HPT = High Performance Teams
The Access HR Team | 1 Mar 2008 12:56 AM
“High Performance Teams are the supercharged way to lead organizational change”
Utilising high performance teams to lead a change in an organization greatly increases the chances of success. Coming in many forms HPTs share a series of qualities and characteristics that set them apart from the average team.
- They aim to engage the best in all team members – all the time
- They have a clear vision of success and ambitious goals
- Energy levels and commitment are high
- Members derive a strong meaning from what they are achieving together
- Clarity and transparency of team processes, accountabilities and measures
- The team possess an open communication style
- Members act with integrity, support each other and are mutually demanding.
- The teams performance, including behaviour, is measured on an ongoing basis
- They function outside their comfort zones
- Are constantly looking for ways to improve, uncover new possibilities and embrace change
Trina Lewis developed the HPT Four Fundamentals Framework for working with teams to help them be the best they can be. The basis of the framework is four groupings of characteristics typical to HPTs:
· Goal alignment
· Structural clarity
· Constructive behaviour
· Change agility
Goal alignment exists when all team members are openly committed to a set of ambitious goals and objectives. Once a team is aligned they can ensure a robust operating structure which includes clear processes, roles, accountabilities and measures of success.
Constructive behaviours refer to being committed to an effective way of behaving as a team. This enables extraordinary results. Team members collectively commit to behaviours such as straight talk, mutual support, fluid coaching and acknowledgement.
HPTs are especially agile in dynamic and demanding environments because they have very intentional approaches to leading and managing change, dealing with issues and problems, decision-making, and growth and learning.
Accountability underlines the four fundamentals of a HPT. They use accountability as a tool to drive action and ultimately measure success. Accountability is at the core of four interrelated, underlying drivers of success in HPTs.
Accountability refers to people being responsible to themselves and others for what they say and do. It’s moving from “I will try” to “I will” (“or I won’t”). Members accept accountability for specific tasks and the quality of their teamwork. They ensure they have the right resources to meet their accountabilities, so they are empowered. The team trusts their members to deliver on their accountabilities and depends on them doing so.
The success is managed in a transparent fashion, and enables formal and informal feedback and measurement of performance against accountabilities. This also enables formal and informal feedback and measurement of performance against accountabilities. A commitment to regularly reflect on performance as a team is critical to sustaining HPT behaviours.
To become a HPT depends on a team’s context. A good starting point is to consider the current state of the team, without getting it stuck in the past. Focus on the question, “How will we reach our desired future state from where we are now?”, rather than “How do we fix things we have done wrong in the past?” Both questions are valid, but by keeping the question future focused this generates much more energy and engagement.
HPT matters need to be given adequate time on an agenda, they cannot be competing with too many other priorities. If the team is ‘change fatigued’ and cynical about change, consider engaging smaller, more specific HPT interventions to the points of most pain or benefit, without the fanfare of a branded program.
The team leader needs to have a personal ambition that will influence the pace and scope of the plan.
If you require immediate transformation of the way teams work in your business to support a major change agenda, then your program will be more intense.
Design a series of carefully constructed change interventions. Depending on your needs, you may focus on a couple or even one of the four HPT fundamentals at a time. Starting with goal alignment and structural clarity to build a solid basis for the others is a good start.
Achieving HPT status is a journey – not an event – that requires sustained focus. It remains an elusive state for many teams. Teams are diverse and dynamic. They change people, organizations and their environments change, so any team requires refinement and regeneration.
High-performance teaming is a significant investment, as new highs are reached and change is accepted easier the pay offs show.
Source: HR Monthly : - February 2006 – Peak Performance by Trina Lewis