No matter
what industry you work in, productive and efficient teams are a must for
success. Yet it’s not always easy to create and maintain a well-oiled team.
That’s why I love the Drexler-Sibbet Team Performance Model—it provides a
simple, step-by-step framework for understanding team development.
If you didn’t
read my first post on the Drexler-Sibbet (DS) model, start here. There are
seven steps in the framework; this post covers steps four through seven. You
can also learn how the DS model can be used as a diagnostic tool, and as a way
to build teams from scratch. Trust me, you don’t want to miss it.
Basic
Structure of the DS Model
For a quick
review, here are the seven sequential steps of the DS model:
Orientation
Trust
Building
Goal
Clarification
Commitment
Implementation
High
Performance
Renewal
Each step
has:
A question in
the circle, which is the question someone on the team is likely to ask.
Resolved and
Unresolved Traits on either side of the circle. If the resolved traits are
demonstrated by the team, then the team can move to the next step. If the
unresolved traits are demonstrated, it’s not yet time to move to the next step.
Arrows that
point to other steps. If a team is facing challenges on a certain step, the
arrows will tell the team which step to move to. For example, if a team is challenged
on step 4, they would go back to step 3. However, if a team is challenged on
step 5, they would go back to step 3, because the arrow from step 5 points to
step 3.
Today, we
will be looking specifically at steps four (commitment) to seven (renewal).
This will round out your understanding of the DS model and enable you to
successfully put it into effect for your new or existing teams.
The following
graphic can be used for reference, to see the basic model and structure of the
DS model. (Zoom in for details or read below.)
STEP 4
Commitment –
How will we do it?
When goals
are clear, your team is probably eager to act. Attention moves to step 4 and
the question, “How will we do it?”. In other words, how committed are we to
reaching the specific goal? There are two things that build someone’s
commitment: their role and the decision-making process. So let’s look at those
two aspects:
Role
When someone
is crystal clear on their role, they know what to do and their level of
authority to take action. Yet how many times do we hear team members say, “I
thought you were doing that.” or “I thought my job is just to do this”. This
uncertainty creates confusion, frustration and wasted time. So get specific
about who is doing what for each task; if the task is complex, break it into
smaller roles.
You may have
considered roles during stage three planning, but now need to commit to what
the function, authority, and responsibilities will be in practice. Role
definitions have to be complete enough to cover all the tasks that must be done
to accomplish your team goals while also minimizing overlaps and role
conflicts. A big part of a team lead’s job is to help match goals to
competencies, and help people step into roles that will develop their abilities
and improve results for the team.
Decision-Making
Who makes
what decision is vital to creating individual and team commitment. For example,
let’s say you ask me to do some research for the team. I’m excited and spend
time researching, writing my recommendations, and prepping my briefing. Yet
during the meeting, you cut me off and say you’ll review my information and
make the final decision, which irritates me and causes me to grumble, “I’m not
doing that again.” Why? Because I thought I was going to have a say in the decision-making
process.
So be clear
on the decision-making process for each key decision. Will it be a democracy,
with equal votes? A consensus? A dictatorship? While the team member may not
agree with the decision-making process, she at least understands the process
ahead of time.
Tool: RACI-
Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed
One tool to
do this is called RACI, which stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted
and Informed in the below chart.
To use RACI,
match RACI with the tasks before the team starts executing on the tasks, as in
the below diagram. This will help everyone clearly know their roles up front.
Step 4 represents
the turn of the Drexler-Sibbet model. Remember that the initial stages of team
performance involve a good bit of trial-and-error. Embracing these questions
might require backtracking to goals, investing more in trust development, and
revisiting initial purpose before you can fully resolve commitment issues.
How do you
know when Commitment challenges are resolved? You will see:
Assigned
roles
Clear
integrated goals
Shared vision
How do you
know when the team is blocked at Commitment? You will see:
Dependence
Resistance
STEP 5
Implementation
– Who does what, when, where?
Conflicts and
confusion arise when there is commitment but no clear way forward. A good tip
to remember at this stage is the “5 W’s”: Who, what, where, when, why (and
how):
Who will do
it?
What will
they specifically do?
Where will it
be done?
When will it
be done?
Why is the
work being done in this sequence?
How will we
evaluate the quality of the work?
Implementation
involves scheduling and sequencing work over time. A visible schedule (e.g. a
chart), strategy, and / or process liberates the team to move into action
confidently. So spend time specifically answering the above question before the
team moves to action.
How do you
know when Implementation challenges are resolved? You will see:
Clear
processes
Alignment
Disciplined
execution
How do you
know when the team is blocked at Implementation? You will see:
Conflict
Non-alignment
Missed
deadlines
STEP 6
High
Performance – WOW!
High
performance is a WOW state, as a team masters its processes and begins to
experience the ability to change goals, as well as achieve them. You can feel
when it happens and observe its effects as teams achieve a flow state when
trust is high, and people have mastered their roles. In a state of high
performance, boundaries and individual limits soften, everything moves together,
and everyone responds as if they are part of the whole. The indicators of that
having happened are spontaneous interaction, synergy, and a team that is
surpassing their expectation on results. WOW symbolizes how high-performance
teams transcend rational processes by working with all the human faculties –
spirit, soul, mind, and body.
How do you
know when High Performance challenges are resolved? You will see:
Spontaneous
interaction
Synergy
Surpassing
results
How do you
know when the team is blocked at High Performance? You will see:
Overload
Disharmony
STEP 7
Renewal – Why
continue?
Over time the
conditions that initially set your team in motion will change. High performance
is demanding. Don’t be surprised if people ask, “Why continue?” This key
question reminds us that team performance is an ongoing process, and must be
renewed by returning to Stage 1 and reassessing if the work is still needed,
worthwhile, and has some personal value and meaning.
Tool: AAR-
The After-Action Review
One tool to
use in this step is the After-Action Review, or AAR, which addresses four key
questions:
What were our
intended results?
What were our
actual results?
What caused
our results?
And what will
we sustain or improve?
Of course,
other questions can be asked during an AAR. Here are sample ground rules for an
AAR meeting:
Active
participation: it is important for everyone to participate since everyone’s
views have equal value
No blame
There are no
right or wrong answers
Be open to
new ideas
Be creative
in proposing solutions to barriers
Use
“Yes….and” rather than “either/or” thinking
Consensus
where possible, clarification where not
Commitment to
identifying opportunities for improvement and recommending possible improvement
approaches
No record of
the discussion will be distributed without the agreement of all participants
Quotes will
not be attributed to individuals without permission
To close the
AAR session, summarize key points identified during the discussion. The session
should end on a positive note, linking observations to recommendations for
future improvements. Let the team know what the plans are for reporting and
sharing the lessons learned during the AAR.
Whether or
not you do the AAR as listed above, spending time on renewal puts your team
back in touch with purpose and refreshes everyone’s commitment to keep going.
It also includes learning from what you have accomplished, and building a
repertoire of best practices for the next journey on this or other teams. If
your team’s work is complete, Renewal is the time to wrap things up, freeing
members to move on to new challenges.
How do you
know when Renewal challenges are resolved? You will see:
Recognition
Change
mastery
Staying power
How do you
know when the team is blocked at Renewal? You will see:
Boredom
Burnout
If you reach
stage seven and your team is blocked, it’s time to head back to stage one!
There you have it—the Drexler-Sibbet Team Performance Model.
Don’t forget to learn about steps one through three on my previous post, before
giving it a spin.
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