Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.
AIA

The key ingredients of a good team

by
16th Mar 2009
Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

William Buist of Abelard Management Services analyses how an individual’s knowledge, skills and experience impacts team performance.

Teams are made up of members selected for their knowledge, skills and experience, but people tend to be stronger in certain areas than they are in others. Before analysing how each characteristic can impact a team’s performance, it might be helpful to define what we mean when we talk about knowledge, skills and experience.

Knowledge is an aggregate of our learning, some of which is theoretical, some philosophical and some experiential. The information we have collected in the past gives us the basis for our perceptions today. In other words, our knowledge tells us what to do.

Skills develop by applying knowledge and teaching our physical bodies and our minds to hone our abilities to deliver results. Skills tell us how to do things.

Experience is the thing we gather as we try things out, as we work and play, as we talk, learn and think. Your experience of things is unique: for example, as you read this article you might miss words that others do not. Your interpretation is yours, and it is our experience that makes us individuals. It also makes us different in terms of how we view achievement. Experience teaches us timing and finesse.

When looking at these attributes in the context of a team, how can you tell where the strengths and weaknesses are?

The skillful are energetic
People who are doing the things they know how to do well have a relative shortfall in knowledge about what to do and experience of when to do it; they are relatively skill rich. The problem is they tend to the wrong things right; i.e. the things they know how to do and not necessarily the things that need doing. You see lots of energy in these people.

Energetic people with focus can achieve an enormous amount. Although energetic people will not seek out help naturally (at least not until they have the confidence to recognise it), this is a strength and not weakness. Then they will accept the input and advice of others around them, particularly their peers.

It’s important to ensure that energetic people who are not actively working in their area of core expertise have another more experienced person with whom they can share ideas.

The knowledgable are driven
People who have a relative strength in knowledge and a weakness in skill and experience behave differently; they know what to do but not how to do it. They do the right things but they simply don’t do them well enough. Quality of output is low and failure rates high. These people often have a lot of drive.

Drive will encourage them to fix the problem by adding additional solutions and looking for alternative work around the fixes. They are determined to finish, even if what they finish is not what they intended to create.

Driven people know a way to do something and follow it slavishly. They believe it is the right way to do it and they do not understand why it does not deliver the results that they seek. These people need to be slowed down in order to make progress. They need to be given the opportunity to take time out to re-visit what they are doing, seek advice from others to determine whether it is the right solution to the issue they have in hand.

It also helps to give them time to plan and to understand how the alternative they are now considering will fit in and how long it will take. These people often feel extremely uncomfortable about stopping what they are doing because they are struggling to deliver and can feel as though they are falling behind schedule. They therefore put themselves under an immense time pressure to keep going.

The experienced tend to support and lead others
People with a relative strength in experience but who lack skills and knowledge in the specific tasks now being performed tend to be in supervisory roles or management; they are reliant on others for the practical effort and will either motivate the others or, in the worst case, give up when issues arise.

One issue is that these people may be experienced at (similar) work rather than in supervision and management, for example. To help experienced people deliver outstanding performance, it’s important to support their needs when it comes to managing people, rather than managing the task. The experienced people may often provide that support and leadership without formal recognition of having that role; these people are stalwarts, the rocks on which team capability is often built.

A key skill of the team supporter: Understanding
The real strength of individuals lies below the surface. A person’s depth of character requires time, patience and care to be fully understood, and it will often only be revealed in a situation of open trust. I firmly believe that if I want an individual to trust me, first I have to trust them.

I have to demonstrate that I am worthy of their trust, and one of the key ways that that can be achieved is through spending time with them, actively listening and asking open questions. Seeking understanding in a supportive environment is key. No one should feel that they are being treated to a process or subject to something akin to a trial or an inquisition.

The end performance
The end result of interactions with people in these categories is often deep and lasting friendships. This is time consuming work which may well occur outside the working environment, but the impact in the working environment is phenomenal.

It’s important to provide congruence between the operational requirements of the business and the personal requirements of the individual team members. If done well, the passion, energy and drive all develop as individuals apply their experience and skills towards achieving their goals.

William Buist
Abelard Management Services
Tel: 01291 622598
Email: [email protected]

Tags:

Replies (0)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

There are currently no replies, be the first to post a reply.