Effective and High Performing Teams, What is the Difference? How do you define each term?

I started a discussion on Linked In to collect some information on what the experts had to say.  Below is feedback received from the discussion board.

This was the question:

What are characteristics of an effective team vs. a high performing team?

Comments

Neely Conner EAP Counselor at Carilion

An effective team is sustainable over time. A high performing team may be functional in terms of producing outcome, but doesn’t tend to be sustainable. High performing teams have members who have high levels of investment in outcome and are individually motivated, for whatever reason. The wrench comes when these high level performers burnout from duplicating work of other team members, working in competition with other team members, individually owning more than the entirety of the team. An effective team is comprised of members who are invested in the team, as opposed to any given outcome, and by nature will be loyal to the task of the team. The basic foundation is trust, including ability to work through conflict. Ownership, responsibility, and workload are shared and contributions are based on gifts and talents of members, not dictates based on task or project.

In summary, a high performing team is a group of high performers who share space and a goal. An effective team is a group of people who work on (and I do mean ON) relationship with one another, towards a goal.

 Anna DeBattiste Consultant, trainer, facilitator and freelance writer; President at Tango Training

Neely’s take is interesting, I hadn’t thought of a high performing team in terms of individual performance before. It certainly makes sense and is something I’ve seen plenty of times. But I define a high performing team as a team that functions interdependently and effectively at a very high level. This is a team that not only has all the basics in place and functioning well (e.g. vision, mission, norms, values, a method of conflict resolution, etc.) but also has a high level of passion and engagement in the work they do, and produces high performance results as a team. I guess I see the two terms–effective and high performing–as simply different terms on a continuum, with high performing teams being higher on the chain than merely effective ones.

Corrie Woolcott  OD & Training Performance Consultant, MHCS. Training Specialist and LMS Consultant

Anna

I like your comment “I see the two terms–effective and high performing–as simply different terms on a continuum, with high performing teams being higher on the chain”. I agree; I was interested in seeing how other people view these two terms.

I found this list of Characteristics, I do not know the source but I wonder if we can build on this?

1 Clear Purpose
The vision, mission, goal or task of the team has been defined & accepted by everyone. There is an action plan.

2 Informality
The climate tends to be informal, comfortable, & relaxed. There are no obvious signs of tension or boredom.

3 Participation
There is much discussion & everyone is encouraged to participate.

4 Listening
Team members listen to each other! The members use effective listening techniques such as questioning, paraphrasing, & summarizing to get out ideas.

5 Civilized Disagreement
There is disagreement, but the team is comfortable with this & shows no signs of avoiding, smoothing over, or suppressing conflict.

6 Consensus Decisions
For important decisions, the goal is substantial but not necessarily unanimous agreement through open discussion of everyone’s ideas, avoidance of formal voting, or easy compromises.

7 Open Communication
Team members feel free to express their feelings on the tasks as well as on the group’s operation. There are few hidden agendas. Communication takes place outside of meetings.

8 Clear Roles & Work Assignments
There are clear expectations about the roles played by each team member. When action is taken, clear assignments are made, accepted, & carried out. Work is fairly distributed among team members.

9 Shared Leadership
While the team has a formal leader, leadership functions shift from time to time depending upon the circumstances, needs of the group, & skills of the members.

10 External Relations
The team spends time developing key outside relationships, mobilizing resources, & building credibility with important players in other parts of the organization.

11 Style Diversity
The team has a broad spectrum of team player types including members who emphasize attention to task, goal setting, focus on process, & questions about how the team is functioning.

12 Self-Assessment
Periodically, the team stops to examine how well it is functioning & what may be interfering with its effectiveness.

Ian Perry Owner, Emerge OD Consultants Ltd

A similar discussion to this has been going on recently and came up with some very interesting points. I particularly like Katzenbach’s definition from his book the Wisdom of Teams. I think he would call an effective team a potential or real team. Like Corrie’s point, it’s a continuum. A high performing team holds each other accountable for the teams result, and care for each other’s development which are the key differentiators on the team performance curve.

Anna DeBattiste Consultant, trainer, facilitator and freelance writer; President at Tango Training

Corrie, great list! I have a similar list on my website, “the 12 essential characteristics of teamwork”. Here’s a link if you’re interested:

http://www.tangotraining.com/training-resources/12-characteristics-of-teamwork.pdf

There are a few differences. My list of characteristics neglects the external relations that yours talks about–an important point, I think. Mine doesn’t specifically address shared leadership either. Your list doesn’t talk specifically about values and norms, which I also think are important. And I might take issue with “informality”, just because this can be culture-dependent.

Shannon BarnesPresident of Imagen Consulting; Nonprofit Leadership and Strategy Advisor with The EDGE Group

My shelves are filled with scores of books written on teamwork and effective teams, and many good thoughts already posted here. But from my perspective and experience, “high-performing teams” are separated from their peers simply by the quality of their leadership and their hunger for results. High-performers demand action and impact. “Effective” is a more muted form of high-performing; still good, but not as organization or world changing.

Corrie Woolcott  OD & Training Performance Consultant, MHCS. Training Specialist and LMS Consultant

When I think of high performing teams I think of the following:

-P roductivity
-E mpathy
-R oles & Goals
-F lexibility
-O penness
-R ecognition
-M orale & Engagement

Terry Dillon Founding Partner at Soar Performance Group

I did some work on this a few years ago and specifically the factors that might point towards high performance rather than simply effective. I define high performance as being able to maintain performance at a high level both over time and when it matters most including under adverse conditions or pressure. So my view might differ from some others that have posted because sustainable is a key component of high performance for me.

There are I believe number of factors many of which have been described above but the ones that stand out for me are:

Motivation – An insatiable desire for achieving a common goal

Collective Belief – An unshakable belief in each other but also in the ability of the team as a whole

Handling Pressure – A team that thrives under pressure and comes together when faced with adversity

And in my experience these are rare qualities. I have seen examples of this in athletic endeavor and in the arts but less so in business.

Amy Tyndale Sales Coach at Deluxe Corporation

Ian, thank you for the book reference. In reading about it I’m not sure yet if it would be a good read for someone beginning a nonprofit start up, in the first stages of building a team and a board of advisors. The posted question intrigued me right away in considering which type of team I would want to have built this with me. The comments that followed have opened up another interesting thought process and direction for learning.

Satheesan Ganardanan VP Strategic Alliances (India) at AREOPA

An effective team need not be a High Performing team. The need of the hour is to have a High Performing Team as time is the most essential aspect of any deliverables
An effective team may have members who may not live up to the expectation of the entire team and still the rest of the team members manage to continue to perform. They just meet the requirement in delivering the objective. In respect of an high Performing team, each individual has to be at his best, equally passionate and there is no one to fall on for his deficiency in deliveries. The High performing team not only effective it also go beyond the expectation by running that extra mile and that makes the difference between effective team and High performing team.

Bob McCall Performance Consultant People Fit + Job Fit = Top Performance

I phrase this issue with my clients in terms of “strong performing teams” or “top performing teams.” If you’ll allow me to couch my response in those somewhat equivalent terms, I believe the difference is truly a matter of degree.

Depending on the team dynamics and the critical abilities needed by the individuals (team or project dependent) a top performing team may be only 3% more effective than a strong performing team in key factors. And 3% is enough to make a difference.

A strong performing team is certainly capable and effective. A top performing team simply shines more in the doing.

I look forward to reading others’ responses….

In my opinion, effective teams can be high performing teams and the vice-versa. However, the term “effective team” may imply effectiveness of the team overall or in all aspects; whereas, for the high-performing teams, as the term implies, the highlight seems to be the performance aspect. Effective teams may represent all the stages of team development consistently. High performance teams may or may not represent all the stages of team development consistently but its performance indicators can certainly show high.

What is your take on Effective and High Performing Teams?  Any comments, question or want to add your two cents? Send them to me at cwoolcott@Manageyourperformance.com

Corrie Woolcott

www.ManageYourPerformance.com