Continuing on the blog series that asks the question with the available technology & methodology - what can we achieve...
Micael Jordan was once quoted “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”
When we consider high-performing basketball teams we appreciate the individual stars and the teamwork to enable the stars to shine. When Micael Jordan talks about intelligence, maybe he is referring to self-inspection and improvement through communication, strategy, execution and practice. Basketball teams often use agreements to align the team which benefits the team coach or captain when onboarding new members or keeping the team aligned.
Team agreements are the foundation for high performing teams, while high performing teams are a important in succesful agile organisations.
What is a team agreement?
The team agreement looks like a canvas or a document that is created by the team for the team and sets the scene for performance outcome. They are built around the people in their teams that address personal and team needs, goals, values, strengths and weaknesses. The team agreement setup can be facilitated by a leader, coach or an experienced team member.
What should be in it?
A fellow peer and coach @Grzegorz Janas recommended the article "How to create better work agreements for your team" a highly recommended read based on science and research relevant to agile teams. written from a scrum master and pyscologist - Christian Verijs recommends 5 areas you may want to consider;
- How to coordinate the flow of work
(how is our team suited to our workflow and process, - are we effective ? - How to coordinate the use of skills
(understanding the skill mix in the team is good to get down on paper early) - How to coordinate the navigation of conflict
(Christian writes - a lively debate for one member can be an anxiety-inducing argument for another, managing conflict should be labelled on the agreement) - How to coordinate psychological safety
(listening to other view points/encouraging feedback/admitting mistakes, we need a safe environment to fail in order to innovate and succeed ) - How to coordinate work pressure and stress
(We encourage a sustainable pace by...)
However you setup your team agreement may depend on the type of team or industry you're talking too. While your team agreement establishes many culutural benefits note that it also creates benchmarks of where the team are.
Impact On Business Performance
In a collaborative research article written by Mckinsey on the 5 trademarks of agile organisations, they touch on combining culture, methodology (rapid learning cycles) connected and enabled by technology:
"The trademarks include a network of teams within a people-centered culture that operates in rapid learning and fast decision cycles which are enabled by technology, and a common purpose that co-creates value for all stakeholders." -Mckinsey
Tracking team performance through KPI'S (for learning) or objectives to co-create value through internal OKRs are both beneficial (one eye on the mirror while we drive to our destination).Transformational insights can come when we dig deeper into the individual and team approach to company values.
Greg Benser, founder of Culture IQ wrote on entrepreneur.com that the following qualities are metrics can be used to track culture health within the organisation. Values such as Communication | Innovation | Agility | Wellness | Work Environment | Collaboration | Support | Performance | Focus | Responsibility | Mission and Value Alignment are all metioned.
What Benser writes mirrors how agile coaches are trained to asses agile organisation maturity with leaders and amongst other strategies , organanisation 365's.
The image below comes from reetro.io, which, after an assesment of the team, automatically visualises values similar to Benser. Both reetro and CultrueIQ recognise that by visualising cultural data there is value to organisations to bring internal awareness and reflection to drive improvement and ultimately performance.
Team health contributes towards business performance. Keep an eye on company results while you strive for team health - you might be pleasently reassured the work your putting into the team is giving back.
With multiple teams and systems within organisations it's a challenge to collect this type of data, so digital tools can be used to collect and contribute towards team agreements, like https://reetro.io, or teamretro .
For larger organisations that means feeding cultural data from HR or Retro systems using API's and making use of data centralisation and Business Intelligence to enable leaders to view financial results and model opportunities based on company culture improvements.
Summary
With the technology and methodology available to us we are closer than ever to a birdseye view of how culture & people impacts operations and financials providing intelligence to drive positive change in organisation performance.
Credits https://medium.com/the-liberators/in-depth-how-to-create-better-work-agreements-for-your-team-7738e474ad13 - Christiaan Verwijs
Greg Benser, founder of Culture IQ wrote on entrepreneur.com
Team retro : https://www.teamretro.com/
Mckinsey & Co : The five trademarks of agile organizations
About the author :
Andy Smith is a product manager and Agile Coach, contracted by TheVIT AS in Oslo, Norway. TheVIT are building full stack Agile Business Intelligence with data centralisation and have built one of the first Business Intelligence As A Service through Intelligent Solutions.
If you would like to know more about how to blend financial, industry or even cultural data to track and optimise your business performance take contact through TheVIT.no