The Secret to Building High-performance Teams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a new book, Committed Teams: Three Steps to Inspiring Passion and Performance, Mario Moussa, Madeline Boyer, and Derek Newberry provide insights into developing a high-performance team and common mistakes groups make.

According to Mario Moussa, he and his co-authors have been involved in Wharton’s Executive Development Program for the past three years. For each offering, 60 executives from around the world come in to learn about leadership, finance, and marketing, and they form into teams that compete with each other for two weeks in a simulation. Moussa called the program a living laboratory in which he and his co-authors could observe team formation and competition and collect data. This data is included in the book, in a framework they call 3×3.

This 3×3 describes how high-performing teams function. The first step is to focus on three things – goals, roles, and norms – when starting a task. The second step is checking in from time to time, going back to the original commitments. The third step, “close,” involves closing the saying-doing gap. The most effective way to close the gap is in small steps, targeting specific changes and working toward making those changes while being realistic about what they can and can’t do.

Moussa notes that it is an iterative process. “The key to doing that well is having a really good conversation, and paying attention to what is happening on the team.” In the book, he and his co-authors offer guidelines:

* Pay attention to style

* Have one-on-one conversations

* Focus on a few things vs. a lot

For more information on the Committed Teams: Three Steps to Inspiring Passion and Performance, or the interview Jeffrey Klein, executive director of the McNulty Leadership Program at Wharton, recently did with Mario Moussa, visit the Wharton Web site.

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