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Thought Leaders: Jon Katzenbach on Top Teams and Peak Performance

Jon R. Katzenbach is widely regarded as one of the worlds leading experts in worker motivation and performance, team effectiveness and leadership. He has helped companies achieve extraordinary results for over 40 years. Mr. Katzenbachs client experience and groundbreaking research formed the foundation of his books. His latest is Why Pride Matters More than Money, subject of a full-page review in Time Magazine and a cover story in Fast Company Magazine. This book builds on his past books Peak Performance and Real Change Leaders. His pioneering work on team effectiveness is the subject of The Wisdom of Teams and Teams at the Top. He is the founder of Katzenbach Partners, LLC, a firm specializing in organizational and team effectiveness, leadership and workforce performance. He was a director in McKinseys San Francisco, New York, and Houston offices.

Topic: Top Teams and Peak Performance

 
 

RD: Let's review your core thinking on what makes any team effective.

JK: There are four simple things that create an effective group, which is not necessarily a real team. First there is a clear charter about what they are supposed to be accomplishing. Second, there are criteria for membership. Third, there is clarity around the roles of the various members and finally, there is open and frank communication. Those are the four basics that make an effective group. The most important thing is to be disciplined about trying to be a real team only when you have a real team task. You can be in an effective group and not be a real team, that is not necessarily bad. It depends on whether you have a team task, or not.

RD: What is the distinction between a group and a team task?

JK: A group task is something that requires the four things I mentioned because the group is basically sharing information and they are talking about things together. A team task is one where they have to do real work together, produce collective work products; that is the essential difference.

RD: The Wisdom of Teams was originally published in 1993, how is team effectiveness different now?

JK: The environment has changed more than the team basics. What we have learned since 1993 is that the basics for team performance really do make a difference. They haven't changed. We've learned that the discipline required is much harder to apply than it is to describe. We've learned that the landscape is changing continually and rapidly, and that the practical options for groups are greater than expected. Most importantly, we still believe that real teams in the right places can deliver higher levels of performance than effective groups.

RD: Your approach to team starts with a focus on results. Why?

JK: There are four critical trade-offs that any group makes. There is the trade-off of speed or efficiency vs. performance. There is collective vs. individual work products. There is being a real team vs. a single-leader unit. Then there is the 'situational' vs. 'ongoing' team opportunities. All of these trade-offs are best made against the construct of what results are you trying to achieve? For example, if you have to get your answer in a hurry. You would probably go with a single-leader unit rather than a real team, simply because it is a bit faster. If the collective work products that you need to get out are more significant than what individual members will do on their own, that argues for a real team approach. It is the result basis that determines the tradeoffs that you make in terms of how and what the team should be doing. The primary source of motivation in a team is simply pride in the results. You can't pay teams. We pay individuals. You can't promote teams you promote individuals. The only thing that motivates a team is pride and that is in the results that they produce. This is another reason why the focus has to be on results by the team.

RD: It seems you feel the word team is used too loosely. What is your definition of a real team?

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Mr. DiGeorgio is the principal of Richard M. DiGeorgio & Associates, a management consulting firm. He is a change management consultant, leadership trainer and coach. His firm is a network of quality consulting firms, who have worked in numerous industries and at all levels of Fortune 500 companies.

Mr. DiGeorgio has twenty-nine years of experience as an executive and change consultant with three Fortune 500 firms, eighteen of those years were spent at Mobil Oil. His last assignment was as an internal change consultant on assignment to Project Horizon, Mobil Oil's effort to improve its effectiveness in building capital projects and save $500M a year. 
 

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