In many organizations, issues like failed product launches and financial missteps often stem from teamwork breakdowns, despite its acknowledged importance. Only one in five teams achieves high performance, highlighting a prevalent challenge. While traditional interventions often fall short, a data-driven approach can yield significant improvements, as illustrated below:
The Situation. Ignacio Gonzales, with extensive leadership experience, joined Renay Confections as LATAM President. Facing increasing competition, he inherited a strained relationship between the General Managers and Shared Service leaders, jeopardizing the region's growth.
The Journey. Ignacio initiated quarterly meetings, leveraging data from Team Assessment Surveys (TAS) to diagnose team dysfunctions. Using the high-performing team framework, they developed explicit norms and accountability mechanisms. Quarterly Business Reviews became pivotal, addressing issues, setting goals, and fostering effective teamwork.
The Results. Over a year, the team tackled challenges, streamlined processes, and improved communication. Using TAS feedback, they saw marked progress, indicating a shift towards high performance despite a revenue growth hiccup.
Lessons Learned. Nine key lessons emerged:
1. Team leaders are critical in making or breaking team effectiveness.
2. Adopting a common team effectiveness framework is essential.
3. Provide teams with benchmarked feedback.
4. Offer team improvement tools & training as feedback alone is rarely enough.
5. Team norms make a significant difference in team performance.
6. Integrate real task work with teamwork (i.e., improving efficiency and effectiveness).
7. Build accountability mechanisms to track actions and conduct progress reviews.
8. Include the ability to build effective teams into talent management programs and processes (e.g., hiring, onboarding, leadership development, succession).
9. Scale high-performing team solutions across the organization if you want to drive a true high-performance culture.
Conclusion. Effective teamwork is critical but often neglected. Human Resources can play a strategic role by embedding team-building capabilities into their leadership model, fostering a common framework, and providing leaders with relevant tools and training. By prioritizing team effectiveness, organizations can unlock significant value and drive sustainable success.
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