1. How can we speed-up?
Development of High Performance Teams by Peter Pfeiffer (04/2010)
Panama, March 09, 2010
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2. Content
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3. Why do we talk about teams?
Google search of key terms results in high number of hits:
• Team 743.000.000
• Teamwork 28.700.000
• Importance of teamwork 3.360.000
• Team development 2.000.000
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4. Sometimes you have an
exceptional individual
talent, but you need a
team behind it to be
successful.
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5. This is the property of Project Management Institute and may not be
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6. Sometimes you have a
group of exceptional
individual talents, but
only as a team they can
be successful.
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7. This is the property of Project Management Institute and may not be
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8. Sometimes you have
cutting-edge technology,
but without an excellent
team it could not be
successful.
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9. This is the property of Project Management Institute and may not be
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10. … if changing a tire takes 5
seconds longer than it should,
or if the super stars fail to
integrate,
or if technology and people
don’t match,
it can easily cost the victory.
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11. … but what makes a group
of people a team?
and:
… are all teams the same?
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12. Types of Teams
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reproduced or disseminated without the expressed written permission of PMI. Source: Marie Kane (2001) Distinguishing teams from Work Groups

13. • No significant incremental performance need
or opportunity that would require it to
become a team.
• The members interact primarily to share
information, best practices, or perspectives
and to make decisions to help each individual
perform within his or her area of
responsibility.
• There is no call for either a team approach or
a mutual accountability requirement.
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14. • Group for which there could be a significant
incremental performance need or
opportunity, but it has not focused on
collective performance.
• No interest in shaping a common purpose or
set of performance goals. Pseudo-teams are
the weakest of all groups in terms of
performance impact.
• They almost always contribute less to
company performance needs than working
groups because their interactions detract
from each member's individual performance
without delivering any joint benefits.
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15. • There is a significant, incremental
performance need, and it really is trying to
improve its performance impact. Typically it
requires more clarity about purpose, goals, or
work products and more discipline in
hammering out a common working approach.
• It has not yet established collective
accountability. Potential teams abound in
organizations.
• The steepest performance gain comes
between a potential team and a real team.
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16. • This is a small number of people with
complementary skills who are equally
committed to a common purpose, goals, and
working approach for which they hold
themselves mutually accountable.
• Real teams are a basic unit of performance.
• The possible performance impact for the real
team is significantly higher than the working
group.
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17. • Group that meets all the conditions of real
teams and has members who are also deeply
committed to one another's personal growth
and success.
• That commitment usually transcends the
team.
• The high performance team significantly
outperforms all other like teams, and
outperforms all reasonable expectations given
its membership.
• It is a powerful possibility and an excellent
model for all real and potential teams.
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18. You can assess you team, using the following items
1. There is a significant, incremental performance need or opportunity
2. There is joint commitment to a common mission
3. There is consensus on objectives
4. There is agreement on working approach
5. There is true interdependency
6. There is mutual accountability
7. Members are committed to one another's personal growth and success
8. We outperform other like teams and outperform performance expectations
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19. How can we build and
develop a team?
Which elements should be
observed?
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20. The Team Development Wheel
No hidden agendas; no
Individual learning; sharing of
getting along at the
experiences; caring for the
expense of honest
peers.
confrontation
Lea ring,
n
sha ing
ti o
rnin
car
un n
ica
mm Ope
Acknowledgement
g,
Shared vision,
of competencies; Ac goals and values;
Celebration of co mp Fine-tune between
nt
Co
success. lish me organization and
me
nt Ali gn
team.
s Cre
cie a
ete
n inn tivity
p ova &
Knowledge, om tion
tio &
skills, capacities
C
Openness for new
ina ion
n
and attitudes. ideas; Thinking
Ow
ord zat
“out-of-the-box”.
co gani
n
ers
Or
hi p
“Walk the talk”; Accountability;
Steering and responsibility; Fighting
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decision taking.
reproduced or disseminated without the expressed written permission of PMI. for the “cause”.

21. The Team Development Wheel
n
Lea ring,
ti o
sha ing
ica
mm Open
rnin
car
un
g,
Ac
co
Co
mp
lish
me
nt Alignment
Facilitation
s Cre
cie a
ete
n inn tivity
p ova &
om tion
tio &
C
ina ion
n
Ow
ord zat
Facilitating
co gani
ners communication and
relationship building.
Or
hi p
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22. Communication
A process in which information is exchanged between
individuals through a common system of symbols, signs or
behaviors.
The combination of the symbols, signs and behaviors is called
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“message”.
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23. Did you understand what I meant to say?
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24. Sender Receiver
Message
Feedback
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25. Attention: Mimics, gestures, posture, voice
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26. Theories
Objective Information
Resources
Rules and norms
Materials
Proceedings
Deadlines
Technical level Hierarchy Tasks
Joy Fear
Psycho-social level
Shame
Sadness
Insecurity
Levels of Social
Affection
Anxiety
Behavior
Love
Mistrust
Sympathy
Hope Rejection
Status Antipathy
Hate
Ambition
Desires Hidden rules
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reproduced or disseminated without the expressed written permission of PMI. Values Taboos

27. How can we build and
develop a team?
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28. Why use a Team Charter?
• Create shared vision, mission, goals and values;
• Define roles and responsibilities;
• Strengthen inter-personal relationships;
• Learn and share for continuous performance
improvement – as a team and as an individual.
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29. Some essential elements of a Team Charter
 Vision  Deliverables
 Mission / Purpose  Schedule
 Team responsibilities  Meetings
 Team Members –  Decision making
Roles - Responsibilities  Sustainable
 Values performance
 Goals  Communication
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30. Can any team become a
HPT?
and …
Does every team need to
have high performance?
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31. What is High-Performance?
Bringing out the best of / in people
Skills, confidence, morale, motivation
Driven to improve
Work processes, organizational performance,
personal performance
Preparing for the future
Creativity, innovation, learning from the past
Doing more than is minimally expected
Going beyond, stretching, move limits
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32. Are all teams of the
same nature?
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33. If we distinguish between face to
face teams and virtual teams …
… or between professional teams
and volunteer teams …
could we expect the same
performance?
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34. Professional Team x Volunteer Team
Full time Engagement Part time
Tangible Reward intangible
Professional Member selection
Rather availability
qualification criteria
Professional career Development Personal growth
More rigorous Accountability Less rigorous
Higher Productivity Lower
The comparisons in this slide and in the following are not conclusive and indicate only tendencies.
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35. Face to face Team x Virtual Team
Direct, personal Indirect, some
and with all Communication aspects are
dimensions suppressed
More common Communication New technologies
means are used Technology can be obstacle
More personal and Less personal and
Relationship
closer distant
Higher potential Conflicts Lower potential
Costly; tend to occur Less costly; tend to
Meetings
more often be less frequent
More rigorous Accountability Less rigorous
Higher
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Productivity Lower
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36. If your team is striving for …
 bringing out the best of people,
 driving to improve,
 preparing for the future, and
 doing more than is minimally expected,
your team is on its best way to perform
highly, not necessarily because of its objective
outputs, but because being part of such a
team is highly rewarding.
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37. This is the property of Project Management Institute and may not be
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38. Some parts of the presentation were inspired or based
on the following resources:
Marie Kane (2001): Distinguishing Teams from Work Groups Is Critical.
http://www.leader-values.com/Content/detail.asp?ContentDetailID=76
Unknown author: Team-Based Approach to High-Performance and Continuous
Improvement (http://teaching.fec.anu.edu.au).
Canada’s Healthy Workplace Week (2006): Team Charter template.
(www.p3leadership.ca)
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