Winning Teams

May 24, 2008 by Jason Boltax.

Assessing a team—deciding who should stay and who should go—is one of the most critical tasks an executive faces when transitioning into a new position.  The first weeks are crucial for learning and evaluating. Leaders must maintain the right balance of confidence and humility, while asking probing questions and actively listening. During this time, they are most vulnerable, without a firm support network in place.  Leaders must dedicate a large percentage of learning time to getting to know existing team members. If you are promoted to a new position from within the organization, you are likely acquainted with some of its key people. Transition from the outside, and you face the task of identifying and placing the right people into the right positions—a much greater challenge.  How to Assess an Existing Team When performing your evaluation, you’ll find some excellent, some average and some unsatisfactory people in place. You will inherit a group with its own dynamics and work habits. You cannot afford to make one of the most common errors: gathering them in a room, telling them that you’re in charge now and that you’ll be making some changes. Instead, you will need to sort out who’s who, the functions people perform and how the group has worked in the past.  Decide on which criteria to use when evaluating people. Michael Watkins, an associate professor of business administration at Harvard and author of The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels, suggests using the following: 

• The necessary technical skills and experience

• Good judgment under pressure or when faced with sacrifice for the greater good

• The right kind of energy (versus someone disengaged, burned out or unfulfilled)

• Ability to stick to priorities, get along with other team members and support team decisions

• Trustworthiness, honesty, consistency and reliability

Probing Questions Prepare to meet formally with each person by reviewing available personnel history, performance data and other appraisals. During your meeting, ask probing questions. Watkins suggests the following: 

1. What do you think of our existing strategy?

2. What are the biggest challenges we face in the short term? In the long term?

3. What are the biggest opportunities we face?

4. What resources could we leverage more effectively?

5. How could we improve the way the team works together?

6. If you were in my position, to what would you want to pay attention?

Be on the alert for nonverbal cues: 

• What doesn’t the person say?

• Does he volunteer information or wait until he’s asked?

• Does the person reveal areas of weakness or only strengths?

• Does he blame others, make excuses or take responsibility?

• Is body language consistent with words?

• Which topics evoke energy?

• What is this person like outside of meetings, when he interacts on an informal level?

• Does he tend to be cordial, polite, tense, competitive, judgmental or reserved?

Testing for Judgment One strategy for evaluating judgment involves asking questions about areas outside of work, such as sports or hobbies. Ask people to offer predictions for their favorite athletic teams and how they have reached their conclusions. Observe whether they easily commit to predicting an outcome or prefer to play it safe. Does their rationale make sense and demonstrate expert judgment?  

Assessing the Team You need to understand how the existing team functions, which requires you to study data and reports from meetings. Determine whether team members share similar impressions of the situations they face. Major differences point to a lack of team coherence. Group dynamics will become evident in first meetings. Observe how individuals interact in your presence and the roles people take. Who speaks easily? Who holds back? Are there alliances? Nonverbal cues inevitably surface each time someone speaks up.  Restructuring a Team Within a short period, you will be able to outline a plan for restructuring your team: 

• Who will you keep in place and/or develop?

• Who will you move to another position?

• Who will you observe for a while?

• Who will you replace (low and high priority)?

Alternatives to Termination Even if poor performance is well documented, it can be difficult and time-consuming to let people go. Consider alternatives, such as moving them to other positions within the team that are better suited to their skills. Or, you may want to place someone elsewhere in the organization. Do this, however, only if you are positive that he can perform well there.  Common Mistakes  

Some of the most common mistakes leaders make include: Keeping the existing team too long. You should decide who will remain and who will go within your first 90 days. After six months, you should have communicated your planned personnel changes to key stakeholders, your boss and HR, according to Watkins. Not repairing the glitches. Develop options right away, even if you have to hire people in temporary positions.  Not working organizational alignment and team-restructuring issues in parallel. It isn’t enough to have the right team in place. Members must be aligned and clear about the organizational mission, goals and values. 

Not holding onto the good people. Signal to top performers that you recognize their capabilities. Undertaking team-building before the core team is in place. Don’t strengthen the bonds of a team whose members will not continue with you as a cohesive group. Wait until you have the right people in place. Making implementation decisions too early. Wait until core members of your new team are in place before attempting to secure their buy-in for changes.  Trying to do it all yourself. The process of restructuring a team is full of legal, emotional and company policy complications. Your HR people can help you chart a strategy. 

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