The One Minute Manager Builds High Performing Teams

The following contains excerpts from the book The One Minute Manager Builds High Performing Teams

(Ken Blanchard, Donald Carew, and Eunice Parisi-Carew).

“No longer can we depend on a few peak performers to rise to the top to lead.  If we are to survive, we must figure out ways to tap into the creativity and potential of people at all levels…A new organizational structure has to come into its own: the team, a work unit that increases ownership and commitment, unleashes creativity and builds skills.  Today’s leader must empower people and facilitate teams, being not only an effective team leader but also and effective team member.”

At our music school in Midland, Texas we believe that music is more than sound, it is relationships.  When dealing with the subject of Leadership and Team Management, Relationships matter.

The main points are as follows:

  1. “When groups are operating effectively they can solve more complex problems, make better decisions, release more creativity and do more to build individual skills and commitment than individuals working alone…Characteristics of High Performing Teams: 1) Purpose and Values, 2) Empowerment, 3) Relationships and Communication, 4) Flexibility, 5) Optimal Performance, 6) Recognition and Appreciation, 7) Morale

At our music school in Midland, Texas we encourage students not only to become skillful in their unique discipline track, but also to learn how to collaborate with others in ensemble playing.  This develops an understanding of listening to others: empathy.

  1. “The whole process of developing a high performing team involves three major skills on the part of team leaders and team members as well.  The first is Diagnosis, the second is Flexibility and the third is Matching.
  2. “To be effective a team must be clear on its roles (who does what?) and goals (what are they trying to accomplish?)  Norms are the ground rules which regulate the group’s behavior…All new teams need to have a sense of purpose as well as some clarity about team values and goals, individual roles, team norms and decision making procedures.”

We believe that each individual is unique as has certain areas of strengths at our music school in Midland, Texas, and we endeavor to bring those strengths to the fore.

  1. Five Stages of Team Development are as follows:
  2.  Orientation
    1. Characteristics
      1. Moderate eagerness
      2. High, often unrealistic expectations
      3. Anxiety about roles, responsibilities, accountabilities, acceptance
    2. Needs
      1. Clear agreement on the team’s purpose, values and norms
      2. Agreement on goals, roles and strategies for accomplishing work
      3. Agreement on communication, decision making and accountability practices
    3. Challenges
      1. Personal well-being
      2. Acceptance
      3. Trust

Every successful relationship is established on the basis of trust.  And trust is fostered by respect.  At our music school in Midland, Texas we hold the attitude of respect at the highest level for all who are involved: teachers, students, parents, and the community.

  1. Dissatisfaction
    1. Characteristics
      1. Confusion and frustration around goals, deliverables, roles and responsibilities
      2. A gap between expectations and reality
      3. Competition for attention, power and decision-making authority
    2. Needs
      1. Clarification of the big picture
      2. Re-confirmation or clarification of the team’s purpose, values, norms, goals, team practices and resources
      3. Development of interpersonal and task skills
    3. Challenges
      1. Power
      2. Control
      3. Conflict
  2. Integration
    1. Characteristics
      1. Increased clarity and commitment to goals, deliverables, tasks, roles, responsibilities, accountabilities and structure
      2. Increased commitment to values and norms
      3. Increased task accomplishment
    2. Needs
      1. Integration of goals, roles and accountabilities
      2. Continued skill and knowledge development

At our music school in Midland, Texas we understand that students (and teachers) are always growing.  Each of us are on a journey of continued growth.

      1. Encouragement to share different perspectives and to explore disagreements in order to develop better solutions
    2. Challenges
      1. Sharing control
      2. Addressing conflict
  2. Production
    1. Characteristics
      1. Clear purpose, values, goals, deliverables, roles, responsibilities
      2. Empowering team practices that free team energy and lead to continuous improvement
      3. Relationships and communication built on trust, mutual respect and openness
    2. Needs
      1. Continued focus on productivity
      2. Decision-making autonomy within boundaries
      3. Continuous improvement and new challenges
    3. Challenges
      1. New Challenges
      2. Continued growth and learning
  3. Termination
    1. “Termination is the final stage…with ongoing teams this stage is not reached unless a drastic reorganization occurs.  Termination does occur in ad hoc teams or temporary task forces…the challenge for this stage is to maintain productivity and morale while managing closure.”

“First of all, there are five different stages of group development that a team can be in at any one moment in time.  The first stage for most teams is orientation where productivity is low because team members are not clear on goals and tasks and have minimal knowledge and skills about how to function as a team.  Morale is high, though, as everyone is excited about being part of the team and has high expectations.  The fourth stage is production, where the team is humming.  Productivity is high as team members have the knowledge, skill and morale to be a high-performing team.  In between those two extremes are two stages: dissatisfaction, when the honeymoon is over and the initial high expectations of the team are seen as being more difficult to achieve; and integration, when the team is learning to work together resolving differences and developing confidence and cohesion.”

  1. “For a long time it was thought that there were only two ways to manage a team of people: autocratically or democratically.  With autocratic leadership the emphasis was on telling your people what to do, how to do it, where to do it, and when to do it.  Team performance was paramount.  With democratic leadership the emphasis was on listening to your people, praising their efforts and facilitation their interaction with each other.  Team morale was deemed to be the best way to maximize the group’s performance.  There were two problems with these two extremes of leadership…we would have great pendulum swings in terms of managing groups or teams.  If you were too autocratic, people would complain after a while and say: ‘You’re too tough.  You’re stifling creativity,’ and ‘You’re controlling everything.’  Then, feeling bad, the leader would shift over to the other extreme and involve everyone in decision making with a more democratic and participative leadership style…and then pretty soon everyone would be complaining that people are feeling good but nothing is getting done.  There is too much socializing, or meetings are taking too long.”
  2. “When applied to leadership situations, the four styles are called directing, coaching, supporting, and delegating.”  The orienting team-stage requires Directing.  The Dissatisfaction team-stage requires Coaching.  The Integration team-stage requires Supporting.  The Production team-stage requires Delegating.
  3. “For any group to be effective, someone has to be attending to both task functions and maintenance functions…Task functions are behaviors which focus on getting the job done…Group maintenance functions focus on developing and maintaining the group’s harmony and cohesiveness…although these functions need to be fulfilled for a team to be effective, filling them is not necessarily the job of the manager or designated team leader.  In fact, as team members are able to take over these functions, it is best for the manager to move out of those roles…in the Orientation Stage, task functions are the main concern for the leader, while in the Dissatisfaction Stage, the team is not able to handle either task or maintenance concerns.  As a result, the burden for both often falls on the leader.  In the Integration Stage, the team is managing the task concerns but needs help on team maintenance.  Then, finally, in the Production Stage both task and maintenance functions are being attended to by team members.
  4. “The most important function of a leader is to help the group move through the stages of development.”
  5. “You will never, never, never have an empowered, self-directed team unless the leader is willing to share control.”

The final stage of training that we can give students at our music school in Midland, Texas is that of autonomy.  When they can teach themselves and understand how to accumulate knowledge that will help them grow, they are ready to become teachers themselves.  In fact, many of our teachers were once our students.

  1. “Your job is to educate your people, to help them develop to the point where they can take responsibility for their work and to give them opportunities to perform…The words ‘leader’ and ‘educator’ are synonymous…Empowerment is all about letting go so that others can get going.”