Introduction
The importance of group work has become relevant in the current competitive business environment. Organizations have come to realize that the best way of achieving success is by breaking down tasks, and assigning small groups of employees’ different tasks as a way of achieving the overall objectives of an organization.
According to Partridge (1999), although firms still appreciates that the performance of individual employees would always determine success of the entire firm, the need for these individual employees to work as small groups has increasingly become evident. In such small groups, a firm is able to define ways in which a strategic objective can be achieved in a more coordinated manner.
It becomes easier for the top management to monitor activities of groups other than that of individuals. When assigned the role of leading such teams, it is always important to find ways of achieving maximum output using the assigned members. This means that such a leader will have the responsibility of motivating the team in order to make it a high performer.
Leading high performing groups requires leadership skills that would enable the project leader to maintain motivation among project members. It involves making them understand the vision, and constantly reminding them that they have the capacity to achieve this vision. It involves being creative enough to make team members understand the various environmental forces that may affect the team’s performance and defining the best ways of managing these forces.
It also involves maintaining a positive communication with all the members, always trying to make an effort to understand uniqueness of every team member. This research paper seeks to analyze how a team leader can lead a high performance groups.
Objective of the study
In every research, it is always important to understand objectives that will guide the research, especially in the process of collecting relevant data. Leadership is a field that has received massive attention from scholars around the world. It is important to define specific area of focus when conducting a research that is related to leadership. The following are some of the specific objectives that the researcher seeks to achieve through this study.
- To determine the meaning of high performance groups from the perspective of various scholars
- To identify some of the underpinning theories relevant in leading high performance group.
- To develop an understanding of the appropriate method that should be taken in developing teams within an organization.
- To determine how new leaders can understand their team members and devise the most appropriate method of making them achieve the desired result.
- To create an understanding of how team conflicts can be resolved in order to eliminate negative effects of such conflicts.
The research seeks to respond to the above objectives in order to enable new managers understand what is expected of them when developing new teams.
Discussion
According to Kliem (2004), before one can purport to offer leadership, it is always important to understand why teams are important in the first place. This scholar notes that a leader should always appreciate the importance of having teams within the organization. This way, it becomes possible to develop a vision that will be shared by all team members.
In the current dynamic business environment, firms have come to realize that the best way of achieving success with employees is by organizing them into groups. This is important because of several reasons. Creativity and innovation has become core to success of organization. Creativity is best achieved when employees are allowed to work as a team.
Through such teams, employees get to share talents and skills in a group setting. This way, it becomes possible for one to share his or her unique skills with others and determine how the unique skill or talent can be nurtured into something of benefit to the firm. Groups also offer a unique environment for learning.
When employees are assigned various groups, they are able to learn some of the skills they were lacking by observing the way other team members are undertaking their activities. Teams also offers the management unit a unique opportunity to offer in-service training to its workforce in a practical environment in order to enhance their performance.
Partridge (1999) notes that trying to achieve strategic objectives of a firm without breaking them into tactic and operational objectives may yield poor results. For this reason, it is always important for the management to break the overall objectives into tactic and operational objectives. Teams would be assigned these tactic objectives based on their areas of specialization.
The management would then make the team members understand the overall objective of the firm, and the relevance of their assigned tasks in achieving the overall objectives. As Harris (2013) says, groups also offers employees opportunity to interact and understand each other better. Human being is social by nature, and it is important to create an environment where they can share their views and job experiences.
This reduces the level of stress among employees. It acts as a motivation to achieve more. As a new manager who is expected to lead small teams, it is important to understand these fact in order to appreciate the need to have teams within an organization.
Defining High Performance Groups
Nemiro (2008) defines high performance groups as teams who level of output per given unit time is above normal. He states that high performance groups are teams that are always motivated and determined to achieve higher success in every task they are assigned. These are individuals who are always focused on what lies ahead, and understand ways in which they can coordinate themselves in order to deliver the best results within the shortest time possible.
In such groups, every member if the team understands what is needed of him or her, and will always commit self towards delivering goods results on their assigned tasks. Kliem (2004) observes that team leaders are not special people with unique skills put together to perform a given task. Rather, this is a group of employees who are always positive in their work, are willing to learn, and able to try new approaches in undertaking tasks assigned to them.
This means that high performance groups are always defined by the kind of leadership they have. It is through leadership that employees will remain constantly motivated. As Harris (2013) observes, leaders are always the driving force of any organization. Depending on the way they get to influence junior employees, a firm can achieve success or failure in its operations.
This means that high performance groups would rely on the leader who has been assigned to these groups. Such a leader must understand individual employees capacity and needs, determine how these needs can be met, and develop strategies that would make every member of the team feel that his or her views are respected by the leader.
To be a successful leader, it is always important to understand people that are led and be sensitive of their concerns. This would make them feel motivated. It is this motivation that would make them willing to go an extra mile in undertaking various duties within the firm, making the entire team successful. Understanding team theory may be important in appreciating the role of a leader in achieving success within the organization.
Understanding the Team Theory
It is clear from the discussion above that high performance groups is defined by the kind of leaders who are assigned to such groups. As a leader therefore, it is important to appreciate that the performance of the group would depend on the leadership competency. To do this, Partridge (1999) says that it is important to understand the theory behind team.
Team Theory seeks to explain stages that is always taken in forming a team, and the needs of team members at these stages. As a leader, understanding these stages makes it possible to develop strategies that would enable the leader meet the changing expectations of the team members. This theory specifies the following stages of growth of a team.
Forming stage
This is the first stage of a team where different people come together with the view of working as a unit to achieve a common goal. As this stage, Nemiro (2008) notes that employees are always polite and positive. Members also experience mixed reactions as they try to visualize what lies ahead for them in these groups. High performance group would always be defined at this stage.
A leader needs to tap on the positivity of the employees and their high expectations to make them high performance. Their anxiety should be turned into desire to achieve better results. It is also at this stage that a leader should provide a clear vision of the group, and a communication system that enables every member of the team to be heard.
Any form of disillusionment should be eliminated. The focus at this stage would always be to set the right tempo that would be desired in achieving both short-term and long-term goals.
Storming stage
This is the stage where reality downs on the team members. Every team member gets to understand his or her tasks, and the overall objectives that should be achieved within team. Tasks become clearly defined, and the exact vision becomes clear. This stage is always very challenging for a leader if the first stage was not handled appropriately.
This is because at this stage, some members may realize that things are not as easy as they could have anticipated. However, if they were well prepared at the first stage, this second stage is always easily accomplished. The leader must understand that this stage involves assigning specific duties to individuals in the group in order to achieve overall objective of the firm.
A leader of high performance team would always use this opportunity to make team members define their own individual path in achieving their specific tasks in the best way possible. The leader should offer members assistance when they are defining their operational strategies. The leader must ensure that their tactical strategies are in line with the vision of the group.
Norming stage
At this third stage, team members get to understand their real working environment. They get to appreciate what the overall vision of the team seeks to achieve. Team members also get to understand one another, and define how they can relate in order to support and be supported in various activities.
This stage provides a leader with the best opportunity of making employees feel more comfortable with their tasks, and the need to involve others in their actions. As Nemiro (2008) notes, employees at this stage may try to be independent in their actions because they get to understand their environment. This independence is not bad, but it should not be a reason that makes members ignore team spirit that was the real reason why such teams were forme (Kliem, 2004).
Performing stage
When a leader guides his team through the first three stages successfully, the fourth stage will be a true reflection of a high performance team. When the leader guided his or her members through the first three stages successfully, the fourth face would involve high levels of collaboration among members. Every member of the group will understand that the overall success of the firm depends on the success of their individual performance.
They would therefore try to achieve perfection in their duties, while still willing to help other team members be successful in their various tasks. In such groups, members will appreciate the dynamism in their working environment, and accept the need to be dynamic to the changing environmental factors.
Understanding these four stages is very important for a new leader who is intending to guide a given group of employees into becoming high performance groups.
Leading Virtual Teams
Technology has created an environment where people can work from different geographic locations across the world. There are cases where a leader is assigned a virtual team, with members spread in various regions around the world. It is important for such a leader to understand that in order to create a high performance group out of them, the four stages defined above must be clearly followed despite lack of physical presence.
Kliem (2004) warns that to lead a virtual high performance group, there is need for a high degree of discipline for all members. This is because when it is decided upon that there would be a videoconference at a particular time, all members should be seated at their respective offices ready for the conference. Any delay by any member or the leader may paralyze operations of the group.
This may be worse in case it is the leader who fails to avail himself at the conference within the right time. Leading virtual teams also need sophisticated communication tools that would keep all members in contact with one another. The leader must be able to communicate with any member of the team at any time of the day without getting affected by geographic barrier.
Individual members must also be able to communicate among themselves in order to enhance creativity in their various tasks. Harris (2013) also advises that when leading such teams, traditional leadership approaches that emphasizes on exerting one’s authority over other as a show of supremacy may not yield the desired fruits.
Resolving Conflicts in High Performance Groups
Teams always bring together people with different skills, ideas, knowledge and talents. It also brings together individuals with different attitudes, values, and other demographical factors (Kliem (2004). Although it would be expected that in high performance teams the levels of understanding would always be high, it is important to appreciate the fact that conflicts would arise due to a number of reasons.
It is important to address these conflicts as soon as they arise in order to avoid negative consequences they might have on the performance of the group. As a leader of high performance group, it is necessary to develop systems that would capture conflicts among the group members as soon as they arise. In order to manage conflict in such groups, a leader should consider the following.
- A leader should not ignore any form of conflict among the employees because when it is not addressed at its early stage, then it may give rise to other negative consequences that may affect the operations of the firm.
- A leader must have a clear proactive system that is able to identify conflicts within the group and offer clear guidelines on how to resolve it.
- A leader should encourage communication amongst conflicting groups as a way understanding each other.
- A leader should instil the spirit of tolerance amongst its employees as a way of creating an environment where conflicts can be resolved easily.
Measuring the Performance of the Group
It is always important to determine the performance of a group, especially if it has reached the fourth stage. High performance groups are always unique from other groups in the characteristics they exhibit. The following are some of the characteristics that are always common among high performance groups
- Respect and trust among team members. High performance groups are always characterized by a high level of trust among group members. This helps in creating an environment where team members feel free to share their views, skills, talent, and knowledge with others.
- Clear communication system that enhances clarity and honesty among employees. In these groups, it is team members always have an understanding of what has been achieved, and what needs to be achieved (Harris, 2013).
- Positive results in the performance of the firm towards achieving success. The ultimate measure of performance would be the actual determination of the output posted by the team over a given period. High performance groups would always post good results, and their activities would always be seen to be in line with its vision.
Conclusion
Leading high performance groups can be a very challenging task. It requires a deep understanding of people within the group in order to develop strategies that would be acceptable to them. High performance groups are always defined by its leadership structure. It is clear from the above discussion that leaders have a great responsibilities of leading team members towards achieving the vision of a firm. To do this, leaders should understand various stages of leadership, and how they can influence team members at these stages in order to achieve success.
References
Harris, P. (2013). Developing High Performance Leaders: A Behavioral Science Guide for the Knowledge of Work Culture. New York: Routledge.
Kliem, R. L. (2004). Leading high performance projects. Boca Raton: Ross Publishers.
Nemiro, J. E. (2008). The handbook of high-performance virtual teams: A toolkit for collaborating across boundaries. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Partridge, L. (1999). Leading high performance. London: Financial Times Management.