Building High Performance Teams

Building high performance teams is an evergreen leadership goal and wouldn’t we all love to be better at it. Yet, how frequently do we see trainings that help us work towards this goal?

What is a high performing team? Is it just a collection of high performing individuals (ownership of the performance on the team members) or is it a collection of individuals doing their best in a conducive environment (ownership of performance on the leader and team members)?

It is undoubtedly, the latter. The difference can be seen in any leadership situation where team remained the same, the leader changed and the team performance dramatically improves.

Educational psychologist Bruce Tuckman outlined a five-stage developmental model commonly observed in teams aiming for peak performance. These stages are: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.

Forming stage

The forming stage is the first, and involves a period of orientation and getting acquainted. Understandably, this is a period of high uncertainty as boundaries, trust and ways of working are not defined. This stage starts with leadership change (could be at any managerial level from State Leaders to Country Leaders, the scope of impact of each being different). ?

Storming stage

The storming stage is the most difficult and critical stage. It is marked by conflict and competition as individual personalities emerge. It is crucial to build trust at this stage, to accept individuals and differences and a larger common goal. I’ve seen that over-communication with the team, being open to conversations, feedback, questions helps, as do team building initiatives.

Norming stage

If teams survive the Storming stage, they reach the norming stage. There is acceptance of leaders, goals, and individual members roles. The unit starts to behave as a cohesive team. Handling occasional disagreements constructively will settle the unit as a team.

Performing stage

At this stage, the team is mature, organized, and well-functioning. There is a clear and stable structure. All members are committed to the team goals. The team is focused on problem solving and meeting team goals.

Adjourning stage

This is a stage seen for teams that are created for specific objectives and dissolved thereafter.

At which stage have you observed teams struggle the most?

During my recent conversation with a senior industry leader we discussed how beneficial it would be if there was a space for Medical Device & Diagnostics leaders to learn from Senior Leaders and their experiences. The complexity of our industry is unparalleled with its deeply regulated environment, the dynamic nature of government policy evolution, compliance, quality, technical knowledge and multi-level customer relationships. Do you think this will interest you?

Have you seen teams work in silos in organizations? Which stages do you feel learning interventions would help most?

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