Leading Teams: Motivating and Optimizing Performance

by Greg Poskas

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

In an age of growing interaction in professional and social environments focusing on efficiency and group dynamics, the ability of a leader to evaluate and maintain teams to their maximum potential is more important than ever before.  It is the responsibility of those leaders to establish the level of standards needed to successfully produce the outcomes they desire through the skills and influences of the members within those teams.  To accomplish these goals, leaders use a number of techniques with the purpose of motivating their team members and optimizing their performances.

Some of these techniques include how to assess team performance, how to coach the team to improve performance and how to share leadership responsibilities to motivate the team.  The first method incorporates a strategy using the acronym “ASSESS” to fully evaluate the team and discover ways to help the members improve.

• Ascertain performance objectives
• Share positive comments
• Share improvement comments
• Evaluate overall performance
• Seek feedback
• Set guidelines and timetables for improvement

The second method uses a “GROW” model with things to do and things not to do in order to properly coach team members.  This guides the team through challenges by allowing them to find their own answers.

• G: Establish the Goal
• Do: Agree on a single goal.
• Do not: Criticize the goal or bring a personal agenda.
• R: Check Reality
• Do: Talk openly about how things actually are, not how things should, could, or used to be.
• Do not: Criticize people or processes, or present judgments.
• O: Identify Options
• Do: Ask questions until all ideas are revealed through the contributions of all team members while discussing the pros and cons of various options.
• Do not: Use personal ideas or judge other’s ideas.
• W: Wrap up
• Do: Establish a time frame to implement solutions while making sure team members commit to these actions.
• Do not: Dictate the course of action or judge decisions that were made.

As Nickol ( 2000, p. 19) expressed when discussing the Lack of Empowerment, management team members tend to not give proper authority to other team members, even though they have been given responsibilities.  The third method focused on the motivation team members can gain by accepting responsibilities presented to them from their leaders and having the authority to proceed.  This involves concepts of participatory management in three ways:

• Delegating responsibilities
• Team members perform some of the duties of the leader.
• Allowing team members to use their skills
• Team members support the team with their abilities and learn new skills.
• Sharing or rotating leadership roles
• Team members take charge of projects, meetings, or activities.

Through the practice of these techniques, there can be a drastic improvement in the quality of teamwork you are involved in.  This can be seen at various levels as at time you may be the leader, and others you may be a team member.  These concepts are validated where Hackman (Hackman and Powell, 2004, p. 86) points out how teams can grow to a size that they no longer function efficiently, and that using teams with no more than nine members tend to have less difficulties.  Therefore, it is recommended to use the number of members in a team that actually increases efficiency by having the strengths of each member have full contribution while maintaining an overall synergy throughout the team. 

With the inclusion of the ASSESS strategy, your teams can gain fundamental evaluations to help overcome barriers that you may simply not have the ability to currently see.  By sharing the GROW model with your team leader, they will have new tools to help guide your team members in new ways to face the challenges you currently have, as well as, new challenges in the future.  As a leader, utilizing participatory management techniques can not only build up team members, but can also begin preparing them to take on more roles as leaders themselves.

If leaders contribute in a way with their teams that can motivate and optimize their team’s performances, those teams can reach higher standards of productivity, efficiency, and inspiration.  By also using these methods for evaluation, coaching, and the sharing of responsibilities, leaders can break new ground in the principles that are used as a basis of judgment for years to come.

References

Nickol, B. (2000, March). Dysfunctional teams. [Electronic version]. Executive Excellence.

17(3): 19. Retrieved from MegaFile Database.

Hackman, J.R., & Powell, S. (2004). Viewpoint: Leading teams. Team Performance Management 10(3/4): 84-88. Retrieved from ABI/Inform Complete Database.