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Running Head: HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS

High Performing Teams


















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Running Head: HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS

This document discusses both my personal experiences with teams as well as information
gleaned from external sources. It then combines this information into six criteria with which
to rate teams.

Personal Experiences

This analysis comes from three different team experiences in my life: the high school swim
team, my former team at Gartner, and my current employer.

From my experience, the top 3 characteristics of highly performing teams are: a united
overarching goal, friendship, and at least one charismatic personality. While on the swim
team our united overarching goal was to beat the reigning power in our area, Plainwell.
While at Gartner, my teams united goal was to move from the last place team to the first
place team. In both cases, these goals united us with a common purpose. Both my swim
team experience and my Gartner experience were marked with very close friendships. .
Finally, both successful teams also had one or two charismatic and funny members. These
individuals were able to, through virtue of their personality, diffuse extremely tense
situations. This kept the team united and ensured different factions did not develop.

From my experience, the top 3 characteristics of poorly performing teams are: lack of
aligned independent goals, lack of hard working leadership, and gossip. My current
employer has chosen to incent my department based upon overall sales. As a result, we
focus on quality of opportunities for which we act as technical experts. However, another
department is incented on the number of opportunities my team works. This has resulted in
a conflict between my teams focus on quality and the other teams focus on quantity.

The teams leader must exhibit a willingness to work hard. My current team leader does not
exhibit these qualities and the result has been a lack of respect for this individual and a
demoralized team.

Finally, a team which allows gossip to exist will struggle to find a unified purpose. Gossip,
defined as a casual conversation about other people, has killed my current teams unity.
There is one member of the broader group who gossips discussing personal details of
others. As a result, different members of the broader group, question the work ethic and
competence of others. Conversely, at Gartner, when a possible issue arose, it was dealt
with directly without discussions with others.

Brief Analysis
I used three sources of outside literature: Leading Teams, The Wisdom of Teams, and a
paper on the effects of emotional intelligence on a team. From Leading Teams I noted that
highly performing teams have:

both urgency and direction
personally committed members
high energy and enthusiasm
a common meaningful purpose
clear rules of behavior set
a large amount of time together
specific performance goals

From The Wisdom of Teams I noted that highly performing teams have:

an energizing and compelling direction
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Running Head: HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS

non-dysfunctional norms of conduct
a well composed team
an underlying support structure
expert coaching available when needed

My final source, a study on Emotional Intelligence conducted by Chang, Sy, and Choi,
followed 91 teams. They noted that both average member EI and leader EI are positively
associated with intrateam trust, which in turn positively relates to team performance (Chang,
Choi, and Sy, 2011).

Developing a High Performance Team Rating

Based upon both the sources and my experience, I have developed several criteria which
highly performing teams exhibit. Specifically, highly performing teams have:

a compelling direction
high energy and enthusiasm
norms of conduct
a personally committed group
team accountable performance goals
at least one member with high emotional intelligence

Both books cited a compelling direction (while using different words) as a characteristic of
highly performing teams. Both the Gartner team and the swim team had compelling
directions. Both books alluded to high energy being necessary. This was exhibited by both
of the highly performing teams I cited. Both outside sources also mentioned norms of
conduct, again using slightly different terms. This was also exhibited in both examples I
gave for highly performing teams although with slightly different reinforcement techniques.
The swim team ensured adherence to the norms of conduct through physical punishments of
its members. While my team at Gartner used both words of encouragement and peer
pressure to ensure others adhered to the norms of conduct. I noted that a highly performing
team has members who are personally committed. This was the case with my team at
Gartner as well as with the swim team. My team at Gartner often spent late nights and took
time to focus on generating sales opportunities. The swim team gave up many mornings to
meet during the off season for unrequired physical conditioning. Finally, both high
performance teams I cited, had multiple individuals with a high emotional intelligence.

Rating my Team Based Upon my High Performance Team Ratings

Using the above criteria I believe my team was a high performing team.

My teams compelling direction was to learn as well as to attain good grades in this course.
While we did not exhibit high energy and enthusiasm at all times, there were particular
moments when our team was energized. One example was when we came together and
met at a restaurant to assess an external team in action. We were excited for a new
experience and the team genuinely had a wonderful time together.

During some of our first meetings, we outlined norms of conduct. For example, we outlined
when work specific to team assignments should be finished. This example also applies to, in
part, the performance standards held for all team members. Team members had self-
assigned portions of the group work and were expected to have those completed by specific
dates and times. This self-assignment of goals is one way in which our team showed
personal commitment to our compelling goals of learning and good grade attainment.
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Running Head: HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS

Finally, it was evident to me that at least two of my team members had high levels of
emotional intelligence.




















































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Running Head: HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS

References

Chang, J., Sy, T., & Choi, J. (2012). Team emotional intelligence and performance:
Interactive dynamics between leaders and members. Small Group Research, 43(1),
75-104.

Hackman, J. R. (2002). Leading teams: setting the stage for great performances. Boston,
Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.

Katzenbach, J. R., & Smith, D. K. (1993). The wisdom of teams: creating the high-
performance organization. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.