The Financial Benefits of engaged employees and High Performance Teams are well documented. A brief on the Situation, Actions and Results during the 2000 GlaxoWellcome and SmithKlineBeecham Merger... For the rest of the story, click here.

1. LEADERSHIP RESPONSIBILITY
A VIVID SHARED VISION
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BETTER RESULTS WITH
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A meaningful common purpose that the team has helped shape is a necessary step to engage and ultimately gain buy-in to
your leadership and direction. Most teams are responding to an initial mandate from senior management. But to be !"#$%&'()'"*+"(&$%),*-.)()-'"(*
HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS
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successful, the team must “own” this purpose, develop its own spin on it, and they must create this vision together as a team.
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Leaders not only inspire those around them, they bring people together around a shared purpose and a common set of /"79098*=3G8:45*4G0:8*H=I8:@* /E<2?>*380K45*K07098*LG0798@*
values and motivate them to create value for everyone involved. The vision for this team was: To be the world class leader
in the delivery of pharmaceutical goods and services to our customers.
TEAM AGREEMENTS
The situation called for top tier talent and motivated ATTRIBUTES OF HPT
employees. During the 2000 merger between TEAMWORK IS MANDATORY NOT OPTIONAL - PARTICIPATIVE LEADERSHIP
- SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
GlaxoWellcome and SmithKlineBeecham, I was
CONSPIRE FOR EACH OTHER’S SUCCESS - ALIGNED ON PURPOSE
asked to lead the integration of a distribution and - HIGH COMMUNICATION
EXCELLENCE IN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IS ENFORCED
logistics function supporting over $20 billion in - FUTURE FOCUSED
- FOCUSED ON RESULTS
revenues in the U.S. market. My challenge was to DEMAND EXCELLENCE AND REFUSE TO TOLERATE MEDIOCRITY
- CREATIVE TALENTS
build a high performing team that was capable of FOCUS ON DELIVERING QUALITY WORK AS ONE TEAM - RAPID RESPONSE
delivering world-class performance and able to
PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL GROWTH IS NONNEGOTIABLE Developing a high performing team and key
exceed expectations in reducing costs. talent requires serious commitment and time.
However, the climb is worth the view. Some of
COMPETENCY + DIVERSITY your team will not complete the journey, other’s
will come on board because a new skill set is
A MIXTURE OF PERSONALITIES, DIVERSITY OF BACKGROUNDS, needed immediately to implement your
RANGE OF EXPERIENCES AND SKILLS ARE ALL strategy. Be prepared to stay the course
C O M P L E M E N TA RY AT T R I B U T E S T H AT C R E AT E A H I G H
despite challenges and disappointments.
PERFORMING TEAM. DIVERSITY MEMBERS OF YOUR TEAM AND
GAIN NEW PERSPECTIVES AND INSIGHTS TO SOLVE PROBLEMS.
To teach and develop my team, I needed a
wizard in the field of people development, I
chose Zemo Trevathan, now president of Zemo
THE FINANCIAL BENEFITS OF ENGAGED EMPLOYEES AND HIGH PERFORMANCE TEAMS ARE
Trevathan Associates. Zemo lead my team
WELL DOCUMENTED. A BRIEF ON THE SITUATION, ACTIONS AND RESULTS AT GSK FOLLOWS...
through a number of training and development
Every business is in business to earn a reasonable return on being valued and giving you the benefit of their experience explain the rationale. Once all the goals have been sessions with our ultimate goal of creating a
investment while providing its products and services. Creating and insight. I’ve learned time and again the truth of the adage presented, together select the priority goals for the year. high performing team and increasing key
high performance teams of engaged employees is an that people will not destroy that which they have helped to Although all goals will be pursued, your team will benefit from talent. Together we built a high performing
excellent way to ensure high productivity, strong financial create. Inclusion creates buy-in and ownership from the a focus on the critical few that most ensure overall success. team through team building / workability,
results, and satisfied customers, all key ingredients to strong team. 2. Review what happened in the past and learn Accountability is key to your success so make sure that each personality recognition, coaching and
return on investment. Start by accepting that your people are from it. Start with a thorough review of the past year – what goal has one team member who has the overall responsibility leadership seminars, team fired up, strategic
your business. More than your strategy, your marketing plan did we achieve together and where did we fail? Give all for its achievement. 5. Establish monthly review sessions planning, and effective team meetings. This
or your IT system, people are the key to your success. To people on the team time to make their own list before to monitor progress. Review all team plans to ensure that inspired team not only beat the original cost
transform your business, transform your people. Getting your gathering responses. Make sure that you first focus on they are aligned in pursuit of your plan for the year. If these targets by 17x, 75% of the team moved into the
people to work together in a powerful way, taking personal achievements – just the good news. One of the factors that plans are achieved, will our strategy for the year achieve the key talent group and GSK’s supply chain was
responsibility for their own performance, as well as that of the makes working together so difficult is our habit of focusing on outcomes we hope? The most important discipline is to ranked in the top 15 by AMR. Visible
overall business, will generate measurable improvement issues and problems to the exclusion of achievements and ensure – no matter what – that each team has a monthly competencies such as knowledge and skills
every time. The secret lies in making sure that everyone in successes. In such an environment people feel undervalued review session to assess progress against their annual plan. are easier to assess, whereas hidden
your business – including you – has the right attitude and is and unmotivated and a feeling of Why bother? shapes the competencies such as self-concept, traits and
taking the right actions to produce results, time after time. culture. 3. Examine limiting attitudes and assumptions Within one month the team was fully behind our strategic motives are behavioral competencies that drive
Here are a few key disciplines to make this happen in your and shift them. Too often the source of this frustration is plan, agreed on the goals and objectives, and rapidly moved an individual’s performance in the job. In my
business. 1. Include everyone in an annual planning found in the underlying attitudes that shape the culture of your forward with energy and vigor. Achieving $20 million in cost opinion this is the area where the true genius
session. Including people makes all the difference to their business. Change their beliefs and you will change the savings once seemed impossible. With a change of mindset, of building high performing teams exist.
performance. They have a chance to let you know how things outcomes. 4. Align the team on the top priorities. Have confidence in leadership a new day had come. Three years
look from their perspective, giving them the experience of each manager present the goals to the entire team and later, this team delivered over $350 million in cost savings.
Jim Dixon