No time for heroes: creating effective high performing leadership teams. By Professor Peter Hawkins - Leadership Team Breakfast Seminar

Transcription

1 No time for heroes: creating effective high performing leadership teams By Professor Peter Hawkins - Leadership Team Breakfast Seminar Bath Consultancy Group 2011

2 2 Three conditions necessary for effective team coaching Shared endeavour that the team can not achieve by working in parallel An aspiration to collectively achieve a level of performance greater than at present An interest in having help on the journey towards the aspiration to fulfil their shared endeavour

3 3 Questions to start our dialogue 1. What is going to be the biggest leadership challenge in your organisation in the next two years? 2. In the light of that - What is your best quality question about collective team leadership? (a quality question is one where you do not know the answer, there is not a yes/no answer, I can not give you a simple factual answer, but one if we all struggle with everyone will learn.)

4 4 How come? The UK government spent more on Leadership Development between than all previous governments put together Yet every department review reported that the senior leadership team were not as effective as they needed to be?

5 5 Beyond the heroic Chief Executive. Why the world needs high performing teams

6 6 The challenges for today s leadership teams Managing expectations of different stakeholders Both running the business and transforming it Being members of multiple teams Working with systemic conflict The world becoming more complex and interconnected Working virtually The major challenges lie not in the parts but in the interconnections

7 Key trends in coaching 1. Focus on return on investments: Ensuring individual and organisational benefit 2. Transformational coaching that delivers shift in the room rather than just insight and good intention 3. Internal coaching communities 4. Manager as coach 5. Creating a coaching culture 6. Expectation of all coaches having supervision 7. Growth in team coaching, particularly on coaching the team at its edge how it engages with its key stakeholders 7 Bath Consultancy Group 2011

8 8 Key stakeholder groups Investors Natural Environment Community in which the organisation operates Suppliers Partners Customers Staff

9 9 Making sustainable change work Strategy Change Culture Leadership

10 10 In what circumstances are the following true? a) = 6 b) = 2 c) = 12 We understand 1 but do we understand +?

11 11 Myth of the Lone Ranger heroic CEO Our mythology refuses to catch up with us. And so we cling to the myth of the Lone Ranger, the romantic idea that great things are usually accomplished by a larger-than-life individual working alone. Despite evidence to the contrary including the fact that Michelangelo worked with a group of 16 to paint the Sistine Chapel we still tend to think of achievement in terms of the Great Man or the Great Woman, instead of the great Group. Bennis 1997 Not finance. Not Strategy. Not Technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare. Patrick Lencioni (2002; vii)

12 12 A high-performing team A team is a small number of people with complimentary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. Katzenbach and Smith, HBR, March 1993 a high-performing team: effectively meets and communicates in a way that raises morale and alignment engages with all the teams key stakeholder groups in a way that grows performance and provides constant learning and development for all its members and the collective team. Hawkins, 2011

13 13 The team performance curve Performance Impact High performing team Working group Real team Potential team (Katzenbach and Smith, 1993) Pseudo team Team Effectiveness

14 14 Six conditions for senior leadership team effectiveness Real Team The Essentials Right People Solid Structure Team Leadership The Enablers Compelling direction Supportive context Team Coaching (Wageman et al, 2008)

15 15 Ten limiting mindsets in working with team coaching Limiting Mindsets 1. Team Coaching only needs to happen when the team first forms 2. Team Coaching only needs to happen when things are getting difficult 3. The performance of the team is the sum total of the team members performance 4. Team Coaching is about relating better to each other 5. Team Coaching is about the team having better meetings Antidote The best teams engage in life-long learning and development If the first time you address relationship issues is in the divorce court you have left it too late! A team can perform at more than the sum of its parts or less than the sum of its parts. It is important to focus on the team added-value Team Coaching is also about how the team relates to all its stakeholders and is aligned to the wider organisation s mission Team performance happens when the team, or subparts of it, engage with the teams stakeholders. The team meeting by itself is the training ground, not the match

16 16 Ten limiting mindsets in working with team coaching Limiting Mindsets 6. Team Coaching only happens off-site in awaydays 7. Team Coaching is about the team trusting each other 8. Conflict in teams is a bad thing 9. We are not a team unless we work at the same things together Antidote Team Coaching can be assisted by off-site away-days but the core development happens in the heat of working together Absolute trust between human beings is an unrealisable goal, particularly in work teams. A more useful goal is the team trusting each other enough to disclose their mistrust Too much or too little conflict are unhelpful in a team. Great teams can creatively work through the conflicting needs in their wider system A team is defined by having a shared enterprise that can not be done by the members working out of connection with each other 10. Team Coaching is an end in itself Team Coaching is only valuable when it is linked to improving the team s business performance

17 17 Aspects of team development Team development is the any process carried out by a team, with or without assistance from outside, to develop its capability and capacity, to work well together, with its joint task Team Building is any process used to help a team in the early stages of team development Team Facilitation is when a specific person (or persons) is asked to facilitate the team either a) to resolve a particular conflict or difficulty, b) to review its ways of operating and relating, or c) to carry out a planning or strategy process Team Process Consultancy is a form of team facilitation where the team consultant, sits alongside the team carrying out its meetings or planning sessions and provides reflection and review on how the team is going about its task (Hawkins, 2010)

18 18 Team coaching Direct interaction with a team intended to help members make coordinated and task appropriate use of their collective resources in accomplishing the team s work. (Hackman and Wageman, 2005: 269) Helping the team improve performance, and the processes by which performance is achieved, through reflection and dialogue. (David Clutterbuck, 2007:77) Enabling a team to function at more than the sum of its parts, by clarifying its mission and improving its external and internal relationships. It is different therefore from coaching team leaders on how to lead their teams, or coaching individuals in a group setting. (Hawkins and Smith, 2006)

19 19 The extended team coaching continuum Team Facilitation Performance Leadership team Coaching Transformation Leadership Team Coaching Systemic Team Coaching Process Focus at events Task and Process Focus Task, Process And Stakeholder Focus Task, Process, Stakeholder and Organisational Transformation Focus Task, Process, Stakeholder and Organisation and system Focus

20 20 Systemic team coaching Systemic Team Coaching is a process by which a team coach works with a whole team, both when they are together and when they are apart, in order to help them both improve their collective performance and how they work together, and also how they develop their collective leadership to more effectively engage with all their key stakeholder groups to jointly transform the wider business. (Hawkins, 2011)

21 21 The transformational leadership challenge Please score the executive team between 1 (low) -10 (high) in each quadrant Transformational Change Operational Effectiveness 6.9 Working together 5.2 Working apart

22 22 The five C s model of high performing teams Task 2. Clarifying 1. Commissioning Inside (within boundary) 5. Core Learning Outside (across boundary) 3. Co-Creating 4. Connecting Process

23 23 The five C s model of high performing teams Task Inside Clarifying Primary purpose Goals Objectives Roles Core Learning Reflecting, learning, integrating Commissioning Ensuring a clear commission for the Team and contracting on what it must deliver Outside (within boundary) (across boundary) Co-Creating Interpersonal and Team Dynamics Team culture Connecting and engaging all the critical stakeholders Process

24 Team coaching: process model Contract Inquiry Diagnosis Contract Listen Explore Action Review Initial clarity over desired outcomes from the team coaching and ways of working With team members, whole team, stakeholders etc. Making sense of patterns where to focus With whole team outcomes, focus and ways of working To the issues, the team dynamic and the context The five disciplines and ways for the team to move forward Choose a way forward and rehearse first steps Review actions and get feedback Bath Consultancy Group Bath Consultancy Group

25 25 Does your team perform at more than the sum of its parts? What can you do about this?

26 26 Team questionnaire Complete the team questionnaire for a team that you currently work with or are part of Choose 2 areas where you think the team most needs to raise its score Pair up and share the two areas you have identified. Co-coach each other coach asks other person: What is the shift required of your team to improve its performance in these 2 areas? What is the shift required in you to generate this shift in the team? What will be your first step towards this once you leave this seminar?

27 27 Team performance appraisal Goal Indicator Current Rating 1 low - 5 high Clear commission 1. The team has a clear commission and mandate from the wider organisation and those it reports to. 34 (3-4) 43 Required rating Commission collective performance Commission selection 2. Achieving team goals is recognised and rewarded above achieving individual goals. 3. The team has been selected to have a good range of complementary skills 26 (2-4) (2-5) 47 Clarity of Purpose Clarity of Goals Clarity of action Co-creating 4. All team members can articulate and own the overall purpose. 5. The team is working towards agreed goals in an effective manner. 6. The team commits to clear actions with accountability and follow through. 7. Clear and shared ways of working Co-creating 8. Team members are mutually accountable for collective goals 9. The team maintains a high level of morale and commitment 35 (3-4) (2-3) (1-3) (2-3) (1-4) (2-4) 45

28 28 Team performance appraisal Goal Indicator Current Rating 1 low - 5 high Co-creating in meetings 10. Everybody is fully engaged and involved, the team makes good use of its diversity Connecting with staff Connecting with Stakeholders Connecting with the changing environment. 11. The outcomes are better than any individual could have arrived at by themselves 12. Team members leave the meetings feeling more focused, supported and energised 13. The team members can engage staff at all levels as transformational leaders. 14. The team relates well to all its key stakeholders and team members represent the whole team 15. The team scans its stakeholder environment and constantly attends to changing needs and perceptions Core learning 16. The team regularly and effectively attends to its own development 17. The team attends to developing each of its members. 18. All team members give good real-time feedback and provide support and challenge to each other. 28 (2-4) (2-3) (2-4) (2-4) (2-4) (2-4) (2-4) 25 (2-4) 23 (2-3) Required Rating

29 29 The five disciplines of high performance teams: scores Task Clarifying 86 Commissioning 93 Inside (within boundary) Core Learning Reflecting, learning, integrating Outside (across boundary) Co-Creating 80/80 Connecting 79 Process

30 30 Foundation trust 5 key teams 6 critical relationships E Board 5 C E Executive 1 A B DIV 2 DIV 3 DIV 4 Patients F D STAFF F Patients

31 31 Common interrupts of effective team performance Interrupts Lack of clarity of collective focus Accountability only top down not across the team Aiming for agreement rather than commitment Doing to each other what others do to us Believing effective team meetings = effective team Agenda driven rather than outcome driven meetings Either/or solution debates Leadership Challenge Clarity of vision, engagement at emotional level, communication Assumptions about leadership from the top/partner authority Avoid content focus, addressing conflict Awareness of dynamics/relationship with bigger system Seeing the bigger picture, leading team together and team apart Keeping focus on the end in mind Seeing the power of dilemmas/working with differences

32 32 Common interrupts of effective team performance Interrupts Ignoring the smell of the dead elk Leadership Challenge Courage - confronting

33 33 But remember leadership is collective Leadership is both deeply personal and inherently collective. At its essence it concerns the capacity of a human community to shape its destiny and, in particular, to bring forth new realities in line with people's deepest aspirations. Society for Organisational Learning, 1993

34 34 If you have been thank you for listening If you want to follow up with a conversation then please contact me: peter.hawkins@bathconsultancygroup.com Tel: +44 (0)