According to Hackman there are six conditions that enable teams to function effectively. The group must be a real team, have a compelling purpose, include the right people, have a clear understanding of the norms of conduct, have organizational support, and team-focused coaching. (Northouse, 2016) Similarly, “Larson and LaFasto studied successful teams and found that, regardless of the type of team, eight characteristics were consistently associated with team excellence.” (Northouse, 2016) My experience as a member of a new group that was ineffective in the first year but successful in the future illustrates how these eight characteristics lead to effective teams.
The group being used in this example was started by two students attending high school who wanted to assemble a dance team. The students obtained permission from the school board to use the school’s facilities as a meeting place for the group and announced the first meeting for anyone who was interested in being a part of this team. Comparing the outcomes of the team’s first and second years using these eight characteristics illustrates the differences in effective and ineffective team leadership.
The first characteristic of an effective team is that they have established clear goals. “A compelling purpose energizes team members, orients them toward their collective objective, and fully engages their talents. (Northouse, 2016) During the first year the dance group struggled to decide on a clear goal other than simply becoming a dance team. Because the group was student lead and not established as a school team they did not have a place or time to perform. The group needed to decide if the goal was to be a competitive team and travel to competitions independently from the school system, or if they wanted to integrate with the school and perform at pep-rally’s, football and basketball halftime shows etc. Because there were not clear goals established the team had nothing concrete to work towards and members spent excessive practice time debating over the best direction for the team. The second year with help from the vice-principal and a volunteer coach from the local university the dance team became a part of the school’s extra-curricular activity offerings with an established goal to perform at pep-rally’s and football and basketball games during the school year. This gave the team a clear target and practices suddenly had a compelling purpose.
Secondly the team needs to have a results-driven structure. During the first year when there was no clear goal a lack of structure followed. Being that there were no looming deadlines when goal’s needed to be met no team structure was established. Although there were specified meeting times not everyone attended every practice, and instead of delegating certain tasks to certain members the entire group attempted to work together on all aspects of brainstorming, planning and implementation. During the second year the team was divided into sub-groups who were responsible for the certain tasks. For example one group was responsible for deciding on music, one group planned uniforms, one group worked with the dance instructor to perfect and learn the choreography to teach the rest of the group at practices etc. As a result after the first year only a few routines had been planned, while the second year was full of successful performances by everyone on the team.
The third characteristic that leads to team effectiveness is competent team members. “Teams should be composed of the right number and mix of members who have sufficient information, education, and training.” (Northouse, 2016) This was one of the largest hindrances this group faced during the first year. During year one the group was composed of anyone and everyone who attended the meetings and had a desire to participate. This lead to a group of individuals ranging from committed and experienced dancer’s to those with no dance experience at all and very little commitment. During the second year the team held auditions where prospective members preformed a routine and were evaluated by the coach along with members of the local college’s dance team. Only fifteen individuals were selected in contrast to the first year’s group of more than thirty students. Being selective in creating the team allowed only those with the skills necessary to learn and perform routines to be accepted. This made practice much more effective because members of the team had the skills necessary to reach established goals and members weren’t spending practice time teaching basic and fundamental skills to beginners.
Having competent team members helped establish the fourth characteristic, unified commitment among its members. By being selective in establishing the team those individuals who weren’t committed to put in ample amounts of time and effort to perfect their routines were eliminated. During the first year members who weren’t fully committed to building the team could still choose to participate in the group without committing to making the team a priority. It wasn’t uncommon during the first year for members to show up to meetings only when it was convenient even if that was only a small percentage of the time. During the second year, team members weren’t accepted onto the team without signing a contract committing to attend all practices, meetings and performances.
A collaborative climate is the fifth characteristic described by Larson and LaFasto. “A collaborative climate is one in which members can stay problem focused, listen to and understand one another, feel free to take risks, and be willing to compensate for one another.” (Northouse, 2016) There was a tremendous difference in the group climate during the first and second year. During the first year a lot of time was spent debating opposing ideas between group members. Various members with differing agendas attempted to move the group toward different goals and conflict was common. During the second year the coach was able to facilitate successful group discussions and encouraged everyone to collaborate and compromise to fuse ideas together. This lead to tangible plans and goals instead of conflict between members.
During the second year school administrators worked with the coach to outline standards of excellence, the sixth characteristic. While first year members were solely required to be enrolled as students at the school to participate second year members were held to a higher standard. These standards included performance requirements as well as educational ones, and failure to fulfill these requirements meant losing your place on the team. Team members were not only expected to show up for all practices and performances but were also required to abide by all school rules and maintain a minimum GPA.
The seventh characteristic, having external support and recognition, was missing altogether during the first year. “A supportive organizational context includes material resources, rewards for excellent performance, an educational system to develop necessary team skills, and an information system to provide data needed to accomplish the task.” (Northouse, 2016) Initially the group was established and lead by two students and the team was not affiliated with the school. Uniforms, trophies, choreographers etc. were all out of reach during the first year when material resources would have had to come from team members. During the second year the school system provided funds for uniforms, recognition for performances at school events and collaborated with the local college dance team to provide choreography as a volunteer service to our team. Having the financial and moral support and recognition of school administrators, along with the dancers to assist in developing necessary choreography skills, helped the team reach their goals during the second year.
Finally the eighth characteristic, principled leadership, was the catalyst that enabled the emergence of the other seven characteristics and lead to the group’s successful and effective second year. Having a coach lead the team instead of relying solely on shared or distributed leadership was the key to success. The teams coach had been a part of various dance groups for many years and was able to outline the problems that needed to be resolved from year one, motivate members by setting high but attainable standards and providing individual guidance as needed, assigning clear tasks that were relevant to reaching established goals, delegating tasks to members based on their abilities and “providing clear performance strategies, monitoring feedback,” and adapting to changes as necessary. (Northouse, 2016)
The leaders and members of the group during the first year lacked many if not all of the eight characteristics necessary for effective team leadership. The first year ended with ambiguous goals and little accomplished, that group never became a functioning team. During the second year when the group had principled leadership and fulfilled all eight characteristics effectively, clear goals were established and later accomplished while maintaining a cohesive team.
References
Northouse, P.G. (2016) Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th Ed.) Los Angeles: Sage Publications