the super teams pack
TRANSCRIPT
This pack provides practical tools that you can use to continue to
build a super team. The pack is divided into several parts.
The first part explores how to clarify the team’s strengths and
strategy for achieving its picture of success.
The second part explores how to clarify and communicate the
team’s story, strategy and road to success.
The third part explores how to make clear contracts with people
about their best contributions towards achieving the picture of
success.
It also describes practical ways that people can proactively report
about their progress towards achieving the goals.
Introduction
You may, of course, have already clarified your team’s strengths
and strategy.
If so, you can move straight to the second part of the pack. This
focuses on how to communicate and gain commitment to reaching
the goals.
Here is the material. As ever, take the best and leave the rest. Use
the ideas you like to help the team to achieve ongoing success.
Clarifying the team’s strengths and
strategy for achieving its picture of success
Super Teams
- Part One
Super teams are special. They often start by building on their
strengths, setting specific goals and clarifying their picture of
success. They then translate this into a clear story, strategy and
road to success.
Everybody knows what mountain they are climbing, why they are
climbing it and how they will reach the summit. They know who will
be delivering what and by when.
Super teams are made up of people who want to be positive,
professional and peak performers. They choose to opt in and make
clear contracts about their best contributions towards achieving the
goals.
People do superb work, support each other and find solutions to
challenges. They then do whatever is required to achieve the picture
of success.
Introduction
Super teams start by clarifying their strategy. There are many ways
to take this step. One approach is for them:
To clarify their strengths and successful style of working.
To clarify their perfect customers and how they can help these
people to succeed.
To clarify their chosen strategy for achieving success.
This section provides tools for clarifying your team’s strengths and
strategy. Some teams skip this step and move straight to the next
section, which focuses on the team’s story.
It can be useful, however, to clarify the team’s strengths. This can
provide the foundation for developing your strategy and achieving
success.
Super teams are special. They often start by building on their
strengths and clarifying their picture of success. They then
translate this into a clear story, strategy and road to success.
Super Teams
Strategy SuccessStory
They focus on implementing the right strategy with the right people
in the right way.
Super Teams
The Right
People
The Right Way
The Right
Strategy
This section provides tools you can use to clarify
the team’s strengths and successful style of working
The Super Team’s
Strengths
There are many tools you can use to clarify your team’s strengths.
The following exercises invite you:
To clarify the specific activities in which the team delivers - or has
the potential to deliver - As rather than Bs or Cs.
To clarify the team’s perfect customers - the kinds of customers
with whom it works best - and the challenges these customers face.
To clarify how the team can use its strengths to help these
customers to achieve success.
Here are the exercises.
Introduction
So how can you find a team’s strengths - where it it delivers As,
rather than Bs or Cs?
One approach is to explore its positive history and when it has
performed brilliantly. The team’s talents can be found in a
combination of ‘What’ it delivered, ‘How’ it was delivered and to
‘Whom’. These provide clues to the team’s strengths and successful
style.
So when has the team performed brilliantly? What have been its
success stories?
What did people do right then to perform outstanding work? What
were the principles they followed? How did they translate these into
action?
Introduction
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you
to do the following things.
Describe the specific times when people in the team have performed
brilliantly.
Describe the specific things that people did then - the principles
they followed - to perform brilliantly.
Look at each example in turn and describe these things. You may
want to focus on the specific strengths they showed, the specific
strategies they followed and the specific skills they used.
Describe the specific things they did to translate these principles
into action and perform brilliantly.
1) When they …
The specific things that people did
then to perform brilliantly were:
* They …
For example …
* They …
For example …
* They …
For example …
The specific times when people in the team performed brilliantly were the following
2) When they …
The specific things that people did
then to perform brilliantly were:
* They …
For example …
* They …
For example …
* They …
For example …
3) When they …
The specific things that people did
then to perform brilliantly were:
* They …
For example …
* They …
For example …
* They …
For example …
Bearing in mind the answers from the previous exercise, move on
to describing what you believe to be the team’s strengths.
Describe the specific activities where the team delivers - or has the
potential to deliver - As to customers.
These can be projects, services, products or other activities. So you
may wish to focus on:
The specific ways it helps customers to achieve success.
The specific types of projects where it does great work to help
customers to succeed.
The specific results it has delivered for customers.
Introduction
The team’s strengths go beyond ‘What’ it offers. They are often
contained in the ‘How’ it delivers these things.
Combining these strengths and successful style can help to define
the team’s specific contribution to helping customers to achieve
success.
The following exercise is in two parts. It invites you:
To describe where the team delivers As and give examples of where
it has done this in the past.
To describe where the team has the potential to deliver As and give
reasons why you believe this may be possible.
1)
The specific examples of when it has
delivered these things in the past are:
*
*
*
The specific activities – the projects, services, products, tasks or other activities - where the
team consistently delivers As to customers are:
1)
The specific reasons for saying this
– the examples and evidence - are:
*
*
*
The specific activities – the projects, services, products, tasks or other activities - where
the team has the potential to deliver As are:
Who are the kinds of customers with whom the team works best? It
may work best with customers in a particular field or with certain
characteristics.
How to clarify the preferred kind of customer? One approach is to
look back at when the team has done great work. Bearing these
answers in mind, this exercise invites you to do the following things.
Describe the specific kinds of customers with whom the team works
best.
Describe the specific challenges these kinds of customers face.
Describe the specific goals they want to achieve.
Introduction
1)
The specific challenges this customer faces are:
*
*
*
The specific goals this customer wants to achieve are:
*
*
*
The specific types of customers with whom the team works with best are:
2)
The specific challenges this customer faces are:
*
*
*
The specific goals this customer wants to achieve are:
*
*
*
3)
The specific challenges this customer faces are:
*
*
*
The specific goals this customer wants to achieve are:
*
*
*
The specific ways the team can use its strengths to help its
customers to tackle their challenges and achieve success
The Super Team
We are now coming to the key point. So far we have covered:
The team’s strengths.
The team’s perfect customers, the challenge they face and the
specific goals they want to achieve.
The next step invites you to do the following things.
To write the name of each of these potential customers.
To describe the specific things the team can deliver to help these
customers to achieve success.
To describe the benefits of delivering these things.
Introduction
1)
The specific things the team can deliver to
help this customer to achieve success are:
*
*
*
The specific benefits of delivering these things will be:
*
*
*
The specific customer is:
2)
The specific things the team can deliver to
help this customer to achieve success are:
*
*
*
The specific benefits of delivering these things will be:
*
*
*
3)
The specific things the team can deliver to
help this customer to achieve success are:
*
*
*
The specific benefits of delivering these things will be:
*
*
*
Bearing in mind the work you have done previously on the team’s
strengths, this exercise invites you to do the following things.
Describe the possible routes the team can follow in the future. The
team may, for example, have some of the following options.
To continue to pursue its present strategy.
To pursue the strategy of building on its strengths and working with
its perfect customers.
To continue working with some of its present customers whilst also
building a new business working with its perfect customers.
To pursue another strategy.
Introduction
Describe the pluses and minuses of each option.
Describe the attractiveness of each route. Do this on a scale 0 – 10.
People often start this exercise by listing the obvious options and
then exploring other possibilities.
For example, is it possible to combine the best parts of each road
into a new option? What other options are there?
Imagine that you and your colleagues have done the previous parts
of the exercise. It can then be useful:
To discuss the various options with a view to agreeing on the way
forward.
To, when discussing the options, build on what you have in
common.
It is okay with healthy debate. After awhile, however, you can then
aim to:
Describe the team’s preferred route.
The next step will be to translate this route into a clear story,
strategy and road to success. That will be covered in the next
section.
Before then, however, here is the exercise that invites you to clarify
the team’s possible routes forwards.
The following slides give an opportunity to sketch out the
team’s possible options – the routes it can take going
forwards.
The first slide gives an overview of what the various options
may look like from above. But start by describing each of the
options in detail on each of the slides that follow.
You can then return to the overview and decide which route to
follow.
The Super Team Possible Options
Pluses: ___
Minuses: ___
____ / 10
The attractiveness rating of each of these options is:
The Possible Routes The Team Can Follow In The Future Are:
Pluses: ___
Minuses: ___
____ / 10
Pluses: ___
Minuses: ___
____ / 10
The Team’s Possible Options
A
To …
B
To …
C
To …
A) To …
The pluses will be:
*
*
*
The potential minuses may be:
*
*
*
The attractiveness rating is: ____ / 10
The possible options the team can follow are:
B) To …
The pluses will be:
*
*
*
The potential minuses may be:
*
*
*
The attractiveness rating is: ____ / 10
C) To …
The pluses will be:
*
*
*
The potential minuses may be:
*
*
*
The attractiveness rating is: ____ / 10
D) To …
The pluses will be:
*
*
*
The potential minuses may be:
*
*
*
The attractiveness rating is: ____ / 10
E) To …
The pluses will be:
*
*
*
The potential minuses may be:
*
*
*
The attractiveness rating is: ____ / 10
This section to be completed after
all the options have been discussed
The Super Team’sPreferred Route
* To …
The pluses of following this route will be:
*
*
*
The potential minuses may be:
*
*
*
The specific route we would like the team to follow in the future is:
The specific things we can do to build on the pluses are:
*
*
*
The specific things we can do to minimise the minuses are:
*
*
*
This exercise invites you to conclude this part
by rating the team’s probability of success
The Super Team -
Rating the chances of success
Great teams do their due diligence and stress test that the strategy
will work.
Bearing in mind the things you can control, the final part of this
section invites you to do the following things.
To rate the team’s chances of pursuing the strategy and achieving
success. Do this on a scale 0-10.
To describe the specific things the team can do to maintain or
improve the rating.
Introduction
Bearing in mind the things we can control, the present rating we
would give regarding the team’s chances of pursuing the strategy
and achieving success is:
___ / 10
The specific things we can do to
maintain or improve the rating are:
*
*
*
Success Rating
This section has focused on:
The team’s strengths, its perfect customers and how it can use its
strengths to help these customers to achieve achieve success.
The possible strategies the team can follow in the future together
with the pluses and minuses of each route.
The specific strategy the team wants to follow.
It is then time to translate this route into a clear story, strategy and
road to success. This takes us to the next step.
Conclusion
Super teams build on their strengths and clarify their strategy. They
then translate this into a clear story, strategy and road to success.
Good leaders communicate these to their people. They then give
people the chance to reflect and decide if they want to contribute
towards achieving the goals.
People who want opt in make clear contracts about how they can
use their strengths to make their best contribution. They perform
superb work, find solutions to challenges and do whatever is
required to achieve the picture of success.
This section provides tools for clarifying and communicating the
team’s story, strategy and road to success.
Introduction
You can start by defining the team’s purpose – the specific thing the
team really wants to do. You can then clarify:
The ‘What’. The specific goals the team wants to achieve and the
picture of success.
The ‘Why’. The specific benefits - for all the various stakeholders -
of achieving these goals.
The ‘How’. The key strategies the team aims to follow to achieve the
goals.
The ‘Who’. The specific responsibilities of various people when
working to achieve these goals.
The ‘When’. The specific things that will be happening and when
along the road towards achieving the picture of success.
Several points are worth bearing in mind when writing the story. It
can be useful to do the following things.
To decide for whom you are writing the story.
If you are a leader, you may initially write the story for your internal
team. This will ensure everybody knows the team’s goal.
To write the story by yourself or, if you wish, to involve other key
people at various stages.
To stay true to the spirit of the story but then, if you wish, also
adapt and communicate it in a way that resonates with other groups
of people.
The first part of the following exercise invites you to clarify the story.
It is followed by inviting you to create a Road Map.
The Road Map is the ‘When’ part of the story. This will become your
ongoing working document. So it is vital to craft it with care.
Several things are worth remembering when making the road map.
Start from the destination and work backwards
Start by picking a date in the future. Describe the specific goal you
want the team to achieve by that date.
Also describe the specific things that will be happening then that will
show you have achieved the goal.
The Road Map
Describe cumulative targets
The totals under each heading for each quarter to be cumulative. Below
is an illustration for Profits, but do it with each heading. For example:
Q4. Profits £1 million
Q3. Profits £750k
Q2. Profits £500k
Q1. Profits £250k
Try to have 3 bullet points of deliverables for each quarter under each
of Profits, Products and People. This fleshes out the road map.
Bring the road map to life with quotations
Describe the actual words you would like to hear people saying at
various stages of the journey. These can be quotes from leaders,
customers, colleagues or whoever. Here are the slides for the Story and
Road Map.
The purpose of our team – the
specific thing we really want to do - is:
* We want to ...
Introduction
The goal we want to achieve by ___ is:
* To
The specific things that we will have achieved by
then that will show we have reached the goal will be:
Profits
* To
* To
* To
The What - The Picture of Success
The key strategies we can follow to give
ourselves the greatest chance of success are:
Profits
* To
* To
* To
The How
The manager’s responsibilities in
working to achieve the goals are:
* To
* To
* To
The colleagues’ responsibilities in
working to achieve the goals are:
* To
* To
* To
The ‘one line’ specific goal our team wants
to achieve by the end of the year is:
* To
The When - The Road Map Towards Achieving The
Team’s Picture Of Success
Q4
Profits
*
*
*
Products
*
*
*
People
*
*
*
“______________”
“______________”
“______________”
“______________”
“______________”
“______________”
Milestones. The specific things that we will have achieved by then will be:
Quotes. The words we want to hear people
saying then are:
Q3 Profits
*
*
*
Products
*
*
*
People
*
*
*
“______________”
“______________”
“______________”
“______________”
“______________”
“______________”
Q2 Profits
*
*
*
Products
*
*
*
People
*
*
*
“______________”
“______________”
“______________”
“______________”
“______________”
“______________”
Q1 Profits
*
*
*
Products
*
*
*
People
*
*
*
“______________”
“______________”
“______________”
“______________”
“______________”
“______________”
Imagine that you have presented the story, strategy and road map
to your people. If you wish, you can then take the following steps to
get responses from the team.
Invite people to form groups. Each group is to make flip charts that
gather their responses to the story and strategy under the following
headings.
Like
The specific things they like about the story and strategy.
Additions and Suggestions
The specific additions and suggestions they have regarding the
story and strategy.
Introduction
The things we like about it are:
The additionsand suggestions
we have are:
The concerns and questions we have are:
The success rating – and how we can improve the chances of success - is:
The Team’s Story and Strategy
Concerns and Questions
The specific concerns and questions they have about the story
and strategy.
Success Rating
The present rating they would give regarding the team’s chances
of achieving the goals. This to be done on a scale 0 – 10.
The specific things they believe people in the team can do to
maintain or improve the chances of success.
Give people at least 30 minutes to do the exercise. People’s ideas
are to be written on a flip chart as they go along.
If you are the leader – or if there is a leadership team that has
introduced the strategy – you can give people 20 minutes to get
started.
You can then go around and look at the themes that are
emerging. This helps you to prepare to address the themes and
answer any questions. (You will have told people beforehand that
you will be going around to see the themes that are emerging.)
Invite each group to then give
the headlines of their responses
The next step is to invite people to report back. It can be useful
to cluster the themes and questions that emerge. You can then
respond and answer more effectively.
When answering questions, it can be useful
to explain the following guidelines to people
Explain that you will aim be honest and answer as fully as
possible. You will do this because you want people to understand
the strategy, the rationale behind it and the steps going
forwards.
Explain that you may not be able to answer all the questions in
the session. In some cases you will get back with some answers.
There may also be questions that, because of certain issues, you
will choose not to answer.
Explain that you will also set aside time over the next week to
meet individuals and answer, as far as possible, their questions.
They can book a time to see you.
Explain that you will take away the ideas and see which of these
can be added to the strategy. Bearing these things in mind, you
can embark on addressing the themes and questions that have
emerged.
Good leaders often see these sessions as an opportunity to
educate people about the strategy. People go away with a wider
grasp of the issues. They are then more able to explain the
strategy to new people who join the team.
Success Rating
The rating we would give at the moment
regarding our team’s chances of being
able to deliver the picture of success is:
______ / 10
This section has focused on:
The team’s story, strategy and road to success.
The team member’s responses to the story.
It will then be time to give people the chance to reflect and decide if
they want to contribute towards achieving the goals.
This takes us to the next step.
Conclusion
Clarifying each person’s contribution
towards achieving the picture of success
Super Teams
- Part Three
This section provides a framework that you can use to enable
people to make their best contributions towards achieving the
team’s goals. There are many models for making this happen. This
approach encourages people to take the following steps.
To clarify their strengths.
To clarify how they can use their strengths to make their best
contributions towards achieving the team’s picture of success.
To meet with their manager and make clear contracts about their
agreed goals.
To then proactively keep people informed about their progress and
to deliver their agreed contribution.
Introduction
The following pages provide a set of exercises that can be sent to
the team member before they meet with their manager to agree on
their contribution.
The person can follow the instructions and then make clear working
contracts.
As mentioned earlier, this framework follows the strengths
approach. Later we will look at how the leader can co-ordinate
people’s strengths to make sure all the tasks are completed.
Here is the section that can be sent to the team member ahead of
the contracting meeting with their manager.
The Team Member’s Pack
This pack to be sent to the team member two weeks before
the planned meeting with their manager. They are then to
send the relevant parts to their manager at least two days
before the session.
My Contribution Towards
Achieving The
Team’s Picture Of Success
This pack invites you to do several things to prepare for the
meeting with your manager where you will agree on your
contribution towards achieving the team’s goals.
Some of these exercises you may only need to do occasionally,
such as clarifying your strengths. Others you may do on an
ongoing basis. The pack invites you to do the following things.
To clarify your strengths and your best contribution.
To agree on your contribution towards achieving the team’s
goals.
To clarify how you will keep your manager informed about your
progress towards achieving the agreed goals.
Here are the exercises.
Introduction
Peak performers do what they do best and do it brilliantly. They
also find ways to manage the consequences of their weaknesses.
This exercise invites you to do the following things.
Describe the deeply satisfying activities in which you deliver As.
These may be particular kinds of projects, tasks or other activities.
Try to be as specific as possible and give concrete examples.
Describe the activities in which you deliver Bs and Cs.
The B activities are probably those that you can do reasonably well.
They are not your As, however, or maybe they were once but now
you get bored doing them. The C activities are those in which you
have little aptitude or desire to learn
(If you have previously done this exercise - and both you and
your manager are fully aware of your strengths - you may simply
move onto the second exercise.)
Introduction
The specific activities in which I deliver As, rather
than Bs or Cs, together with some examples are:
1)
For example:
*
*
*
My Strengths
Bearing in mind the team’s picture of success and your strengths,
this exercise invites you to describe the following things.
The specific results you aim to deliver towards achieving the
team’s picture of success.
These aims should be written in outcome terms - such as the
specific results you will deliver - rather than as a list of activities.
The specific benefits - to the various stakeholders - of delivering
these results.
The specific things you will do to proactively update people about
your progress towards achieving the results.
Introduction
The specific support you would like to help you to achieve the
results.
The specific early successes you will aim to deliver.
Complete these exercises up to and including the page Specific
Early Successes and send these to your manager. You can then
agree on your goals for the year.
After the meeting you can then complete the section in which you
write your agreed goals for the year.
We aim to build a strengths based team and co-ordinate these
strengths to reach the goal.
We must, however, deliver the Scorecard. These are the mandatory
things the team must deliver. This will sometimes mean everybody
getting involved in doing great work and helping to do the other tasks.
We want to encourage you to build on your strengths, because you
are then more likely to do great work. At the same time, however, it is
your responsibility to manage the consequences of any weaknesses.
We want to manage by outcomes, rather than by tasks. Once the
outcomes are agreed, we ask you to be accountable for delivering the
goods. How you achieve this - providing your follow the organisation’s
agreed principles - is up to you and your team.
Some Background
Bearing in mind the picture of success and
my strengths, the specific results I want to
deliver towards achieving the team’s goals are:
1) To
For example:
- To
- To
- To
My Specific Contribution
The specific benefits of making this contribution - for the team,
customers, colleagues and other stakeholders - will be:
1) To
For example:
2) To
For example:
3) To
For example:
The Specific Benefits
The specific things I will do to proactively keep people informed about the progress towards delivering the results will be:
1) To
For example:
2) To
For example:
3) To
For example:
The Specific Updates
The specific support I would like to help me to achieve the goals, plus the support I will give to other people, is:
1) To
For example:
2) To
For example:
3) To
For example:
The Specific Support
The specific early successes I will aim to deliver will be:
1) To
For example:
2) To
For example:
3) To
For example:
The Specific Early Successes
After clarifying your strengths you will then meet with your
manager and agree on your goals.
When doing this, it is important to bear in mind the team’s picture
of success and your strengths. You will then agree with your
manager on your contribution towards achieving this picture of
success.
Try to write your goals in outcome terms. Describe the actual
things you will deliver, rather than a set of activities.
You can then keep referring back to these goals when having
ongoing meetings with your manager.
Introduction
1) To
For example:
- To
- To
- To
After meeting with my manager, the agreed specific results that I will aim to deliver are:
This section provides a framework you can use for meeting
regularly with your manager.
Bearing in mind the results you aim to deliver, it invites you to do
the following things.
Describe the specific outcomes you have agreed to deliver.
Describe the specific things you have delivered in the past month
(or other time frame).
Describe the specific things you aim to deliver in the next month
(or other time frame).
Describe any other things you would like to discuss in the meeting
with your manager.
Introduction
The specific outcomes - the
results - I aim to deliver by … are:
1) To
For example:
2) To
For example:
3) To
For example:
The Specific Goals
The specific things that I have delivered in the past
month towards achieving these goals have been:
1) To
For example:
2) To
For example:
3) To
For example:
The Past Month
The specific things that I aim to deliver in the
month towards achieving these goals are:
1) To
For example:
2) To
For example:
3) To
For example:
The Next Month
The other things I would like to discuss - such as any
challenges I face, my plans for tackling these, any support
I need and any other topics I would like to explore - are :
1) To
2) To
3) To
The Summary
There are many approaches to co-ordinating people’s strengths and
achieving the goals. The keys are:
To ensure the team has a clear picture of success.
To encourage people to build on their strengths - whilst managing
the consequences of any weaknesses - and make their best
contributions to achieving the picture of success.
To ensure do superb work and deliver the picture of success.
Great co-ordinators often use the following questions to ensure that
people can use their strengths whilst also making sure that all the
tasks get done.
Introduction
Co-ordinating People’s Strengths To Achieve The Goals
You can ask the following questions.
What are the team’s goals? What are the real results we want to
achieve? What is the picture of success?
What are people’s strengths? What are the specific activities in
which they deliver As rather than Bs or Cs?
How can co-ordinate people’s strengths to achieve the goals? How
can we make sure that any remaining practical tasks get done? How
can we make clear contracts about people’s contributions?
How can we make sure that people proactively keep others
informed about their progress? How can we do whatever is required
to achieve the picture of success?
Keeping people informed about the team’s
progress towards achieving the picture of success
The Super Team
Good leaders keep reminding people of the team’s story and goals.
One approach is to gather people together every month and update
them on the following things.
The team’s picture of success.
The specific things the team has delivered in the past month
towards achieving these goals.
The specific things the team aims to deliver in the next month
towards achieving these goals
The specific other things that it may be useful for people to know
about as the team works towards achieving the picture of success.
Here is a framework you can use for sharing these things. Plus
answering any questions people may have.
Introduction
The specific outcomes - the
results - we aim to deliver by … are:
1) To
For example:
2) To
For example:
3) To
For example:
The Picture Of Success
The specific things that we have delivered in the past
month towards achieving these goals have been:
1) To
For example:
2) To
For example:
3) To
For example:
The Past Month
The specific things that we aim to deliver in the
month towards achieving these goals are:
1) To
For example:
2) To
For example:
3) To
For example:
The Next Month
The other things that it may be useful for you to know about
as we work towards achieving the picture of success are:
1)
2)
3)
The Other Things
We would now like to you reflect and then let us know any questions
you have. We will try to answer these here or, if more appropriate,
discuss these with you individually or in your small teams. So let us
know your questions.
1)
2)
3)
Questions and Answers
There are many ways to build superb teams. This pack has provided
some tools that you can use in your own way.
There are, of course, many dimensions to the themes that have
been covered in the pack. You can discover more about the
background and practical tools on the following website.
http://www.thepositiveencourager.global/
There is lots of material on the website. If you want to explore a
particular theme further, it may therefore be best to contact me
directly. You can reach me at the following address.
I will then do my best to answer any questions and help you to
continue to build a super team.
Conclusion