Method
The 6 Conditions for Team Effectiveness was selected as the framework as it provides a clear and addressable set of conditions which create an effective team.
Just to add extra excitement to the project and the team, Covid-19 thrust the team into a virtual environment with Oluwaseun and Rob in lockdown in Australia and Santiago in lockdown in a completely different time zone in Uruguay.
We decided upon a simple and repeatable process –
- Pre-launch session 1 – Understand the three essential conditions of effective teams – real team, right people and compelling purpose. A core part of the work the team did in this session was around what comprises a compelling purpose and how that could be defined for this project.
- Pre-launch session 2 – Finalizing the compelling purpose and understanding the three enabling conditions of effective teams – sound structure, supportive context, and team coaching. The team coaching was motivational in nature, focusing on the key tasks which would seriously advance the project and the team norms that would ensure effective completion of these tasks.
- At the midpoint of the project the team was surveyed using the Team Diagnostic Survey. This survey gave us an overview of the 6 Conditions and an opportunity to coach the team during a debrief session soon after completion of the survey.
- At the calendar mid-point of the project, the team worked on key task strategies, and hence the team’s task performance significantly improved. I had the pleasure of sitting in on the team’s final presentation to the external client and all deliverables were on time and exceeded the client’s expectations.
- Post project review – this took the form of a group interview as in the video above.
Outcome
To measure the outcomes, we need to reflect on the purpose of the pilot project –
· Can team design and coaching principles add value to the client and the students learning during the project?
- All team members expressed the opinion that their learning of the Entrepreneurial Finance concepts was significantly improved through an effective team approach and that potential failure points, from the client’s perspective, were avoided.
- The project deliverables exceeded expectations.
· Will the students gain any value from the team learning to carry into their career post MBA?
- The students recognized the value of using the 6 Team Conditions to improve team effectiveness and in fact lamented that they did not receive this support in previous team projects.
- With close attention to the video, we clearly see the concept of teams and 6 conditions for effective teams come through in the discussion and language of the team members.