What do Google, Tesla, Spotify and Apple have in common? As well as being four of the most innovative companies in the world and leaders in their sectors, all are composed of high performance teams. Agile, focused, effective and self-sufficient work teams capable of taking their companies to a next level.
But, it is not just a question of individual talent; It is true that these companies are able to get the brightest candidates in the world, but as Google demonstrated with its Project Aristotle , it is more important the relationship and coordination that is between the members of a team, than the individual talent.
In this article we will give you 4 keys that will help transform your teams into high performance teams and give you an additional Bonus Tip when you finish. Objective-oriented teams capable of achieving them in minimum time.
Lessons from Google, Tesla, Spotify and Apple
- Tesla – Defines a Great Purpose
If one thing has done really well Elon Musk with his companies is to establish a great purpose in all of them. The purpose of Tesla is not to sell thousands of Model S or Model X units but to end our dependence on fossil fuels. Similarly, the purpose of SpaceX is not to launch rockets with satellites, but to get the technology needed to take man to Mars and make the human species a multi-planetary species.
Regardless of whether these are your real purposes or simply a marketing strategy and human resources: It is getting a great effect!
Teams capable of establishing and transmitting a great purpose among their members will be able to improve their results exponentially. Our performance is directly related to our motivation and having a purpose a why in our professional career makes our motivation improve. If our team knows that you are working for more than a salary, you will be much more willing to give 100% of your energy to get it. In the same way, this purpose will help us attract and retain talent in our company.
- Spotify – Change the structure
“If you’re looking for different results do not always do the same,” Einstein once said. This phrase can be applied to the scope of the company: if we want to innovate and improve our results, we must do things differently.
How can Spotify continue to be innovative despite having a large structure typical of the largest and least innovative companies? Well making a change in it’s the way it is organized. A change in some companies, like the Dutch bank ING, has already applied obtaining very good results.
In the first place what they have done is to create more horizontal teams, in which the role of the manager is not a role of leader but of facilitating leader whose mission is to get the team towards the established objectives. This helps the team build closer relationships and create a psychological security environment in which everyone feels free to comment, participate and propose ideas.
Second, they have subdivided the company into small clusters that have called “Squads”. Each of these squads functions as a small Startup with a particular mission and is completely autonomous. In turn each of the Squads is subdivided into tribes, which are small teams with more specific objectives. Thanks to this they are able to be agile and fast and can apply lean methodologies that allow them to be efficient with the resources available to them.
- Google – OKR (Objectives and Key Results)
Now that thanks to Spotify we have a good structure and thanks to Tesla a great mission, how can we accomplish our mission? Google is a specialist in this and thanks to its methodology of OKR we also can be it.
OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results, or what is the same: Key objectives and results. It is a methodology of management and monitoring of objectives really effective to advance until the attainment of the purposes of our team or company.
It is basically to establish objectives and these objectives to assign between two and three key results that help us to follow the goal. Let’s put an example of OKR in a sales department.
Objective: Improve recurring sales
- Key Result: Make 600 monthly calls per business.
- Key result: Get 200 new product demos.
- Key Result: Meet with 40 large customers for plan upgrade proposal.
Establishing OKR is a good practice so that the whole team is clear about their priorities and can work in an aligned way. Also, since the key results are always numerical, we can see if the progress of each of them is correct: if for example we detect that in a key result we are falling behind expectations, we can change strategy to achieve this.
- Apple – DRI (Individual Direct Managers)
Finally, now that we know what our goals are to achieve our mission, we need to turn words into action and put everything into practice. The problem is that in many companies, good intentions stay right at this point and then they do not come to fruition.
At Apple they developed a methodology to avoid this called DRI (directly responsible individual). This methodology consists of assigning a direct person every time a new task, an objective or a decision is established. This person does not necessarily have to be the person who is going to carry out the task; he simply has to be the one in charge of it.
The problem is that when a meeting arises a new task or objective, when it arises collectively, nobody takes the individual responsibility to put it into practice. And one for another is leaving this task until it falls into oblivion. With the DRI this is solved, if the task or objective has not been fulfilled, the manager will be able to know who is responsible for this non-compliance to discuss with him what the causes have been and to solve them.
Bonus Tip
These four strategies can radically improve the way your team works. They can transform normal equipment into high-performance equipment. What is the problem, then? Why do not all companies apply them? Well because most do not have enough discipline to carry these strategies out until they become a habit within the company.
To help this process, TribeScale emerged, a tool that transforms teams into super-teams quickly and easily. TribeScale achieves this thanks to the improvement of the four fundamental pillars of the teams.
- Communication: through an organized online chat that also allows you to make video calls and send direct messages.
- Coordination: with a task manager and DRI that allows you to see what the team is working on and assign tasks in a few clicks.
- The objectives: With a management system and monitoring OKR very visual.
- Rhythm: With an automatic question tool that allows the equipment to always be aligned and focused.
It will also allow you to organize your company based on a structure like Spotify and establish a mission that is spread rapidly by all workers. You can start using TribeScale for free by registering on the web.
Hello everyone! This is Richard Daniels, a full-time passionate researcher & blogger. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Economics. He loves to write about economics, e-commerce, and business-related topics for students to assist them in their studies. That's the sole purpose of Business Study Notes.
Love my efforts? Don't forget to share this blog.
