High performance team:
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, at my work for a school district, we knew we needed to build teams to handle the situation. Different teams were created for different departments. Once the teams had come up with solutions on how to maintain social distancing and how to lesson the chances of getting the virus, that information was brought to the high performance team. The high performance team was made up of the leaders from each department team. They would meet and discuss the resolutions to accommodating students with meals, learning, transportation, and the continued maintenance on all school sites.
Once the teams have brainstormed, their suggestions and solutions were brought to the head of the HR department. The head of the HR department selected the team members she wanted on the high performance team. She chose them based on problem-solving abilities, availability, technological expertise, credibility, political connections, ambition, initiative, and energy, along with familiarity of the district and everyone involved.
Some conditions presented in the development of the teams were, dealing with some of the members not putting in the effort and putting job tasks onto others in the team. Some would attend the meetings and some would not. This put added pressure onto the team to provide valuable insight to creating useful solutions to the project.
HR had a major task. They had to conform to the ever changing restrictions placed by the state and government. Some restrictions caused the team to analyze their previous solutions and alter or make changes daily. This created frustration within the district and made employees feel they were being left out of what was going on. The district did their best in communicating with all staff and informed them all of the constant changes made by the state or government. We are finally getting things back to normal with additional regulations to keep everyone safe and healthy.
Question:
Is this an example of a high-performance team?
How can managers improve high-performance teams?