2. Defining High-Performance Teams
The concept of "high-performance teams" has been widely discussed and studied in various fields, including business, management, and organizational psychology. While the precise origin of the term may not be attributed to a single individual, it has evolved through extensive research and practical application.
However, I didn't realize I was part of one, nor had I formed a few until, during one of my feedback sessions, a member of my team—who had previously been part of another team—commented on something. This led me to become aware of what I had achieved in building different teams and how our results compared to those of other teams.
He highlighted the fact that, in his former team, he had worked on a project for almost a year and a half, and the web portal/application never materialized, despite being in development for several years. In the short time he had been part of my team, he witnessed more projects successfully implementing Continuous Delivery and Integration. After analyzing the data reported over these years, I have come to corroborate that statement.
In my former IT department, there were 6 units of general IT tasks, each one with its manager, alongside an additional 7 software development and system administration units. I served as the manager of Software Development Unit number II, which accounted for 17% of all institutional systems and applications.
In these 5 years, there were a lot of applications and APIs built and delivered within my unit. In average, my unit has delivered 2.5 systems (APIs + web portals) per year, 1 more release per year than the other departments.[1]
Wikipedia says that:
A high-performance team can be defined as a group of people with specific roles and complementary talents and skills, aligned with and committed to a common purpose, who consistently show high levels of collaboration and innovation, produce superior results, and extinguish radical or extreme opinions that could be damaging. [2]
So, first it is a GROUP OF PEOPLE. It is crucial to recognize that these individuals are not mere assets, but valued members of the team. Additionally, a manager's understanding of the unit's vision, purpose, mission, and responsibilities is essential to defining and assigning roles effectively.
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One common mistake in management is assuming that your role as a manager involves controlling every single movement of the team. This level of micromanagement becomes unnecessary if clear rules, goals, roles, and responsibilities are established from the outset. With these in place, monitoring progress and ensuring that goals and objectives are met becomes a simpler task. If adjustments are necessary, they can be made with greater efficiency.
It's crucial to have a clear understanding of the skills and expertise required to meet the unit's objectives. Equally important is a deep comprehension of your company's mission and vision, and how your department's contributions align with these overarching goals. This comprehensive understanding is key in defining your unit's specific contributions and providing a clear sense of purpose to your team.
In the best scenarios, these elements are well-defined and aligned. However, in less ideal situations (as was the case for me), a shifting general management can lead to changes in the department's vision and mission. Regardless, it's essential to define your own goals in accordance with the broader purpose of your institution.
Less ideal situations are the best opportunities for you as a manager to be creative in every way. If there is lack of organization you can make your unit as you wish, as if it was your own company. If it there is lack of budget, you can focus on gathering multi skilled people to compensate the lack of staff. Make inner jobs to automate tasks that if not automated they will instead require you to hire more people. Even though these tasks are not in the deliverables to clients or stakeholders.
In summary, traits that high-performance teams present are:
Additionally, high-performance teams value individual team members, ensure effective role definition by the manager, avoid micromanagement, and align the department's contributions with the company's mission and vision.
In the next chapter, I will share how I managed to build and improve some teams in order to achieve this.
[1] Based on all reported releases for each SDU between 2019 and the first half of 2024, I'm counting APIs and services as part of an ecosystem, considering the frontend and backend as a whole system. This count excludes high maintenances and minor maintenances, as well as daily production support in operations.