hr discussion

 Evaluate the effectiveness of both team-based performance management and individual-based performance management. Suggest three pros and three cons of each type of management. Justify your response.

  • Next, choose three of the best practices for addressing the facets of team-based performance management. Recommend a strategy for your current or past organization to incorporate the identified practices. Provide a rationale for your response.

  • see  notes below

Introduction

Welcome   to Performance Management. In this   lesson, we will be discussing managing team performance in complex settings   and CEO performance management. 

Please   go to the next slide. 

 

2

Objectives

Upon completion of this lesson, you will   be able to:

Evaluate   performance management processes and best practices for teams within an   organization. 

Please go to the next slide. 

 

3

Supporting Topics

Specifically,   we will discuss the following topics:

Defining   a team;

The   facets of team performance management; and, 

21   best practices for addressing the facets of team performance management

Please   go to the next slide. 

 

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Team Defined

You   are likely to already know what a team is and chances are you have been a   team member several times in your career. It is “a distinguishable set of two or more people interacting   toward a common goal with specific roles and boundaries on tasks that are independent   and are completed within a larger organizational context.” 

Teams are an everyday part   of the twenty-first century workforce. One of the challenges for organizations is designing teams that   measure the outputs of a combined effort of two or more people, while   retaining individual accountability of each member of the team. If a team does not meet its desired   outcomes, does the organization terminate every member of the team? This is why individual performance   measurements are critical in creating, evaluating, motivating and sustaining   teamwork in the workplace. 

Please go to the next slide. 

 

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Facets of Team Performance   Management

One   way to look at team effectiveness is through a team’s ability to utilize and   cultivate four key capacities. They   are: 

Adaptive;

Leadership;

Management;   and 

Technical.   

First,   the adaptive capacity is a team’s ability to deal with external   stimulus. This may be people outside   the team, but within the organization, which include events happening inside   the organization which do not directly affect the team, or even current events   occurring outside the organization. If   a team adapts well to the outside environment, chances are the team will stay   on task to reach its goals and deadlines. Teams can cultivate this capacity through paying attention to   assessments, collaborating, networking and planning. 

Second   is the team’s ability to set direction and guide activities towards the goal   or goals, both by a formal or assigned leader and the team members   themselves. This capacity can be   nurtured through visioning, establishing goals, directing, motivating, making   decisions and solving problems. 

Third   is the management capacity, or the team’s ability to administer its resources   efficiently and effectively. This can   be cultivated through careful development and coordination of resources,   including people, money and facilities. 

Fourth   is the technical capacity, which is the team’s ability to design and operate   products and services effectively and efficiently deliver services to   customers. Cultivating technical   capacity varies from team to team. It   depends largely on the nature of the organization and the work the team is   responsible for. It may include such   things as operating software or machinery, or creating processes or   procedures that equate to satisfied customers. 

Please   go to the next slide.

 

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Adaptive Capacity Best Practices

On   the few slides are the best practices associated with each of the key   capacities. 

Let   us start with the adaptive capacity. These six best practices allow an   organization to capitalize on a team’s ability to handle outside influences   that do not directly affect the team, yet, can disrupt or interrupt the   team’s focus. 

They   are:
  Build flexible and adaptable team players. Individual team members who posses the flexibility to change focus   will lead the group to being able to do the same. 

Build   a big play book of task strategies. Every good sports coach has a playbook, or those actions or plays that   will fit for a particular situation. If a team possesses the same type of playbook in the area of task   strategies, teams will benefit by being able to choose from and employ   strategies that fit particular situations best. 

Create   teams that know themselves and their work environment. Being able to adapt   quickly means the team possesses a high level of awareness of environmental   changes, its task demands, its ability to adapt. 

Build   teams that can tell when the usual answer isn’t the right answer. While standard processes often result in   efficiencies, changes in the environment can result in complexities that   teams need to reach outside the standard processes to solve. Being able to know when the standard is not   feasible, is an adaptive capacity teams can learn through guided error   training. 

Develop   self-learning teams means teams rely on themselves to learn from mistakes and   successes. They then respond to these   mistakes and successes with new cultural insights and tools. 

Finally,   build teams that take advantage of their resources. Effective teams take inventory of the   transactive memory the team possesses. This is an inventory of who on the team knows what, whether it be task   driven or organizational history, to name just two items. 

Please   go to the next slide. 

 

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Leadership Capacity Best   Practices

Next   are the best practices for leadership capacity. 

First,   articulate and cultivate a shared vision. Aligning the team’s goals to the higher goals of the organization is   motivating in seeing the team’s efforts tied to a larger goal. 

Second,   create goals that teams can grow with. Goals should be flexible for teams to make adjustments when called to   do so. Goals should also be within   reach of the team. Goals that are too   easy for the team does not benefit the organization overall. Creating stretched goals, or those goals   that will require effort to achieve, results in individual and team growth,   which does benefit the organization. 

Third,   build motivation into the performance management process. Teams should make clear connections among   their actions, evaluations, and outcomes. When teams take these steps, individuals tend to feel more motivated   and satisfied with their team experience. 

Fourth,   team leaders must champion coordination, communication and cooperation. Without coordination, communication and   cooperation, teams are not likely to succeed. A team leader must always be practicing, modeling and cultivating   these behaviors in order for other team members to feel comfortable to do the   same. 

Lastly,   teams must take the time to examine both failures and successes. It may be easy to justify skipping if other   activities or tasks are seen as priorities. Yet, good leaders recognize taking the time to have these team   conversations results in fruitful examination that can be used towards future   success. 

Please   go to the next slide. 

 

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Management Capacity Best   Practices

Remember   that team management involves effective use of human and material   capital. In the area of management   capacity, there are four best practices. 

One,   clearly define what to measure. Since   teams are made up of individuals, it is important to measure outcomes from   both a team and individual perspective. 

Two,   develop measures that are diagnostic of performance. Since performance management is concerned   with optimal performance, it would follow that knowing how to reach optimal   performance is critical for all teams. Measurements that help explain why something did or did not work,   assists in diagnosing performance issues that can then be further   investigated or solved. 

Third,   measure typical team performance continuously. An annual measure is only one snapshot of   performance. Taking six or seven   snapshots reduce any variance and gives a more inclusive picture of the   team’s actual performance. 

Lastly,   include teamwork competencies in formal performance evaluations. Individuals need to know that teamwork is   valued in the organization. One way to   do this is to build teamwork competencies into the individual performance   evaluation. This allows individuals to   receive formal feedback and documentation of his or her ability to work with   and on a team. This also paves the way   for formal development plans, which may result in training in teamwork   competencies that are missing or need to be further developed. 

Please   go to the next slide. 

 

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Technical Capacity Best Practices

Technical   capacity involves individual competencies in assigned tasks and individual’s   ability to work in a team setting. This category has two best practices. 

First,   plan and execute the integration of new team members. New members will   undoubtedly be added to the team. By   having a workable plan to getting new members up-to-speed, time is not lost   figuring things out when it happens. 

Second,   assess and foster shared mental models. A mental model is a explanation of   someone’s thought process about how something works in the real world. When applied to a team, a mental model is a   group effort to explain how to do something. An example would be a document that outlines the tasks associated with   getting a new team member onboard. 

Please   go to the next slide. 

 

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Multi-team Membership Best   Practices

Research   indicates that workers are becoming more involved with teams in the   workplace. Instead of being on just   one team, today’s workplace is constructed such that individual contributions   are crossing organizational departments as needed. It is becoming commonplace for workers to   be on multiple teams at once. This led   to the development of multi-team membership best practices. 

The   first best practice is to develop or select for individual personal   discipline and organizational skills. For individuals to successfully juggle multi-team roles and responsibilities,   individuals must possess not only expertise to complete the tasks, but also   organizational and time management skills. Individuals without these skill sets can receive training to develop   them. 

The   next best practice is to communicate the big picture of competing goals and   deadlines for all teams is essential in individual awareness of how each team   is affected by individual absences. When one or more members of a team must   tend to activities on other teams, it can cause a ripple effect on several   other teams. Flexibility of all other   team members must be practiced in order to keep tasks on track. Back-up plans are also useful to have for   such circumstances. 

Next,   recognize that a multi-team framework works best for mature projects. New projects tend to require team member’s   full-time attention. When a project is   up-and-running this may be the best time to capitalize on the multi-team   approach. 

Lastly,   foster trust by cultivating a culture of information sharing stems from the   asynchronous nature of multi-team membership. When working remotely, members need to trust that tasks are being done   outside the absence of a formalized team gathering. The best way to foster trust is through a   constant stream of communication to assure deadlines are met. 

Please   go to the next slide. 

 

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Check Your Understanding

 

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Summary

We   have now reached the end of this lesson. Let’s take a look at what we’ve covered.

We   first discussed the definition of a team. A team is “A distinguishable set of two or more people interacting   toward a common goal with specific roles and boundaries on tasks that are independent   and that are completed within a larger organizational context.” 

Then   we looked at facets of team performance management. They are: 

Adaptive;   

Leadership;   

Management;   and 

Technical.   

This   was followed by the 21 best practices of team performance management,   including a fifth facet called multiple-team membership. 

Let’s   recap each of these best practices categorized by its facet of team   performance management. 

The   best practices for the adaptive facet are: 

One,   build flexible and adaptable team players;

Two,   build a big play book of task strategies;

Three,   create teams that know themselves and their work environment;

Four,   build teams that can tell when the usual answer isn’t the right answer;

Five,   develop self-learning teams; and, 

Six,   build teams that take advantage of their resources.

There   are five best practices in the area of leadership: 

One,   articulate and cultivate a shared vision;

Two,   create goals the team can grow with;

Three,   build motivation into the performance management process;

Four,   team leaders must champion coordination, communication and cooperation; and, 

Five,   examine both failures and successes. 

In   the area of management, these were the four best practices that were   discussed: 

One,   clearly define what to measure;

Two,   develop measures that are diagnostic of performance;

Three,   measure typical team performance continuously; and, 

Four,   include teamwork competencies in formal performance evaluations.

Next,   we discussed two technical capacity best practices. They were:

One,   plan and execute the integration of new team members;

Two,   assess and foster shared mental model.

And   lastly, the fifth category we discussed were the four best practices for   multi-team membership best practices: 

One,   develop or select for individual personal discipline and organizational   skills;

Two,   communicate the “big picture”;

Three   , recognize that a multi-team framework works best for mature projects; and, 

Four,   foster trust by cultivating a culture of information sharing.

This   completes this lesson. 

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