A key factor for any business, in good times or bad, is getting the best and most productive work from its teams. High performing teams can achieve great results given whatever challenge. As simple as that sounds, getting that to happen is a whole other story. Daily deadlines, financial pressures, inter-office agenda fighting, all get in the way of performance.
Our experience in this area calls out two key success factors:
- Creating the right team dynamic (the soft stuff)
- Creating the right team structure (including roles, responsibilities and incentives)
For the first, we are proud to leverage the concepts and practices of team management expert Patrick Lencioni. His book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, lays out a strong framework for helping to bring teams together. We use this as the foundation to help guide and facilitate teams towards outstanding performance.
For the second, we focus on a team's structure and relevant hard and soft incentives and how both support or get in the way of the team's goals. Together, these two principles create a powerful team capable of working through the most intense and daunting business challenges.
