Developing High Performing Faculty Teams

V.Thanikachalam, B.E., M.Tech., Ph.D., M.S., FIG., FIE

(vthani2025@gmail.com)

Who developed high performing teams?MIT, Boston, USA An Engineering College,

India

High Performing Herd in search of water and food !

Context•Institutes need high performing teams for:- Creating centers of excellence- Establishing consultancy center- Bidding and undertaking complex sponsored

research and development projects- Establishing curriculum development center- Developing interdisciplinary curricula to

meet the emerging needs of the industries- Establishing continuing education center

Process • High performance faculty teams are to be selected

with a mission• Mission is to be expressed in the form of a written

charter • It is to solve problems and achieve goals• Collective brainpower of a team would far exceed

the ability of any executive• Teams are to be self-directed and empowered• To be motivated by a challenge of achieving

dramatic results within a short time-frame• Teams have to thrash and churn during the early

stages of development• 75% of the real work of a team would be

accomplished during the last 25 % of the time allotted

High Flying Pilots (Trained and disciplined team of pilots)

Typical activities for a High Performing Teams

•Getting the approval from UGC for deemed university status

•Establishing interdisciplinary PhD programs in engineering and technology

•Establishing a Center for undertaking sponsored programs under International Development Agencies (IDAs)

•Establishing networked postgraduate programs in engineering and technology

•Establishing an Innovation Center

Goal ? Dynamism! Few seconds only for replacing the tyres.

Team Charter•Defines the task, scope and boundaries in

which the team would operate•Charter is the team’s license to operate•Institutional leaders normally create the

team charter•Two or more individuals, a common team

goal, resources, time, space, funds which are needed to accomplish are to be granted.

Team Charter ? Winning!

Behaviors •High performance faculty teams learn and

demonstrate excellent behaviors •These characteristics represent the

essential elements of high performance teams

•Teams are formed to either make decisions or implement decisions

•Teams are made up of experts who provide a variety of expertise and experience

Behaviors? Excellence in performance!

Selection of Team Members for Implementation

•Represent an area of influence or authority needed to achieve a successful implementation

•Decide how change is to occur•Responsible for implementing the change•Leaders and influencers in the

organization•Possess varied backgrounds and

experience

Expected Performance? Winning !

Expected Performance • Achieve significant academic goal• Achieve dramatic improvements within the processes• Starting point : Getting approval for deemed

university• End point: planning many high end graduate and post

graduate programs and innovative research projects• Process owner: coordinates the team activities• Communication interface with the organizational

world beyond the team• Team building involves trust, respect and support• Team members need to be coached, trusted and

supported.

Expected Performance ? Growth!

Generate the Team Goal•Facilitate the group to ensure clearly and

accountability to the team’s goal so that the team members are clear of what success looks like and empowered to achieve it.

•Focus the team on achieving results by setting explicit objectives

Goal ? Success!

Develop Critical Success Factors•Develop critical success factors which will

ensure the team to adopt vital framework to achieve their goals and break through any existing or new barriers that would prevent from achievement

Critical Success Factors ?

Share the Leadership and Accountability

•Inspire the team members to take full ownership for achieving the team’s goal with the assigned resources, proposing solutions and provide coaching and mentoring where needed to address performance issues.

•Be authentic, work to your own strengths and capitalize on the talents of the team members.

•Periodically get feedback on your leadership so that you can adjust to get the most from each team member

Build Strong team

Build Strong Relationship• Plan focused team building events that ensure

team members recognize what effective teams look like and the team behaviors for high performance.

• Encourage periodic get- together to ensure team spirit

• For virtual teams insert the social element into your conference calls with a simple ice breaker question.

• Teams do not have to be friends, but there does need to be mutual respect and trust for high performance levels.

Focused Communication

Establish Focused Communication and Review

•Ensure the team regularly review progress against their goals and make the vital adjustments to ensure success.

•Get detailed progress reports•Highlight the innovations

Focused Communication

Recognize Key Milestones and Celebrate Success

•Put the success in the newsletter•Include in the annual report•Give citation •Present a memento•Put in the newspaper•Recognize efforts and successful results

in the most appropriate way to maintain high performance levels

Coaching for Success

Coaching •Members need to be coached•To be trusted•To be supported•To be helped•To be encouraged•To be assisted

Conscious of Quality

Conscious of Quality•Strive to improve the quality of the team

work•Quality of the team work•Have one or more coaches•Teach team building behavior•Provide guidance and training

Team approach?

Team Members•Team members are expected to learn as

they work together•Teams normally experience a shortage of

resources and expertise •Scope of work of a team would demand

the contribution of external experts •Designed resources are to be made

available

Develop Diverse Team•Invite faculty who have different strengths and

closely aligned to the institute’s functions, students, industry clients and other stakeholders.

•The more diverse the team, the more they are likely to be strong in achieving the vision and mission of the institute.

•Motivation is likely to remain consistently high where team members can focus the majority of their expertise in areas they are working.

Cohesive Team!

Cohesiveness • The extent to which team members stick together and remain united in the

pursuit of a common goal• The members possess bonds linking them to one another and to the team as

a whole• Highly cohesive team focus on the process, not on the person• Respect everyone on the team• Assume good motives• Fully commit team decisions and strategies• Create accountability among the team• Exhibit high morale• Maintain very good communication and friendly team environment, loyalty• Contribute to the decision making process• Bring successful program strategies• More committed for goals and activities• Feel part of something significant• Increase self-esteem

Cohesiveness to Performance

Cohesiveness to Performance•Highly cohesive teams•Increased self-esteem•Increased morale•Increased performance

Cohesiveness in Performance

Ideal Team• An ideal team combines individual talents and

skills into one super performing- whole with capabilities that surpass those of even its most talented member

• Achieves greater levels of participation and collaboration

• Members trust one another, share a strong sense of team identy, and have more confidence in their abilities and effectiveness

• Possess high levels of team emotional intelligence

Ideal Team in search of food and climate? Fly together thousands of miles!

Emotional Intelligence•Defined as encompassing the awareness

and understanding of emotions•Incorporates the application of its

understanding to decision making, regulation, and self-management

•Has a positive impact on teamwork by making the team more cohesive

Building Emotionally Intelligence Team

Building an Emotionally Intelligent Team

•Developing emotional competence for the group as a whole

•Established norms that strengthen trust, group identity and efficiency

•Results in full cooperation among the team members

•Contributes more creatively in furthering the team’s work

Building Team’s EI

Vanessa Druskat and Stephen Wolf Suggests

•Building team’s EI- Allot time for team members to

appreciate each other’s skills- Raise and manage emotional concerns

that can help or encumber the team’s progress

- Celebrate success

Organizational Commitment•Provide perceived team support (PTS) and

perceived organizational support (POS)•PTS – degree to which faculty believe that

the team values their contribution and cares for well-being

•POS- the extent to which employees believe that the organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being

Focus on Long-term Achievement

Focus on Long-term Achievement•The whole team’s energy and drive is

focused on achieving their goal.•Facilitate their contribution fits into the

overall “big picture”•Institute’s vision in the long- term

Important Factors in Team Development

• A clear set of objectives, communicated explicitly by management

• Metrics allowing team members to evaluate their performance and the connection between the work of the team and key business indicators

• Ongoing training• Decision- making authority necessary to reach

institutional goals• Team-based rewards and appraisals, not only

individual incentives• An open culture with easy access to relevant

information and to senior management as neeeded

Cohesiveness •A measure of the attraction of members and

the camaraderie among members•A measure of the resistance to leaving it•Enables the team be more cooperative and

effective in achieving goals they set for themselves

•Lack of cohesion within a team working environment is certain to affect team performance due to unnecessary stress and tension among coworkers

High Performance Team

Tools for Creating High Performance Teams

•Faculty need to feel safe in the institution- Physically, emotionally and psychology

safe - Their intellectual contributions should be

protected- Their leadership has be respected- They should not be displaced from the

projects

Tools …• Faculty need to feel that they belong to

something that matters- Naturally seek out something bigger than

themselves- Institution care fulfill this deep, human need by

creating a workplace where faculty are inspired by the work institute do

- Can see how their work is tied to the big picture- When inducting new team members, pay close

attention to whether or not a person would be a good fit for team culture

- If a faculty don’t feel that they fit in, they would quickly become disengaged

Tools ! Appreciation ? Sharing the successful launch of the satellite!

Tools …• Faculty need to be appreciated frequently and

authentically- Faculty need to be appreciated for the

successes they accomplish, for the ability to display emotional mastery, and their award winning ideas

- Leaders of the most successful teams create a culture of inviting faculty doing well in all three of these areas and they make it a point to offer some type of specific, genuine praise whenever they accomplish

Appreciation and Accountability

Tools… • Appreciation needs to be combined with accountability- Talented faculty don’t want to be on a mediocre team- Appreciation is vital for creating culture of excellence,

but so is accountability- Every member on a team needs to be clear expectations

set forth and know who is accountable for what- Winning teams create a sense of mutual accountability- Have systems in place to regularly measure progress

towards goals and determine what the team can do to ensure goals are met.

Tools…•Goals need to binary- Ambiguity will result in mediocrity- High performing teams set very specific,

binary goals.- A binary goal is either achieved, or it isn’t- There is no ambiguity or subjectivity- Binary goals reduce personal conflicts- Fix a clear goal and check its

achievement

Tools…•Create more excellent performers- All faculty need to be coached and

mentored- Support and elevate marginal performers

Review and Learn

Review and Learn•Review each major team experience and

share these across the institute.•Record the output•Review prior to any team coming together•Include questions like “ what contributed

most to our team outcome ?” and “ what could we do differently next time?”

Review the Characteristics of the Team•Help predict the likely success at

becoming a high performance team•Does the team has clear purpose and

focus on long-term achievement ?•Do they have clearly aligned team roles?•Do they have shared leadership and

accountability?•Do they have clear open lines of

communication?

Review the Characteristics of the Team

Review the Characteristics of the Team…

•Whether team behaviors focused on results?

•Whether there is utilization and respect of team members’ talents?

•Whether there is implicit trust between team members ?

•Whether the conflict is effectively managed?

•Whether there is regular evaluation of the team’s output and effectiveness?

Characteristics of the Team? Celebration based on the outstanding performance!

Review the Characteristics of the Team…

•Whether there is shared recognition of team’s success?

•Whether the team quickly adapts to change?•Whether team members unquestionably

stand up to represent the team at different occasions and events?

•Do they acquire focused/ specific support and assistance to achieve their goals?

•Do they have clear, cohesive team identity?

Review ?

Successful Team Work !

We Need High Performing Teams!

Thank youYour questions, Please