Knowledge sharing from my perspective is when you come back from an external learning event such as a training seminar, conference, webinar, workshop, etc… and your share what you have learned with your peers, colleagues and maybe even your manager.  The reason why you share this information is because you have determined that the information you have learned is relevant, important to you and/or your peers and it may help you, your team, your business unit and ultimately your organization develop new ideas, concepts or create innovative discussion. It should also create “a light bulb moment”.

Why is this so important?

These learning events create employee engagement and for the most part the employee is intrinsically motivated to go learn because they have had a say in attending the learning activity or have had some buy-in (what’s in it for me) from the inception of the idea.  This creates a powerful learning scenario for the employee and since the company is already paying for it, why not get some ROI and use this opportunity to help develop other employees at the same time. If your company is not doing this now … get started because there is no better way to create an innovative training program that is self-guided by the employee.

Why it works so well…

1) Empowered Contributor, It allows the employee to contribute to the team and it makes them feel empowered because they are adding value and are given the ability to manage theirown assigned work. This create an ultimate learning environment. 

2) The Peer Buy-In Factor. Work peers get to learn something relevant from another peer that will enhance their skill set = The buy-in factor from peer to peer learning or information sharing is immense! The employee knows their peer and is more willing to learn from someone at the same level as them because they can relate to one another.  It also allows for great discussion and healthy debate, brainstorming and perhaps developing new innovative ideas

3) Skill Development, Allows you to further develop your employee skills by creating a forum where they can practice developing presentation materials such as a written Word document (technical writing) or doing a PowerPoint presentation (communication skills) this leads to employee performance development

Added benefit, As the new Subject Matter Expert you can trim down the information you have learned to make it more relevant to your existing culture. (you can make it fun, this is your blank canvas to be creative) and by doing this you are dealing with less performance barriers and making your forum engaging.

4) The Organization Wins, The organization is also reaping the benefits from an intangible perspective, because employees are motivated and engaged and WANT to learn versus HAVING to learn. (Think of how fun it is to do Regulatory Compliance courses like HIPAA?, Fire Safety, Fraud Waste and Abuse… see my point?)

The organization benefits from having a more succinct collaborative culture that  focuses on eleminiating business silos, and team dysfunctions because they are all in this together as willing participants.  The ROI from spending $$$ for these seminars can been seen as a long term investment instead of a 1 time event, and metric can be calculated and presented as part of the learning business process to demonstrate how learning is being disseminated across the organization.

5) Managers Reap the Benefits, From a manager’s perspective this type of activity can be logged in the employees personal file as a small project and /or can be added to an employees development plan and can be measured (tangible metric) Yes! you can report back on this learning event and showcase how you are developing your employees without lifting a finger (sort of speak)…You are now driving employee performance. A leader who is empowering their employees to work together to achieve common goals as your align yourself with the company’s Mission, Vision, Values.

If you want to learn more please contact me Corrie Woolcott  cwoolcott@manageyourperformance.com and I would love to share with you a sample business case. How, I was able to help a client through this knowledge sharing process.

www.Manageyourperformance.com 

Collected from Various Sources, I have gathered and assembled this list through web searches, pulled down some of this information from discussion boards, word of mouth amongst networking groups and yes of course from my own experience and website searches.

Share your Resources and Collaborate, I would like to learn more about your favorite tools and resources. Send them to me and I will add them to this list. Let’s keep it growing!

Enjoy this free resource!  Click Here to Download

Corrie Woolcott Is  an OD & Training Performance Consultant who also specializes in e-learning course development and design, SumTotal LMS/LCMS and Performance Management.

Contact: cwoolcott@manageyourperformance.com

WWW.ManageYourPerformance.com

As a Manager, are you removing performance barriers to accelerate your human capital development?

By doing the Team Effectiveness Workshop  your guaranteed to get to the root cause of team poor performance. Intended for new and old teams the workshop addresses…

Removing performance barriers, does your team have the right skills, knowledge or abilities? Do they they have the right tools or technology? Do they feel like they are supported by being placed in the right playing field? How about drive, do they have the empowerment or motivation to get it done?

These are the types of questions leaders are asking themselves in these tough economic times.

The Team Effectiveness Workshops consists of the following:

PREWORK:

• DiSC by (Inscape publishing)
• Team Effectiveness Survey (50 questions)

WORKSHOP SESSION:

• Team Strategy (Goals/Objectives)  Business Unit or Team Specific/ Tangible Metrics
• Effective vs. Dysfunctional Teams (P. Lencioni)

Team Effectiveness Survey Results and Root Cause Analysis, Performance Improvement Suggestions

Effective Interactions & Individual Personality Style (DiSC)

SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)

What Can We: CONTROL / INFLUENCE

Brainstorm Root Causes – Prioritization

Team Action Plan: STOP / START / CONTINUE

POST WORK & FOLLOW-UP:

• Team action plan traction/progress/ feedback
• Managers assessment
• New goals + stretch assignment
• DISC Phase II – Team Dimensions Profile

Are you a leader?   Do you need to prioritize your leadership action list?  Start with this self- assessment

Leader Self-Assessment

Circle “Y’ (yes) or “N” (no) for each statement.

Unless you’re perfect, you circled some “N’s” . . . highlight each of those statements. These are areas you should work on in order to increase your leadership effectiveness. Develop an action plan for change by creating a customized priority list.    

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

Does anyone else have relevant statistics that could be added to this list?  If you have information to share, please list the year and the source so we can give proper credit.

Obtained from the Human Capital Institute (HCI)   Source:  Deloitte, Hewitt, Lominger/Ulrich; Towers Perrin, HR Institute  2007 

• 10,000     Everyday, 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 55yrs old
• 1:2               1 experienced hire will enter the workforce for every 2 that leave
• 11-13           Current graduates will experience 11 to 13 in their lifetime
• 85%            85% of jobs today require education beyond high school, compared to 61% in 1991
• 60%            60% of new jobs require skills possessed by 20% of workforce
• 79%            79% of companies see significant gap in talent pipeline; 40% say this is an acute problem
• 14%             Only 14% of workforce is highly engaged
• <70%          Less than 70% of public high schools students graduate on time, only 38% of US labor force holds a least a 2 year degree

How will you prepare your Recruiting Teams to search for talent?

Click this link to access the Articulate Engage e-learning: CLICK HERE

In any economy top performers - high potentials are always a flight risk.  When it comes to employee satisfaction, if you do not cater to your employees needs and keep them challenged it won’t be long before they look somewhere else for another opportunity.  The problem with managers is that they feel they do not have to circle back with their top performers because they are already doing a great job, so why bother?  

Top performers like all employees need to feel valued, engaged, empowered to make decisions, know that at some point there is potential for upward mobility and yes, they also need to be  held accountable.  Keeping your top performer(s) running on all cylinders like a performance engine is critical to the welfare of the team and its dynamics.  As a Manager your job is to remove potential performance barriers, help them develop and achieve new goals, provide them with access to the right tools, that they are feeling supported and have been motivated with the right incentive.  This is definitely easier said then done and managers and people leaders must know their teams well to achieve this at high levels.

Be Pro-Active not Re-Active

Instead of waiting around in case it does not work out, be pro-active.  What are you doing to ensure you have a succession plan in place? I have created a checklist that will help you build a position success profile.  This checklist is in a 1 page format and I encourage you to be creative with it.  Use this download to support your needs, fill gaps or  need help developing a job description. Should you have any question please e-mail me at CWoolcott@ManageYourPerformance.com or visit me at www.ManageYourPerformance.com

Download

These systems allow us to share:

• Videos
• Podcasts
• Desktops to sample a product
• View live meetings
• Participate in and view live demonstrations  
• Collaborate on a project
• and much much more

While participating in these events we have developed a certain online etiquette and it has become a very important  part of this new online community.  Not following certain rules can lead to disastrous consequences,  it can cost us relationships, potential clients and completely make us lose  all credibility. 

How do we know we are doing the right thing? 

To help us get through this topic, I created an e-learning module “The 5 Minute Coach”  with the topic  ” Top 10 Remote Demonstration Mistakes Made by the Presenter” . This is a list of what NOT TO  DO while you present or conduct a product demonstration.

Let me know what you think

Click Here  ” Top 10 Remote Demonstration Mistakes Made by the Presenter”

Click this link: http://yourperformanceconsultant.com/web_flash/hipaa2009final.swf