Building a High-Performing Team: What Are Your Go-To Strategies?

Hello Professional HR & Business Veterans,

Please find attached a very inspiring whistle-blowing watchdog entrepreneurial lesson in ET on Building Team Performance, i.e., Five Ways To Develop a Team that Performs.

Dear Mr. Dilip Satpute,

Just because the article is published in the Economic Times, what is written in the article cannot be taken at face value. Critical appreciation of the article reveals a few loopholes.

Though the title mentions five ways of team building, actually only four are given in the attached article. Now, whether this mistake is in the original article or only in the PDF document attached to your post, that cannot be said.

Ways of Building a Team

The author talks about the following ways of building a team:

1. Set a Common Goal
2. Man the Team Well
3. Appreciate People
4. Celebrate Together

Notwithstanding the above four ways, the very first requirement is that the leader must earn the trust of the team members. Without trust, setting goals or proper manning, appreciation, and celebration do not carry any meaning.

Mahatma Gandhi was a Mahatma because he earned the trust of millions. To earn trust, he lived the life of millions of destitute.

The second important thing is the team leader and team members should have a sense of commitment. No training on team building is complete without reference to Mumbai's dabbawalas (tiffin carriers). Most of these tiffin carriers have not even cleared their SSC exam. Yet their work is measured at a six sigma level. They are living legends because of their trust and commitment towards their work.

In contrast, look at the corporate honchos. They draw hefty pay packages yet are unable to build their teams successfully because they fail to generate trust from their people and do not extract commitment from their staff.

Anyway, I often find that you upload posts that contain articles published in the Economic Times. However, you may read and scrutinize them for their applicability and then upload.

Thanks,

Dinesh V Divekar

Dear Dilip,
Dinesh Divekar has made some valid remarks, especially the one about gaining trust first. The example of Mahatma Gandhi is really apt. The modern corporates and even educational institution chiefs, in the UK, who justify low pay increases for the workers get awarded way above the inflation rate. So, there is really a vast difference between what they say and what they do. The Mahatma lived the same simple life that he preached for others.

Another issue of interest was your posts. I have checked your posts and a number of them are articles from ET. I wonder why you save them in PDF form and upload them. A better way is to give a link to the original article. This practice of giving links serves two purposes: one, avoids accusations of unethical posting. For example, your PDF file omits the name of the author (Five ways to develop a team that performs Mahima Puri, ET Bureau, Apr 1, 2011, 06.27am IST); two, it may even miss out some info. For example, Dinesh has remarked that yours has only 4 instead of the 5 ways. The original article has 5 headings. Yours has one 'We', instead of 'I' as the final phrase of the first item instead of as the heading for the second.

I take this opportunity to appeal to members to give links to websites rather than go to the trouble of saving them and reposting them.

Have a nice day.

Regards,
Simhan
A retired academic in the UK.

Dear Mr. Dilip, I second Mr. Dinesh, who wisely pointed out the loopholes. No doubt, Mr. Dinesh has demonstrated his professionalism and knowledge pertaining to his "area of expertise." Whatever points, concepts, procedures, or processes we may include for team performance, team bonding, etc., are not at all sufficient.

a) Managing the team well should also include effective job delegation, which is a great skill.

b) Supporting those members who are of a shy nature (down to earth, may possess hidden talent that needs to be unleashed) and helping them to understand themselves much better than others is about talent management.

c) I seriously believe that "interest" towards their responsibilities/job or whatever it may be, motivates employees to deliver their best. However, motivation, appreciation, conflict management, and celebration together act as a catalyst for teamwork, helping team members gain trust among themselves and promoting interdependence.

d) Trust can only be gained if all team members (including the team leader) understand each other but never take advantage of individual weaknesses. Therefore, understanding each other plays a vital role in team bonding. For example, unless there is understanding between Indian team players, they wouldn't have complemented each other's weaknesses. This is what we need to understand about our team members.

e) A team leader and team members are held responsible for team success. My statement for teamwork is:

TEAM BUILDING + TEAM MANAGEMENT = TEAM WORK

Kindly read this case study - 8 management lessons from Dhoni for UPA GOVERNMENT.

http://www.rediff.com/business/slide...a/20110405.htm

Team building, team bonding, team management, and teamwork are challenges not only for organizations but also for families, governments, etc.

With profound regards,