High Performance Teams 1

Unity and High Performance Teams

Chenista Rae Straubel

MGT 331

Stephan Daniel
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March 25, 2010Abstract

As an ever-evolving entity, teams represent a powerful tool for obtaining effective

and efficient results for planning, organizing, leading, and controlling projects and

methods within innovative organizations. When created with a written mission or

purpose in mind (charter), teams define their own “norms”, harness the collective

brainpower of the membership, and motivate and encourage each other to achieve

dramatic results in a short time.

Effective high performing teams are made up of both leaders and influencers

who share common goals. High performing teams have the necessary resources to

obtain goals, are empowered to make and to implement decisions, and have the

synergy of unity as a common ground. Team members are empowered with trust,

respect, and support and are often coached or facilitated by management or other staff

members. Team members are encouraged to reach beyond their comfort zone and to

“stand on the edge” to improve the quality of their teamwork as well as their output.

When teams are granted the necessary tools and resources and are empowered

to use those resources and tools, they become a valuable asset for facilitating change

within innovative organizations. This paper reviews attributes of high performing teams

including cultural diversity and team dynamics.

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Unity and High Performance Teams

Definition and Elements of High Performing Teams

Team performance can be measured by accessing outcomes. Team member

satisfaction is generally linked to participation efforts and group consensus. Quality

decisions are linked to the amount of time it takes to arrive at the decisions and then the

overall effectiveness of the quality of that decision (how well it responds to the issue is

resolves). Listed below are qualities inherent in high performing teams.

Focus

Members of high performing teams share a vision that focuses on goals and

objectives. The vision gives meaning to their work, direction, and way to measure their

own contributions and see the results or fruits of their labor both individually and as a

team. Developing a shared vision helps to inspire team members in big ways and to

create the synergy of unity toward the common goals. The vision becomes the common

ground shared by all members.

Commitment

Team members sharing common goals operate within deadlines and are

seriously committed not only to the project, but also to their membership in the team

and to their team mates as well. Team members maintain a willingness to go the extra

mile to complete the team mission successfully. The commitment helps the team to

work closely together and keeps their meetings from becoming a joint session filled with

politics or just another rap session.

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Communication

Communicating the plan is only part of effective communications. The plan must

be accepted and acknowledged by all members. High performing teams use all

available communication vehicles to obtain and to transmit meaningful information that

each team member will find useful. Effective team members recognize and accept the

obligation for keeping team members informed about their progress and they also know

that it is their responsibility individually to hold other team members both accountable

and responsible.

The “Zone”

As defined by GuruNet, “in the zone” refers to a state of focused attention or

energy so that ones performance is enhanced”. It can also mean that team members

need to move outside of their comfort zones or areas of concern and to try new and

different ways to solve everyday issues. This helps create a bond with team members

who then become individually focused and stronger. It is a “feel the fear and do it

anyway” sort of notion that is shared among the team members and creates a propelling

synergy of enthusiasm and sometimes even euphoric joy as their intentions come to

fruition.

Reality Checks

Team members meet frequently to review individual and team progression

toward the united goals. Timelines are reviewed with progression and adjusted as

necessary. Learning is internalized and team members check their own and the team’s

anxiety levels – helping each other by offering shared experiences and empathy.

Reality checks ensure that the quality of the work is held to agreed upon standards and
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this improves the collective performance of the team. As members work through their

own the “zone” and reality checks, they help other team members and this increases

their bond and unity – bonds in synergy.

Involvement

In order to feel important in a project, team members must be involved, their

opinions and views must be heard, and they must become integrated into the united

team effort. Each team member must know and appreciate the strengths and

weaknesses, insight and contributions, and capabilities and achievements of other team

members. Becoming involved means being able to “connect” with not only team goals

but also with team members in such a way that individual distinctions, ideas, strengths,

and weaknesses are almost unknown or unidentifiable. The united “mind” will appear

chaotic to outsiders, but the team members understand.

Self-Directed

Self-directed teams know how the work is to be accomplished, remain solely

accountable and responsible for accomplishing the work, and take on the responsibility

for motivating team members into performance objectives. In order to be effective,

teams must have all resources required available to them and management is limited to

and responsible for facilitating and for making sure resource requirements are met.

Success

Victories are celebrated, even small ones! A victory may be a new insight, idea,

completion of a task or phase of development, etc. A victory is something that everyone

agrees upon and “sees” the ends justifying the means. The celebration helps keep and

build morale and increases individual determination to achieve goals. A celebration can
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be something as simply as just shouting “YEA!” in unity or the celebration can include

awards and rewards.

Cultural Diversity and its Impact on Group Behavior

Understanding cultural characteristics helps us to connect with people who may

think, feel, or behave differently. Cultural awareness includes:

1) Self: Understanding our own unique experiences, values, and interpersonal

activities

2) Relationship: Developing skills to work in multi-cultural groups and being honest

about your level of competence.

3) Interacting: Understanding how our culture motivates our behaviors and

thoughts and its emotional impact on the ability learn other cultures.

4) Heritage: Understanding how local issues and experiences affect our

communities and political structures.

5) Global: Stepping outside of biases and accepting other cultures and how their

ways of perceiving the world are similar to our own.

Socioeconomic Status

Individuals with low socioeconomic status tend to be more vulnerable to outside

stresses than those individuals with a higher socioeconomic status. These people tend

to have difficulties agreeing on issues within a group environment and therefore this

may affect the ability of the group to arrive at a consensus.

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Values and Attitude

Cultural conditioning affects how individuals respond to and accept outside

stimuli. This affects coping mechanisms. Values and attitudes measure how well

individuals cope with changes in their environments.

Personality

Personality refers to individual distinctive traits and behaviors. Personality helps

us to measure and to feel self worth and self-esteem. Different cultures have different

measures of self worth and self-esteem therefore the means being measured by

personality in a multi-cultured team may be different among team members.

Affects of Diversity on Teams

Conflict Management

Samarah, Paul, and Mykytyn (2002) found the “cultural diversity might lead to

feelings of rivalry among members causing them to stay away from collaborative spirit in

favor of a more competitive, less conciliatory approach to conflict resolution.” In

addition they offer “…we expect cultural diversity to have a weakening impact on the

positive effect of collaborative attitude on consensus.” During their research they

developed the following hypotheses:

1) The collaborative conflict management style will exert a positive impact on a

virtual team’s level of participation.

2) The cultural diversity of a virtual team will weaken the positive effect that the

collaborative style will have on participation.

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3) The collaborative conflict management style will exert a positive impact on a

virtual team’s level of consensus.

4) The cultural diversity of a virtual team will weaken the positive effect that the

collaborative style will have on consensus.

5) Member participation in a virtual team’s discussions will have a positive impact

on the members’ perceived decision quality.

6) The level of consensus in a virtual team will have a positive impact on members’

perceived decision quality.

Skills and Abilities

A person’s ability to feel competent in their role and with abilities affects their self-

image through self-esteem. It is important to note that measuring ones abilities and

skills is not the same as comparing individuals to one another which creates havoc and

discord among diverse groups and subgroups.

Group Dynamics and Behavior

Increased efforts to implement multi-culturalism within an organization helps

individuals to feel more connected to their environment giving them a greater

satisfaction while improving their self-image. By improving the processes of mutual

engagement and learning to respect, understand, and tolerate differences, the culture of

a particular group or team can retain their traditional values while integrating or co-

existing in teams, organizations or communities without feeling impeded or held-back by

their cultural conditioning, beliefs, values, and / or their perceptions.

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Summary

Studying diversity and its affects upon individuals and teams helps managers

identify potential issues and to adjust their own behaviors or corporate culture to suit the

environment. When studying the affects of diversity, it is necessary to identify why

individuals are affected more than others and how they cope with differing stressors.

Applying this information to team settings helps us to build more effective, high-

performing teams.
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References

Samarah, Imad, Paul, Souren, and Mykytyn, Peter (2002). Exploring the Links Between

Cultural Diversity, The Collaborative Conflict Management Style, and

Performance of Global Virtual Teams. Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

McLeod JD, Kessler RC. (Jun 1990) Socioeconomic status differences in vulnerability to

undesirable life events. J Health Soc Behavior; 31(2): 162-72. Retrieved

05/02/2004 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?

cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=2102495

Unknown. (November 7, 2002). Vulnerability. ORD/Regional Cumulative Risk

Assessment Workshop. Retrieved 05/01/2004

http://www.epa.gov/osp/presentations/cumrisk/tcallaha.pdf