we like them to stay

in touch, to share a joke and to lend support.

Lunch is a great time to get together as equals out of the office. Alternatively, bring

a sandwich and eat in the staff room with the whole team. Its amazing how many

firms still have exclusive partners' lunches.

6. Encourage staff to improve the business by sharing success:

The easiest way to get staff to focus on business improvement is to let them share

in the benefits. Incorporation of legal practices or profit sharing through the firm'sservice entity may make this possible. Alternatively, a six monthly salary bonus

can be paid to staff depending on business performance.

The best bonus schemes are linked to organizational performance, not individual

performance. The simpler the scheme the better. Our accountant has a good

system. He sets an appropriate level of total gross fees to provide both an adequate


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return to owners and funds for future capital investment. 30% of any gross fees in

excess of this amount go into the profit share pot. All staff share pro-ratered

according to salaries, full time, part time, fee earners and support - all participate.

This year his receptionist will earn an extra $15,000.

In a small firm, performance bonuses like this one will help to remove that awful

"bosses verses the workers" nonsense.

7. Encourage business performance culture by sharing information:

If we want people to think and act as business improvers, we will have to share

information with them about the success of the organization. One suggestion is

sharing monthly profit and loss figures, gross fees billed and relative team

performance. Do not discuss individual performance publicly nor, of course,

individuals salaries.

8. Have quarterly partners' retreats to retain strategic focus and build a

learning culture from the top of the organization:

Firms who wish to drive the improvement process at best practice pace need to

dedicate time to planning, review and action. If they are well run, regular partner

strategic retreats provide the necessary environment and focus to drive a practice

forward, align the business values of all partners and stakeholders and motivate

partners to embrace improvement strategies.

9. Have a party twice a year, one with significant others, one without:

Most people love a party. It does not need to be too expensive. A backyard BBQ

will probably achieve the same team building result as a posh restaurant.

10. Involve the whole team in staff selection:

An ability to fit into the team, to add to it and to share team values must be a

critical part of the selection process. Involve some of your lawyers, senior and

junior, and some of your support staff. If people are involved in making theselection then they have some ownership and incentive to make the appointment a

success.

Contemporary research suggests that jobs that are challenging to obtain are more

highly valued and experience lower rates of attrition. Several interviews with


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different people are therefore appropriate. Partners do not have to embrace all or

any of these strategies to survive or to be average. If, however, you are interested

in attracting talent, retaining talent and evolving your firm from adequate to great

then give it a go.

Continuous Improvement Strategies to Build

Your Desired Culture

What is involved in attaining successful improvement activities that will allow you

to build and maintain your desired culture?

We all understand the need to measure results; particularly revenue, cost,

productivity and budget. For the most part organizations are disciplined in

developing strategies and action plans to improve these results. However, few

organizations plan improvement activities based on their desired culture. Why?

First, developing plans targeting financial and productivity targets can be much

more tangible than culture related improvements. Second, writing a list of values is

a relatively easy exercise; while implementing them takes significant effort.

We currently work with two companies that have, over time, come to truly

understand what's involved in building a desired culture. One is a very young

company that has a definite advantage in building their work culture, while the

other has established itself through generations of owners. The established

company has had to be very realistic about the amount of change accomplished

each year but have, essentially, followed the same types of improvement activities

as the younger company in their pursuit of creating a new culture that matches

their stated values.

Each company followed the same model to define their mission, vision, and

values, and then developed their business practices, leadership practices, and

employee behaviors to support each value.


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Each company has values related to the customer, their people (team), business

success (profitability, growth, ), and continuous improvement. They have a

couple of slightly different values after those.

At the end of the first year they came into their planning process and had tochallenge themselves on how well they actually developed and changed their

culture. Although they each had a lot of successes, changing a culture, particularly

an existing one, is challenging.

One of the interesting things that happened over the year was that each

management team felt they owned the improvement process. They measured the

results. They developed a set of improvement goals. They planned changes to

improve the results. And, for the most part, they were responsible forimplementing the changes. Although management teams have a huge role in

improving business results and the culture, we had to remind each organization

that the continuous improvement process doesn't spring from only management.

When we get to the top of the model, the degree to which people throughout the

organization are involved in coming up with the ideas, planning them and being

involved in implementing those plans makes a huge difference in successfully

attaining the desired business results or culture change. In order to get people

involved in the improvement process, it becomes critical that one of the key

leadership behaviors is to find ways that build trust throughout the organization

and get people engaged in their work environment.

Just last week we had a debate in a leadership training session at a company trying


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to incorporate their values throughout their organization. The team was identifying

all of the items that would likely need to improve or change if they were to truly

live up to their stated values. As the exercise was finishing and they were going on

break, some of the leaders were talking about getting together to plan changes. I

asked them who would be involved in the process and they said it would be themanagement team. After the break we talked about how to bring people from

across the organization into the discussion and eventual planning and

implementation.

The improvement process in an organization involves looking at the current

results, understanding the criteria for success (matched with mission, vision,

values), and then coming up with the plans and actions to implement. It's important

to recognize that if you are looking to improve a tangible business result or theculture, involvement is the key in any continuous improvement process.

Management involvement is important, but it's not necessarily an indicator of

successful change.

To have success with your improvement process the following should be

considered:

Does your organization adequately measure what is important for the

business and culture (values) do your measures promote the right

behaviors for the culture?

Does the business planning process involve more than just management? At

what level of the organization is business planning and business

improvement done?

Is there an improvement process that people really use and contribute ideas

for improvement? Is it easy to provide new ideas? Does anyone actively ask

for the ideas and do something with them?

Does the organization place value on people being involved and help freethem up from daily duties to help implement change?

For people to know the values and culture are important, how much does the

organization communicate the values and what is being worked on? Can

people see success with the changes the organization has said they would


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work on in the past?

Both of the organizations in this example now understand the true nature of

continuous improvement. They ensure a high level of involvement from all levelsof the organization during their business planning, and while reviewing their

success in living their values. Their people have become quite honest with what

needs to be worked on, but are also very realistic about what the business can

afford and how much at any one time can be worked on. By focusing on the above

points first, one organization had 500 suggestions from their people and the other

had over 800 last year. These numbers do not include the ideas that were

developed during the business planning process. Although a number of ideas were

not feasible, there were about 10% that had merit and were worked on. Of thenumber of suggestions that were worked on, about 50% were relatively easy to do

and about 10% provided significant business savings or improvement for the

organization.

In addition to following the points listed above for attaining greater involvement in

the improvement process, each company developed a specific continuous

improvement process that had the following characteristics:

All suggestions went to a team looking at all of the suggestions, not to apersons direct supervisor.

All suggestions were coded for the Key Result Area or Value it would

improve.

The suggestions were able to be submitted by paper or online.

The suggestions were viewable by everyone online once the improvement

team viewed them.

The status of all suggestions were kept up-to-date in the online database.

Each person that submitted an idea received a personal notification that theidea was received and how to see its status.

For ideas that required a team to work on them, the person who suggested

the idea was asked to be on the team.

Recognition of implemented ideas was done privately and the person was

asked if they would allow their name to be mentioned at places like a


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General Meeting or in the company newsletter.

A nominal monetary recognition was provided for implemented ideas,

regardless of the value it provided the organization.

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Effectiveness of Team Culture

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