5-Step Antidote to Underperforming Teams

Mark Affleck

Posted November 2013

http://www.yellowchairstrategy.com

What’s going on, here?
Research at Harvard University shows that most
teams underperform despite the incredible
amount of time and money invested in them.
Shockingly, the studies reveal that it’s even common to have members
disagree on what the team is supposed to be doing! Perhaps a bigger
surprise is that in many cases people do not know who is on or not on the
team. Incredible.
Despite that sobering reality, there’s a reason why
people throughout history have been working on teams.

Because they work!
Mark Affleck



In an idealized scenario, teams can:
INCREASE overall productivity,
efficiency, and the speed of work.

DISTRIBUTE the allocation of work
and promote healthy in-team competition.

CATALYZE connection, creativity,
and cohesiveness among team members.

Mark Affleck



So Why do Teams Fail?
Why is it so hard to make teams succeed and actually
produce the positive outcomes that can be generated
in an ideal scenario?
Here’s my take on that question after 25 years as a CEO Leader:

Most leaders know the “must-be-done” imperatives for making a team
successful. That’s not the issue. They just don’t act on them. Instead, a
transactional focus takes over the process and marginalizes performance.
That’s too bad because even the slightest increase in discipline
behind forming and leading teams would send the success rate
skyrocketing from its current mooring in mediocrity.
Mark Affleck



The End of Transactional Thinking
Any discussion about 21st Century teams should
start with an acknowledgement that teamwork is
DIFFERENT today than it was yesterday.

Teamwork today is not built
around the anachronistic Post-WWII
hierarchical model which focused on
a TRANSACTIONAL mindset.

Mark Affleck



“We do things…”
There’s a good reason why yesterday’s transactional approach
no longer works. It puts a team in a “we do things…” mode.
That leads to teams that
miss the mark by merely:

 Studying the situation
 Reviewing the competition
 Creating a Strategic Plan

That’s yesterday.
Mark Affleck



Today’s

TRANSFORMATIONAL
orientation leads teams in a
much more positive direction.

Ultimately, it produces healthy teams that:

 Confront reality and avoid denial.
 Create distinction over the competition.
 Build a discovery-based Strategic Frame.

Teams in the 21st Century cannot be transactional
because organizations can’t be transactional!

Mark Affleck



White-Hot Competition
This new era with its white-hot
competition and ever-tightening
margin squeeze–what I call the

ChangeAge

–means organizations must be
transformational just to keep up.
If teams are one of the most effective ways to reach the organization’s goals, then
those teams must be charged with the same performance and accountability
standards that the ChangeAge demands. That demands transformation and
building transformational teams is not a choice. It’s an imperative.

Welcome to the ChangeAge.
THE TRANSACTION ECONOMY IS DEAD.
Mark Affleck



Before addressing the 5 antidotes to underperforming teams, here’s a recap to this point…

RECAP: Underperforming Teams
Here’s a quick review of what
we’ve established to this point:
 Teams are a key ingredient in achieving organizational
success. They work.
 But team success is not automatic. Research shows that
most teams underperform.
 Underperforming teams wrongly operate in transaction
mode when a transformational model should be used to
keep up in an environment that is constantly in flux.
Against this backdrop and challenge, on the next few pages you’ll find my…

5-Step Antidote to Underperforming Teams.

Mark Affleck



THEME
Antidote #1
In order to produce transformational results, teams
responsible for making a vision become reality must have
a “guiding light” theme that can spark and sustain
commitment to the mission.
Commonly built around a metaphor, the
theme serves as inspiration and ballast to
keep the team “between the rails” as it
moves forward. The theme also provides the
glue needed to bind everyone together in

unity.

Every team needs a theme.
Mark Affleck



THEME
Antidote #1

One of the best examples of an effective unifying theme can be seen in the
NFLevolution Program. Until recently, the NFL had actually denied the link
between football and brain injury. Only when it could no longer fight the
findings with a straight face did the NFL reverse its position and acknowledge
the correlation between football collisions and long-term brain damage.
That led to the launch of a comprehensive new Theme Platform
called NFLevolution, a multi-million dollar commitment to make
changes in the rules, equipment and treatment for brain injury.

All of the NFL’s strategies and programs
move through the NFLevolution theme filter.
Mark Affleck



DIRECTION
Antidote #2
Obviously a theme cannot do the team’s work, let alone
produce transformation. The team needs Leadership
Direction that creates an overarching purpose to reach
a specified and shared vision end-state.

However, there’s a caution sign on this road.
The Direction Purpose must be deep and significant. It can’t
merely be another way to say “if we do this, we’ll be successful.”
The direction must clearly capture and communicate the team’s goals;
strategic context; action plan; and support systems—information,
operations, and communications.
A team’s direction is its

STRATEGIC FRAME.

Mark Affleck



ROLES
Antidote #3

With a compelling theme and clear direction set,
teams that transform must also make sure each
member’s role is clear to them–and to the others.

Building a successful team actually

starts
at the outset when the team is assembled. The
right number of people—I believe the optimum
count is 5-8—must be assigned to the team.
It’s no wonder that the success rate of teams has gone down as the
average number of members has gone up over the past 20 years
under the guise of “promoting inclusion.” That inclusion goal
has been met while performance goals have been eviscerated.

Mark Affleck



ROLES
Antidote #3

Play Hockey!
Equally important to member selection is the mix of
players on the team so multiple roles are represented.
If everyone on the team was a visionary, or a tactician,
or financial analyst…the results would be disastrous.

A great example of role clarity comes from ice
hockey where every team fills the following roles:

SNIPER: The difficult-to-find ability to score goals.
ENFORCER: The tough guy who forces the opponent to “play fair.”
GRINDERS: The gritty guys who establish and maintain energy.
PENALTY KILL: Skill players and grinders who kill off penalties.
PENALTY TEAM: Players who can score when the opponent is penalized.
The hockey example is perfect for organizational teams trying to put the
most efficient and effective combination of skills and experience in play.
Mark Affleck



ROLES
Antidote #3

The Renegade
One last—and unpopular—point on roles is that
every team needs a RENEGADE. That’s right, a
real-life deviant who can challenge the inexorable
push for homogeneity which stifles creativity,
learning, and ultimately thwarts success.

Renegades are the team members who have the courage to say,

“Wait a minute…” or wonder out loud “What if…”
or stand up and ask Why…”

In the end, it is essential that every member on a team clearly
understands their own individual role along with how their role relates to
the other roles being performed. It’s important at this stage that every
member on the team knows the whole is bigger than their individual
part, and they are participating in something bigger than themselves.
Mark Affleck



COMMITMENT
Antidote #4
Once the theme, direction, and roles are established…

Members must individually and collectively
commit to the team’s mission and its goals.

But it cannot be a passive commitment.
It must be a “covenant commitment” with the
full responsibility that comes with that name. Without it,
there’s a good chance one or more team members will never
reach the required “all-in” level of involvement.
Mark Affleck



COMMITMENT

Antidote #4

Trust

&

Honesty

The best teams are those that have a healthy
culture based on honesty and trust. That culture
will breed an atmosphere which values the
freedom to share all ideas as often as necessary.

When people are working
well together, they feel
comfortable expressing
opinions to build healthy
discourse. Without this
tension to float key issues
to the table, the team will
have difficulty reaching the
transformation goal.
Mark Affleck



COMMITMENT

Antidote #4

Engage & Participate
Of course it’s mandatory that everyone
commits to the team’s Vision, Mission,
and Goals. But there are two additional
dimensions to the commitment a team
makes. Members must also:

1
2
Mark Affleck

Be active and energized participants in the process.
Drop all facades and offer genuine collaboration.



MOVE!
Antidote #5 Even if a team has a unifying theme, clear direction,
defined roles, and makes a covenant commitment…

It must still take action to move forward and get
the work done! The team must execute against the
strategic imperatives that have been established or
the entire process will be nothing more than a giant
drain of resources.

Teams must operate with an action bias that flexes along the way when
the environment signals the need for a course correction. Those course
corrections, collectively, ensure continuous improvement over the team’s
life span.

Mark Affleck



THAT’S A WRAP
There you have it—the 5-Step Antidote
to transform underperforming teams.
For more information, please contact Mark Affleck at


The Author
CEO Change Leader Strategist Issues & Crisis Manager
As CEO of YellowChair Strategy, he helps leaders transform
their organization to “survive today and thrive tomorrow.”

Mark Affleck


MARK AFFLECK


5-Step Antidote to Underperforming Teams

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