The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith McKinsey & Company, 1993 ISBN 0-87584-367-0 (p. 131) [Randy Geyer] "instinctively revealed an attitude critical to team leadership: putting team performance first and recognizing that he needed help." "Getting people to work together as a team toward a common goal, we have observed, depends on attitudes like Geyer's more than personality, reputation, or rank. The belief that 'only the team can fail' begins with the leaders. Team leaders act to clarify purpose and goals, build commitment and self-confidence, strengthen the team's collective skills and approach, remove externally imposed obstacles, and create opportunities for others. Most important, like all members of the team, _team leaders do real work themselves._ Yet, in each of these aspects, team leaders know or discover when their action can hinder the team, and how their patience can energize it. Put differently, team performance almost always depends on how well team leaders like Geyer strike a critical balance between doing things themselves and letting other people do them." "In this too, attitude is the key. Team leaders genuinely believe that they do _not_ have all the answers--so they do not insist on providing them. The believe they do _not_ need to make all key decisions--so they do not do so. They believe they _cannot_ succeed without the combined contributions of all the other members of the team to a common end--and so they avoid any action that might constrain inputs or intimidate anyone on the team. Ego is _not_ their predominant concern." (p. 137) "Those who lead small groups must look to the specifics of the performance challenge to help them choose how best to lead. If the group can deliver performance as an effective working group through maximizing each individual's performance, then the leader can rely on the normal decision-making and delegation approaches often associated with good management. If, on the other hand, performance requires a team approach, then the leader cannot assume that good management will be enough. Neither the leader nor those he or she leads should expect the leader to make all the decisions about directions taken, hor resources get deployed, and how individuals are performing. Instead, the leader must show--in everything he or she does and does not do--a believe in the team's purpose and in the people who, individually and together, make up the team." (p. 139) "As with other effective team leaders, the stronger this belief was [in both the purpose and capabilities of the team], the more it enabled him to instinctively strike the right balance between action and patience as he worked to do the six things necessary to good team leadership." 1. Keep the purpose, goals, and approach relevant and meaningful. All teams must shape their own common purpose, performance goals, and approach. While a leader must be a full working member of the team who can and should contribute to these, he or she also stands apart from the team by virtue of his or her selection as leader. Teams expect their leaders to use that perspective and distance to help the teams clarify and commit to their mission, goals, and approach. 2. Build commitment and confidence. Team leaders should work to build the commitment and confidence of each individual as well as the team as a whole. ... the leader must keep both the individual and the team in mind as he or she tries to provide positive, constructive reinforcement while avoiding intimidation. 3. Strengthen the mix and level of skills. Effective team leaders are vigilant about skills. Their goal is clear: ultimately, the most flexible and top-performing teams consist of people with all the technical, functional, problem-solving, decision-making, interpersonal, and teamwork skills the team needs to perform. To get there, team leaders encourage people to take the risks needed for growth and development. They also continually challenge team members by shifting assignment and role patterns. 4. Manage relationships with outsiders, including removing obstacles. Team leaders are expected, by people outside as well as inside the team, to manage much of the team's contacts and relationships with the rest of the organization. This calls on team leaders to communicate effectively the team's purpose, goals, and approach to anyone who might help or hinder it. They also must have the courage to intercede on the team's behalf when obstacles that might cripple or demoralize the team get placed in their way. 5. Create opportunities for others. Team performance is not possible if the leader grabs all the best opportunities, assignments, and credit for himself or herself. Indeed, the crux of the leader's challenge is to provide performance opportunities to the team and the people on it. ... Stepping out of the way to provide opportunities for others, however, does not mean abdicating responsibility for guiding, monitoring, and control. 6. Do real work. Everyone on a real team, including the leader, does real work in roughly equivalent amounts. Team leaders do have a certain distance from the team by virtue of their position, but they do not use that distance 'just to sit back and make decisions.' Team leaders must contribute in whatever way the team needs, just like any other member. Moreover, team leaders do not delegate the nasty jobs to others. Where personal risks are high or 'dirty work' is required, the team leader should step forward. (p. 144) "There are, however, two critical things real team leaders _never_ do: _they do not blame or allow specific individuals to fail, and the never excuse away shortfalls in team performance._" (p. 146) "Asking the following questions can help evaluate the team leader's attitude, bahavior, and effectiveness: 1. Has the leader adopted a team or a working group approach? Does the leader: a. make all important decisions? b. make all work assignments? c. make all evaluations of individuals? d. ensure work is conducted primarily on the basis of individual accountability? e. do any 'real work' beyond decision making, delegating, and agenda setting? 2. Is the leader striving for the right balance between action and patience within the team? Does the leader: a. promote constructive conflict and resolution? b. use distance and perspective to keep the team's actions and directions relevant? Intimidate anyone on the team? c. constantly challenge the team to sharpen its common purpose, goals, and approach? d. inspire trust in people by acting in concert with the team's purpose and the team? e. create opportunities for others, sometimes at his or her own expense? 3. Does the leader articulate a team purpose and act to promote and share responsibility for it? Does the leader: a. think about and describe his or her assignment in individual or heirarchical versus team terms? b. identify and act to remove barriers to team performance? c. blame individuals for failure to perform, either within or beyond the team? D. excuse away performance shortfalls by pointing to 'uncontrollable' outside forces?