1.5 - About University

High-PerformingTeamHow work gets done:• Due to coordination, communication, andrelationship demands, teams are usuallycomposed of a small number of members (12or fewer), each with complementary skills.• Teams succeed, or fail, together. Members areindividually and jointly accountable for aspecific product or service that is unique tothe team (i.e., a whole job).• High-performing teams are distinguished bythe production of exceptional anddemanding results, with no expectation ofrewards as individuals.• Members are deeply committed to results aswell as to each other’s growth and success.• High-performing teams are leaderful, as eachmember can speak for the team.When it is best to use:✔ Teams are often distinguished from workgroupsby synergy. The output of a workgroupis basically the sum of individualefforts, while team output should be muchgreater than the sum of what a group ofindividuals could produce working alone.✔ High-performing teams are rare. This level ofcommitment, relationship, and caring forresults, for team success, and for each others’individual development and success can besupported and encouraged, but cannot becommanded of people.In their best-seller, The Wisdom of Teams, Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith summarized thecontinuum from a workgroup to a high-performing team on a “Team Performance Curve.”Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business School Press. From The Wisdom of Teams: Creatingthe high-performance organization. by Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith. Boston MA, 1993,p. 84. Copyright 1993 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.SECTION 10 TOOLS FOR LEADING TEAMS AND GROUPS 299