Managing performance as a team

Agreeing team ground rules

There are a couple of fundamentals to successful teamwork. The first is to make sure your conversations are set up to work well, with clear agreements of what you expect of each other - how you will control noisy members and encourage everyone to contribute, emphasizing the importance of data and so on. The 'Agreeing team ground rules' team exercise takes you through this step.

Setting team goals

The second fundamental is to be clear about what you are trying to achieve as a team. Team goals are more than the sum of the individual goals of team members. You can make sure your team sets its goals up well by reading the 'Team Goals' section and doing the 'Key Result Areas' and 'Clarifying Your Objectives' exercises as a team.

Reviewing progress

With your goals set, and a constructive team dynamic, you can decide on your Key Performance Indicators, and set the targets you want to reach. The 'Reviewing your progress' briefing takes you through takes you through this step.

Constructive performance discussions

Performance management discussions are very easy when things are going well, but can be very difficult when they aren't. Before you start having those conversations with each other in a team setting it is important to have a common understanding of how to approach performance conversations in the most constructive manner possible. The section of the website describing how to handle 'Performance Management' conversations will help you work out the best approach to performance management for your unique team culture.

Giving feedback in a team setting

Finally, you may want to explore the broader topic of how you discuss matters in your team in a way that is kind and constructive as well as honest when difficult issues need to be discussed. 'Giving feedback in a team setting' gives you and your team a couple of exercises to discuss and improve the way you give feedback to each other. Different teams do this in different ways. Your team will want to find it's own most appropriate way, enabling your team to move beyond the mere passive observance of team ground rules into the more advanced, active and sometimes difficult team dynamics essential for really high performing teams.