The impact of the broader context on team performance is vastly underestimated. USUALLY WHEN a team is not performing, we try to fix the problem at the functional level. Is each person doing their job right? Are they following the process? Does the process need improvement? Most often this is done from the ground up, by looking at the individual team members - or the individual processes - first. This reflects a belief that the individuals and the processes make up the collective the same way that bricks make up [...]

For better team performance, focus on the relationships; for better individual performance, focus on the team. SPORT IS always a good reference for team performance and for this subject there is no better example than the South African Super Rugby team, The Lions. Despite a proud tradition, the Lions had been on a downhill trajectory for years. They had provided many of the players who won the 1995 Rugby World Cup for South Africa. They had won the first international Super 10 tournament (the precursor to Super Rugby). However, by [...]

Improved team performance needs skill in handling the relational issues. A plain ol' team-build just doesn't cut it anymore. PEOPLE ARE generally hired because they can do the job. Yet, when team performance suffers, we start to look at individual performance or process issues. Or, we decide to try an activity-based team-build. More often than not, when team performance is low, it's not because people don't know what to do. It's usually because they are not able to do what they know they should, and probably because somebody or something [...]