Questrom Team Learning

Student Resources
Managing Team Performance

Managing Team Performance

In this section, you will find some tips and suggestions for managing your team more effectively. Remember – teams are dynamic entities. Teamwork and collaboration is an ongoing, continuous effort, not a static event. Paying attention to the people and the processes, as well as the project tasks, is essential to team success.

Effective Team Meetings

Team meetings are an inevitable and important part of teamwork and collaboration. All team members share the responsibility for making the meetings both effective and efficient by contributing to the meeting planning and objectives, and preparing in advance for each meeting. For more effective meetings, follow these best practices:

  • Agenda

    Use an agenda that outlines the purpose of meeting, topics to be addressed, sequence of topics (least to most challenging), time estimates for each topic, etc.

  • Who is coming?

    Determine who should attend each meeting, and when it is appropriate for sub-groups to meet (v. the entire group).

  • Meeting Times

    Establish clear meeting start and end times; schedule breaks during long meetings; start the meeting on time. If meeting virtually, be sure to clarify time zones.

  • Prepare in Advance

    Take time to prepare for the meeting ahead of time so that you can use the meeting to review progress, engage in discussions, integrate contributions, and make decisions.

  • Stay Focused

    Use a facilitator to help keep the discussion focused and to make sure all voices are included in the discussion.

  • Review the meeting

    Close each meeting by reviewing the meeting (Plus/Delta): what worked, what should be changed, etc.

Performance Feedback

The ability for team members to provide effective feedback on performance is an essential skill to build, and has a direct impact on team effectiveness and success. Effective feedback aligns people. It leads to increased trust, commitment, and motivation. The goal of feedback is to help the team function and perform better. When providing feedback on your team, use the Plus/Delta approach:

Begin by addressing the positive performance and behaviors that you have observed, and would like to see continue. Be sure to recognize your teammates for their specific contributions to the team.

Think of Deltas as advice or recommendations for something to try. Your team mate doesn’t have to follow your suggestions, but Deltas provide possible paths to improvement. This represents constructive feedback, and is framed to be forward looking toward what needs to change. Focusing on what needs to change (v. negative performance) enables team members to chart a path toward improvement. Remember, the recipient needs to be able to take action based on the feedback you give them.

Remember to provide specific examples, focus on the behavior rather than the person/personality, and indicate a sincere willingness to help. An example is provided below:

Plus

  • You contributed the most to the main analysis of the paper. I was struck by your insight and ability to build a strong argument using the data we collected. 
  • Additionally, you were the person on the team who regularly spoke up when deadlines were approaching and that kept us on track.

Delta

  • Early in the semester, I thought that you were not prepared, but my opinion changed as I saw your work. I think that if you were able to communicate your ideas earlier in the project, people would have turned to you and listened easily.

When receiving feedback, listen carefully to what is being said. Focus on understanding the feedback, and the perspective of the person giving it to you – especially when you have a different perception. Clarify by asking questions, and then summarize what you heard.

Feedback Series:

Common Challenges and Best Practices

Questrom Team Learning asked students to share their common challenges, insights, and best practices for working in virtual team environments.

Shared Leadership

High performance teams work interdependently to achieve common goals, exhibiting shared leadership. Rather than giving one person the responsibility for leadership on the team, all members play a critical role in enhancing team performance through effectively fulfilling their roles and making important contributions. View this video to learn more about “radical interdependence” and the power of shared leadership.

Resolving Conflict

Conflict is an inevitable, and even important part of teamwork and collaboration. The different perspectives brought to teamwork can be harnessed as constructive conflict and become a team strength. However, when conflict becomes destructive it can harm team performance and morale. View this video to learn more about how to resolve conflict through “compassionate curiosity” and lead your team to successful resolution of conflicts.

Going Virtual

Effective virtual teams rely on good teaming practices – the basics of effective teamwork for all teams. Working virtually, rather than in person, presents a greater need for relationship building among team members and requires the team to pay more attention to structuring their processes and communication.

Click the link below to learn more practical skills for working on virtual teams.

Virtual Teams