High-performance teams in organizations

The increasing complexity of the world that surrounds us and the speed of organizational processes require a handling of situations, both individually, as well as in groups and work teams. Effective work in work teams is considered one of the fundamental values ​​of companies that produce good results. In this way, it is easy and frequent for a company to show a tendency to want its employees to work as a team, and, even more, to obtain a good performance. However, this is quite difficult, since as the team is a meeting point between individual capacities, many times there is not an adequate interaction between the people that compose it, generating conflicts and relationships that end up undermining the objective of the team, instead of a synergy (Kets de Vries, M, 2001).

Both in the literature and in the companies themselves, there is confusion about teamwork, considering that if it works well, it becomes a high-performance team. The terms of group and team seem to overlap, increasingly lending themselves to conceptual errors that in practice will lead to ineffective interventions. (Katzenbach, 2000). In this way, the indiscriminate use of work teams has led companies to have failures in their training and development, which, many times, are due to the fact that the appropriate variables were not considered in the process of change (Morales, 199U).

For this reason, the conceptual differences between work group, work team and high-performance team will be briefly considered.

2. Distinction between work group, work team and high performance team

“A working group is a group of people brought together by the formal authority of an organization to transform initial resources (input) into goods and services (product). For a working group to exist, it requires two or more identifiable people, a relationship or link between those of a lasting nature, that have a common objective, that the members are aware of the group and of this objective and that they have a regulation of action and group relationships. ” (Morales, 199U, p. 2)

For a group of workers to become a work team, it is necessary that certain minimum organizational conditions are present and that its members substantially modify both the way they conceive and carry out their work, as well as the style of interpersonal relationship with their colleagues.

The working group becomes a team, as its members:

• Share your ideas to improve your work processes, develop coordinated responses to changes that affect the entire group, promote respect among your members, participate in defining the improvement of common goals, and initiate common actions to achieve superior performance..

The work teams are made up of a small group of members, with complementary skill levels, with a truly significant purpose or mission, with specific objectives and goals, with a clear work proposal and a sense of mutual responsibility (Morales, 1995).

High-performance teams differ from previous ones by their level of development. In addition, they have different results from the working groups, characterized in that they never settle for them. They use specific processes to carry out their tasks, develop certain types of feelings among their members, and achieve special levels of consistency and intensity.

Consistency means that all members are aware of the work being done and its various stages. There is also consistency in the project of each of its members, since they all share a common mission. Intensity refers to a qualitatively higher level of energy and commitment than that of members of a common work team. Members are impatient with unresolved issues, ex-cases, irrational delays, distractions, incompetence, lack of focus, and trivia. Finally, the members of a high-performance team are not satisfied with the solutions that are proposed, they question everything that is proposed in the search for a better solution.

3. Definition of High Performance Teams

Some companies use the term high-performance team to designate what experts would define as a true team. This is quite misleading, as a high-performing team is more committed, more powerful, and less frequent than a regular team. (Katzenbach, 2000, p.14)

In this sense, Jean Lipman-Blumen and Harold J. Leavitt (2000) argue that the term "high performance teams" is not the name of another new team, that is, any team can become a high performance team, although in reality it happens that very few do. A high-performance team is a general disposition of mind, a shared attitude, overturned and fully committed to its task, an attitude that can be extended to any type of team, whatever its denomination. In almost all other respects, high-performance teams can vary.

This means that any team can become a high-performance team if it manages to imbue itself with that distinctive disposition of spirit, in addition to having a determination and total dedication to achieve a relevant goal. “High-performance teams offer people the opportunity to voluntarily advance beyond their usual limits, in a collective effort to achieve something important. They don't help people meet all of their needs, drives and motivations, but they certainly offer opportunities to get those highly rewarding "edge experiences." (Lipman-Blumen & Leav itt, H, 2000, p. 52)

Finally, a high-performance team could also be defined as a team that has achieved the proposed objectives in an excellent way in terms of effectiveness and efficiency.

4. Previous aspects for the emergence of a high performance team.

Gautier and Verv isch (2002) affirm that high-performance teams demand that their members have developed individual and collective competences, since both are necessary for these teams to constitute themselves.

Regarding individual competencies, people should:

• Developing the right combination of skills, that is, the complementary skills necessary for the goal ahead.

• Having integrated the technical competence of each one, that is, being able to accurately describe the trade and professional opportunities of the other team members.

• Have developed the ability to listen and be attentive to what the other person is saying.

In addition, be aware of the echo that a certain intervention can provoke in others.

• Integrate the specificity of the other into one's identity. This means assimilating the difficulties in the responsibilities of the other, in order to anticipate them.

Collective powers refer to team members:

• They have the competences to adopt a general perspective of the problems.

• They are willing to accept the responsibility of the whole.

• They are able to work as a team.

• They are willing to assume productive conflicts.

• The objectives are identified and shared.

• The coordination needs are high.

• The environment evolves rapidly.

5. Characteristics of High Performance Teams

The characteristics most mentioned by the different authors who have described the high-performance teams are presented below. Among these characteristics are:

5.1 Objective and goals that give identity to the team

Objective or goals: It is essential that team members share a common objective. This must be well understood and accepted by all members and must generate a commitment on their part, so group participation in their definition generates a high degree of involvement, as well as recognition through a compensation system for the equipment.

Tasks: The tasks, on the other hand, are clearly related to the vision and mission of the team, and to the values ​​of the organization, from a perspective of concatenation and vertical strategic alignment. It is different to achieve the purposes set by the tasks than to establish and meet the goals. The goals of a team are in constant confrontation, and come from strategic thinking that supports the team's action beyond everyday life. It is very dangerous for the survival of the team to remain in the simple reference of the tasks, without being able to glimpse its strategic horizon. This distinction allows us to understand the importance of the concepts of contribution and value addition through individual and team intellectual capital,because what is relevant for a company is that the person achieves results by fulfilling his responsibilities, which far exceeds the fulfillment of the tasks of the position.

Commitment to goals: In a high-performance team there will be a willingness to make an extra effort if loyalty and commitment to goals are present. The members of the group are attracted to it, while being loyal to the members to achieve their compliance. Each will do what is possible for the group to achieve its central objectives, hoping that the others will do the same. Likewise, the group's values ​​and goals constitute a satisfactory integration and an expression of the relevant interests and needs of its members.

Realism of the objectives: Although the objectives have to be within the limits of the realistic thing, the company must encourage the members to establish ambitious objectives. These provide a feeling of pride, and once achieved, of satisfaction with the results obtained. They are high enough to stimulate each member, but not so high as to create anxiety or excessive pressure (Collins and Porras, 1990).

Preposition of the collective over the individual: The team tends to take advantage of its resources with the maximum energy savings in achieving its objectives. For this reason, team members must know how to put the team's goals and objectives before personal ones, thus controlling their selfish impulses and subordinating their personal ends to those of the team. In addition, help should be provided when necessary or recommended, so that each one achieves his goals, and therefore those of the team.

Clear establishment of tasks and responsibilities: Through a clear organization, it is necessary that each team member knows what the individual objectives are, and how it relates to the team's objective or goal. They must also know what the tasks of the other members are, so that, in this way, adequate collaboration and cooperation can be achieved between them. With this, people manage to appropriate the team's sense and contribution to organizational goals, an element that has proven to be foundational so that, from the intrinsic motivation of each person, the team generates a mental and energetic predisposition, the passion that will lead them to standards of excellence (Ashby and Pell, 2001).

5. 2. Work environment

Organizational environment: The organizational environment implies a psychological atmosphere that shapes people's attitudes, ideas and behaviors. In other words, it is an indicator with a high impact on work teams. A good environment cultivates a powerful progression of results: clarity, confidence and commitment. One leads to the other. In the absence of clarity, members feel insecure in their roles and are unable to fully commit to projects, which affects their decision-making and their skills to act on behalf of the organization.

Trust and collaboration: this is to compensate and balance, as far as possible, the strengths and weaknesses of each member of the team, to establish open communications with feedback that allows permanent improvement of the team, and to accept conflicts through problem solving through agreements and constructive discussions. It is essential within high performance teams that there is trust among the members. Since not everyone is capable of fulfilling all the tasks to finally achieve the goal, trust in this context is what allows delegation and being able to carry out different and interdependent tasks in fulfilling the common objective. Without trust, the team would be meaningless, since the ideas and contributions of the members would not be considered by others,the collective contribution is scarce. It is important that they support each other, that there is respect for each other, and an attitude open to the contributions that each one can make.

Attitude towards the world and others: if there is trust, the attitude towards the world will be positive, open, taking advantage of the opportunities that the environment offers them and that their members make them see. Since trust implies respect, if there is trust in a team, differences are something valuable, diversity being highly valued, which can become a competitive advantage.

Trust is an individual psychological predisposition, which cannot be demanded, based on self-confidence and personal self-esteem, whose beneficial effects stain the vital perception, and are the anchor of high-performance teams. No matter how many courses are carried out to develop teamwork and trust, if there is no personal will to “dare to trust” (Lenhardt and Martin, 1998) or it is estimated that they are 'soft variables' that are not very substantial and irrelevant in the face of' hard variables of results', the path of collaboration and group effectiveness will be severely hindered. As Kaplan and Norton (2000) contributed didactically, organizational effectiveness is a descending chain of causal relationships, so the good economic results are explained by good customer management,that are anchored causally in internal processes of excellence, all that is possible thanks to competent people and work teams, and with good technological support. Here is the most significant contribution from the creators of the balanced scorecard.

The emotionality at the base of high-performance teams is trust, the organizational effects of which Echeverría (2001) magnificently describes, while several investigations account for the harmful effects of distrust on teams and leaders (Galford & Seibold Drapeau, 2003).

It is vital to have an awareness of your own talents and limitations, and of the other members, because, from this realistic and humble recognition, it is possible to understand and encourage those who are most likely to perform well in the face of certain particular team responsibilities. It is knowing who is good for what and promoting it. The phrase “many caciques and few Indians” is known, so it is essential to know, from your own competencies and incompetence, when to be a cacique and when an Indian, and which other member should be a cacique in a certain situation.

At the base of this predisposition is a deep look at human beings, since only those who recognize other members as legitimate others at the service of the common goal, can work as a team (Maturana, 2002). In other words, those who participate in the teams and have a vision of the others as competitors, doctrinally deny their contributions and destroy the socio-technical fabric of the teams, constituting a win-lose relationship that threatens group collaboration. In this sense, collaboration and competition are opposites, or, if preferred, the competitive attitude should be with competitors external to the organization, while the willingness to collaborate is the essential root of organizational teams and cultures.The predominance of competition between individuals and groups becomes envious, whose organizational, group and individual effects are devastating (Baines, 2000).

Support and listening: there are no obvious or unfocusing tensions regarding group goals, which favors a climate of listening and reception of ideas by the people who make up the team. There is a lot of discussion and practically everyone participates, but it remains within the group's tasks. All group interaction, problem-solving, and decision-making activities take place in a supportive environment, where members feel comfortable and welcomed by their peers. A reciprocal service climate is generated, with clear but flexible leadership depending on the requirements, and in a context of own development of the effects of organizational coaching.

Positivity: it is allowing ideas to flow freely, without criticizing new ideas. Rather, they must be welcome, since risk-taking must be valued and encouraged. This open and supportive environment encourages creativity, as the team must give great value to creative approaches and solutions. It supposes the understanding and tolerance of error, since the "successful" ideas are the result of a process where many seeds of ideas have failed. That positivity occurs in a team context allows complex tasks to be tackled that would individually be frightening to assume, and it is high-performance teams that are generally responsible for quantum leaps in quality, innovation and growth of companies and institutions.

Team spirit: the team must have the permanent feeling of being a team, of belonging to a group that achieves results by the contribution that each makes from their individual identity. Team spirit is its constant motivation, and although it is ubiquitous, it is in extreme moments that it is most required. Therefore, in the face of success or failure, the team spirit comes to light. Talent retention studies have shown that a fundamental factor for people to remain in their companies is the pride of belonging to a team that achieves outstanding results and is recognized as such (Ashby and Pell, 2002).

5. 3 Conflict resolution

Respect for differences: criticism is frequent, frank, relatively comfortable, and with a constructive character. There is little evidence of personal attacks. Everyone has the freedom to express their feelings and ideas, while appearing to know how others feel about whatever topic is being discussed. Furthermore, it is an effort to resolve differences that affect the objective of the group. Sometimes there are disagreements that are impossible to resolve, those that do not affect the objectives of the group, accepting the differences as something natural. In the face of conflict, all team members must be willing to support, protect and defend each other. They must do everything in their power to resolve differences without losing respect, since whenever possible,Conflict situations must be rethought as collaborative situations.

Confrontation and open communication of conflicts: they should always try to resolve conflicts by confronting them as soon as they arise, with sincere and open communication. Openness and sincerity are key elements of the group's effectiveness. As stated before, critical comments are considered learning opportunities and do not trigger defensive action. Participants learn to minimize damage to their ego by focusing on ideas, rather than people. In high-performance teams, their members avoid parallel conversations or unpleasant comments as much as possible. Humor and laughter are common methods of solving problems among team members, reducing the inevitable stress and tension of working together.

Conflicts beneficial to the team are those whose resolution reinforces the achievement of group goals (Rodríguez, 2001), which is why they are called strategic conflicts. Any other conflict, of a labor, personal or any kind, whose appearance or solution de-focuses the team from its goals and achievement standards, must be resolved between those who correspond and without involving or wasting time on the team in it. This requires the permanent ability to assess which conflicts help or harm the team, which requires high strategic thinking and emotional intelligence from the leader.

5. 4 Lifelong learning and training plans

Constant review of its actions: the team must be aware of its own operations. She often stops to see how she is doing it or what may be interfering with her operation. Whatever it is (some aspect of a member's procedure or behavior), it is openly discussed until a solution is found. Periodic strategic monitoring in relation to the fulfillment or not of annual goals and activities is a practice that formalizes and gives organizational support to the team, which is why it is recommended to carry it out at least monthly.

Individual and group learning: it is necessary for high-performance teams to unlearn what was previously incorporated that does not generate value and to learn continuously, in order to stimulate ongoing training that allows professional growth, both for individuals in particular, and for the team in general. Teams are able to set high-performance tasks for the group as a whole and for each member, willingly accepting the goals and expectations that an individual and the team set for themselves. The group is eager to help each member to develop their full potential, which greatly stimulates the learning and development of its members. When necessary, the group moderates the ex pectative level so that the member is not frustrated by failure or rejection.Otherwise, other team members will help you to successfully achieve the goals that were set for you.

In the current employability context, the responsibility for lifelong learning is personal, the organization's function being to provide the support and resources necessary for the person to develop technical and socio-behavioral skills that facilitate reaching high performance standards. in his position and the teams in which he participates.

5.5 Leadership

In this aspect there are various opinions, and these can be grouped into three positions that are in a continuum.

Participatory leadership: this position suggests that high-performance teams may not have leadership figures, since they all assume that role to the extent that they are motivated by their work, projecting that attitude in the rest of the members. On the other hand, everyone has the skills required for high performance, not having one to make the important decisions, since each member participates contributing what their experience and ability allow. In this way, there would be no clear leader, but rather, everyone would perform that role. However, there are people in various situations that are of greater importance, whether due to skills, experience or knowledge, although they do not play the role of leader. In this type of situation, your opinion is more valid,although it can be questioned by the other team members. In short, leadership, according to this position, would be assumed participatively.

Situational leadership: Other authors think that leadership in high-performance teams changes in relation to the circumstance. Different members, depending on their knowledge or experience, assume this role. There is little evidence of a power struggle. The question is not who controls, but how to carry out the work. However, depending on the moment and the situation, the team members assume the role of leader. Furthermore, the choice of this leader is quite careful, as it is essential for the team to function.

Management Leadership: Leaders here must be the coaches of the group, as good leadership enables employees to carry out their work with pride. It is the leaders who have the greatest knowledge and experience, therefore this allows them to lead. They must also have a vision of where the organization is going and thus communicate the goals of the company and the efforts that will allow reaching it. The leader of each work team exerts an important influence to set the tone and atmosphere of that work group in accordance with its principles and leadership practices, generating a supportive environment in the group.

This last position has the natural advantage in relativ or to organize and function quickly, especially if the leader has a lot of experience in the task that he performs. Furthermore, the team with directive leadership is essentially motivated by its leader, while the team with more participatory leadership is motivated by the performance goal.

The latest studies (Collins, 2001) show that lasting and successful organizations are those in which 2 types of leadership coexist:

1. To mark the north of the company, preserve the vision and the core value, it requires managerial leadership, as it relates to shareholders, directors, and the executive or maximum.

2. To execute the strategies and operational plans of a company at the level of teams and work areas, participatory and situational leadership is required.

It is clear that the leadership scenario is not binary, so area managers require a portion of managerial leadership, with preeminence of participatory leadership.

5. 6 Decision making

Safety and initiative: in a high-performance team, individuals feel confident about the decisions they make and that seem appropriate to them, because each of them understands the reason for the decision. This fosters initiative and at the same time a stronger basis for decision-making, while maintaining a coordinated and direct effort.

Consensus: most of the decisions are made by consensus, in which the majority are willing to adhere. There is little tendency for individuals who disagree with the decision to keep their opposition private and thus allow an apparent consensus to conceal true disagreement. It is essential to emphasize that all members have the right to make decisions, which does not mean that some opinions are more valid than others, since some members are more empowered or in a better position to express their opinion on a particular topic. Despite the above, everyone has the power to question the opinion of these people, forming a constructive dialogue, the purpose of which is to ensure that all members feel the decisions made by the team as their own.

5.7 Effective communication

Communication to facilitate management: communication is the facility for trafficking ideas, concepts, feelings and experiences. Any barrier in it hinders the effective action of the team and hinders the self-maturation process that occurs when the team perceives itself as a communication network. Communication consists of acquiring a direct and effective language, free of prejudices, and that facilitates understanding between members.

Tendency to communicate what is important and ignore the irrelevant: there is a strong motivation on the part of each member to communicate to the team widely and frankly all the information relevant and valuable for the group's activity. Members also try to avoid communicating information that is not important.

Communication to influence: in a high-performance group there are strong motivations to try to influence other members and also to accept their influence. In this sense, the team can communicate information to the leader, if any, at the same time providing opinions, advice, etc. that the leader will take into account for the improvement of management. This ability of team members to influence others contributes to the flexibility and adaptability of the team.

5.8 Common values ​​and beliefs

Cohesion among the members: regardless of the necessary diversity of ideas, styles, ages, thoughts, etc., for a team to be good it is necessary that it be linked to the common purpose or goal felt by the team, a culture, with v values ​​and shared beliefs, which provide the necessary cohesion and integration to team members.

As a mechanism of social regulation: these values ​​and common beliefs determine attitudes and rules of behavior, so they operate as a mechanism of social control. All of the above means that acceptable attitudes and behaviors within the team, and social obligations and prohibitions are clearly defined, providing greater security to the members, who are clear about what is allowed within the group and what is not..

5.9 Relations with the environment (internal and external)

Ability to discriminate the reality of the team: high-performance teams must have the ability to discriminate and seek reliable information that correctly interprets the real properties of the external and internal environment, especially those that are important for the effective operation of the group..

Adaptability: it is very important for these teams to be able to adequately solve problems related to the changing demands of the external and internal environment. They must respond in a flexible and assertive way, anticipating difficulties, that is, being proactive and having skills to elaborate and implement strategic and adaptive actions. They must develop improv isation, since they must be prepared to find meaning in the midst of uncertainty and complexity tending to chaos, and to survive in times of crisis, which, as those who work in organizations well know, become a growing trend. Since this type of team is based on trust and discipline, they are very useful when the organization must “put out fires”.

5.10 Importance of results and recognition of team members

To have optimal results: it is necessary to establish management indicators that allow the effectiveness of the results obtained to be measured, to verify if the proposed achievements have been met.

Acknowledgment: This is key to motivation, just like challenge or challenge. The team must be recognized for its effort and its results. Team members need to get feedback on the result of the team's work. This feedback will allow rectification when it is detected that you are not going in the right direction. The recognition has 2 key levels:

1. Pride and satisfaction for the goal accomplished. The results are the best tonic for the construction and maintenance of high performance equipment.

2. Equivalent financial compensation for achieving results and contribution to company profits. Every day more and more organizations are implementing incentive systems that are variable at the group level, as they understand that it is essential to maintain and enhance excellent performance, and to align people with their organizations. In the era of intellectual capital, the "production goods" are the brains, the will and the spirit of the people, so that loyalty to authority and to the company itself ceased to be relevant factors before motivation.. I commit myself to the extent that the company commits to me, and that perception is made tangible through variable compensation. They recognize me in discourse and also in practice (Fernández, 2002).

6. Recommendations for high performance teams

Lipman-Blumen and Leav itt (2000) make some recommendations for high-performance teams:

• When a seedbed of high-performance teams emerges, you have to feed it and grow it, you have to pay more attention to selection and less to training. Find imaginative, task-focused people. Reduce the work of teaching them how to operate the company. Reduce controls as much as possible. Micro-management drowns high-performance teams. They must be given resources: land, budget, time and discretion. Extend the control period, not reduce it. More high-performance teams can be monitored because they are self-controlling. Do not conduct intensive individual performance evaluations. It must be asked whether they do any good. It may not be necessary to do any formal evaluation. Greater emphasis should be placed on the informal flow of information.Determining the “right channels” slows down communication flows and prevents innovation. If all of these recommendations are followed, high-performance teams are likely to emerge profusely. However, you must be prepared to make any necessary adjustments, as high performance equipment can cause side effects. They, by attitude, can cause resentment and their demands can be excessive. Some will fail, but overall the benefits will outweigh the costs.since high performance equipment can cause side effects. They, by attitude, can cause resentment and their demands can be excessive. Some will fail, but overall the benefits will outweigh the costs.since high performance equipment can cause side effects. They, by attitude, can cause resentment and their demands can be excessive. Some will fail, but overall the benefits will outweigh the costs.

In turn, Katzenbach (2000) proposes certain approaches for the success of these teams:

Define urgency, demand performance patterns and set the course: all members must be convinced that they have urgent and valuable purposes. The more urgent and meaningful the rationale is, the more likely it is that the team will reach its full performance potential. Teams work best in a highly demanding context. For this reason, companies with an ethical performance force tend to form teams quickly.

Select members based on their abilities and potential: no team succeeds without all the necessary skills to fulfill the purpose and performance goals. Members need to be chosen taking into account their existing skills and also their potential to improve and learn new ones.

Pay particular attention to the first meetings and actions: When the team meets for the first time, everyone watches the signals from others to confirm, suspend, or dispel assumptions and concerns. For this reason, the dynamics and interactions that occur are fundamental, since they will set the tone for future behavior.

Set some clear rules of behavior: All high performance teams develop rules of conduct from the beginning, in order to achieve their purpose and goals. The most defining initial rules have to do with attendance, debate, confidentiality, analytical focus, final product orientation, constructive confrontation, and input from each.

Define and adopt some immediate performance-oriented tasks and goals: Most high-performance teams owe their advancement to key events that are performance-oriented. Those facts can be put into action immediately, setting goals that are challenging and can be achieved soon. The sooner these results are achieved, the sooner their members will become congenial.

Questioning the team regularly with new facts and information: New information makes the team redefine and enrich their understanding of the performance challenge and improve their common focus. Teams are often wrong when they assume that the collective experience and knowledge of their members will provide all the necessary information.

Spending a lot of time together: you have to give yourself enough time to adjust to being a team. Successful teams need constant interaction with other members. This does not mean physical closeness. Electronic means, fax and telephone, are also timeshares.

Exploiting the power of positive feedback, recognition, and reward: These help delineate new behaviors that are key to team performance. For this it is very important that team members are aware of the abilities and skills of others, since in this way people who make a great effort to excel and achieve the objectives of the team can be rewarded. For example, positively reward a very shy person who managed to speak and make a contribution in front of many people. There are many ways to recognize and compensate for a team's performance beyond salary. From getting an executive or senior to tell the team about the urgency and importance of their mission, to using awards as a sign of satisfaction for the contributions made. Finally,the satisfaction shared by the team for the goals achieved is the most precious gratification.

7. Essential characteristics of high performance equipment according to MarciaI Losada

Marcial Losada is a Chilean with an academic background in Psychology and Mathematics, who has deeply studied the dynamics of high-performance teams, obtaining interesting results to analyze. He, unlike the authors previously presented, carried out long researches with a methodology not applied until now in the field of work teams, revealing limited characteristics that are fundamental for high performance. Although in some respects they have enough in common with the aforementioned, it is important to consider them under the rigorous scientific perspective in which they were analyzed. For this reason, it is necessary to review the method used by Losada, its results, and their implication.

7.1 Methodology

Losada started from the conviction that reality is chaotic (in the mathematical sense, that is, a flexible and orderly chaos), to elaborate an adaptable model. For him, teams and organizations are nonlinear feedback networks that continuously participate in permanent positive and negative feedback processes. These networks cannot be fully understood through linear models, because they do not capture the complex dynamics inherent in these strong interaction processes that they anticipate in teams and organizations. (Losada, 2003)

Losada established a laboratory in Michigan in which the behavior of sixty management teams from strategic business units of an information processing company was observed. They performed regular functions and solved real, everyday problems. The first thing Losada did was collect data by coding and looking in depth at the team meetings. She then carried out an analysis of the time series data, on which she built a nonlinear team dynamics model, which allows describing the team dynamics during the course of the meeting.

Three bipolar dimensions were used in the coding system: positivity / negativity, inquiry / persuasion, and internal orientation / external orientation. A communicative act was coded as "positive" if the person speaking spoke support, encouragement, or understanding (such input is interesting) and was coded "negative" if the person speaking demonstrated disapproval, sarcasm, or cynicism. A communicative act was coded as "inquiry" if it related to a question for the purpose of exploring and examining a position, and as "persuasion" if it related to arguing in favor of the point of view of which it spoke.A communicative act or was coded as "internally oriented" if it referred to the person speaking or the group present in the laboratory or to the company that the person who belonged to and was coded as "externally oriented", if the reference it was to a person or group outside the laboratory that the person who spoke was not part of the company.

The sample of sixty teams was subdivided into three levels of performance, based on many data consisting of measures of profitability, customer satisfaction and evaluations at 300 degrees. In this way, the teams were divided into high, medium and low performance, depending on the levels reached in these three criteria.

7.2 Results

Analysis of the data showed that the teams systematically changed performance levels in each of the three bipolar dimensions. The positivity / negativity ratio showed surprisingly different results in each performance category. In the case of high-performance teams, the ratio was U, 014, in medium-performance teams it was 1.8UU, and in low-performance teams it was 0.303. It was observed that the teams whose behaviors were charged towards the pole of positivism were more efficient in their work than the others.

In the dimensions of inquiry / persuasion and internal orientation / external orientation, the high-performance teams achieved a balance between the communicative acts of inquiry / persuasion and internal orientation / external orientation, with ratios of 1,143 and 0.93U, respectively. In this way, the action was more effective, since the exploration of the environment leads to identifying opportunities and threats, while the internal ex-amen leads to recognizing basic strengths and weaknesses.

The underperforming teams were strongly unbalanced towards persuasion and internal orientation from the beginning of the meeting, with ratios of 0.0U2 and 0.034, respectively. The medium performance teams reached a balance of inquiry / persuasion and internal orientation / external orientation until the last quarter of the meeting, at which point they ended up in imbalance towards persuasion and internal orientation, with ratios of 0.007 and 0.022, respectively.

From a qualitative perspective, the high-performance teams were characterized by an atmosphere of optimism throughout the meeting. They showed appreciation and encouragement to the other team members, created expansive and open emotional spaces for action and creativity. They were entertaining to watch, they did their chores with ease and grace. In contrast, low-performing teams complicated themselves with the tasks to be performed, operating in highly restrictive emotional spaces, created by lack of mutual support and enthusiasm, in an atmosphere charged with mistrust and cynicism. Medium-performing teams generated emotional spaces that were not as restrictive as those of low-performing teams, but not as broad as those of high-performance teams.

7.3 Nonlinear Dynamics

In nonlinear dynamics there are four different types of structure, which are known under the name of attractors. Attractors are like a gravitational field that draws behaviors to themselves. These vary in the degree of rigidity, some being more rigid and others more flexible. The stiffest is the fixed point attractor, followed by the limit cycle attractor. The most flexible is the chaotic attractor, which will be called the complex or, which was derived from the complex order. In this case, the chaotic does not refer to a disorder, but to a deterministic dynamic in the midst of complexity. Fixed point and limit cycle attractors are very rigid and stable dynamic structures that are difficult to dissolve.

7.4 Connectivity

"In nonlinear network dynamics models, connectivity is a critical parameter that generates the transition from rigidly ordered attractor structures to chaotic structures." (Losada 2003, p.8). By converting the data collected in the laboratory into mathematical time series (Fourier curves), the interaction between the members of a team was observed and processes of mutual influence or intertwined behaviors were detected among the members of the group, that is, connectiv ity. High-performance teams were characterized by being able to create a large number of links, synergy and connectivity, that is, mutual reinforcement and growth. Losada determined that connectivity can cause a radical change in any organization, although it is difficult to achieve.

When connectivity was high, a dynamic balance was observed between inquiry / persuasion and internal orientation / external orientation, in addition to greater positivity. When connectivity is at a medium level, the positivity to negativity ratio is much lower than that of high-performance teams, and there is an imbalance towards persuasion and internal orientation. When connectivity is low, there is a preponderance of negativity over positivity and a well-defined imbalance towards persuasion and internal orientation (Losada, 2003, p.13).

These different states of equilibrium result in different dynamics. The equilibrium states generated by the high connectivity in each of the dimensions, lead to complexor dynamics, while the average connectivity and its balance associated with the dimensions, translate into limit cycle dynamics. The low connectivity and its characteristic balances result in fixed point dynamics. Each of these dynamics, in turn, is associated with different levels of performance: the fixed point attractor dynamics generates low performance, the limit cycle attractor dynamics generates medium performance, and complexors translate into high performance.

7.5 State variable

Marcial Losada mathematically demonstrated that the state variable (positivity / negativity) is just as important as connectivity, which is the control parameter for determining attractors in the nonlinear dynamics model. This means that to predict team performance, you only need to know the interactions of the positive to negative relationship to find the value of connectivity. Then you must find the type of attractor dynamics (fixed point, limit cycle, complexor). This in turn indicates the level of performance associated with each particular attractor.

The positivity / negativity relationships determine the dynamics of a team. When the positivity / negativity ratio is high, the complex dynamics are obtained, which translates into high performance. With a reversed relationship where there is more negative positive interaction, a point attractor is developed. When there is excessive positivity, a limit cycle will develop and the complex structure will be lost, since the presence of both poles is needed to have the greatest potential to produce high performance results.

In summary, the following table shows each one of the team's performance categories is characterized by five descriptors: the type of dynamics generated, the level of connectivity reached, the balance obtained in terms of inquiry / persuasion, the balance obtained in terms of external orientation / internal orientation, and the emotional space generated by the positivity / negativity relationship.

7.6 Meta learning

Losada developed a strategy to intervene organizations that want to transform their low and medium performance teams into high performance. This consists of metalearning, which is defined as the ability of a team to dissolve the attractors that are closing the possibilities of effective action and to evolve attractors that open the possibilities of effective action. As low and medium performance teams also have low levels of connectivity, their condition guides them towards stagnation in negativity, persuasion and self-absorption, which generates a “fixed point” dynamic, which is very difficult leave. Limiting attractors ensnare teams in poor performance patterns and impede learning.

It is important to mention that complexors can only be generated within a system where positive feedback is stronger than negative feedback. Both are necessary, but if negative feedback were excessive, the system would quickly convert to a fixed-point attractor or limit cycle, depending on the feedback force. This attractor would be located on the side of persuasion and negative internal orientation. “High-performance teams are not caught in limiting dynamics such as limit cycles and fixed points, because they can maintain a high ratio of positivity to negativity. They also have a balance between inquiry and persuasion, as well as between external orientation and internal orientation. ” (Losada, 2003, p.1U)

Through metalearning, teams can transcend these limiting attractors and achieve complex dynamics. Complex ores have a very different kind of stability. The stability of complexes is dynamic, flexible and innovative (the paths in a complexor never repeat themselves). This important feature of complex otes enables high-performance teams to adaptively respond to and innovate with continually changing and challenging environmental demands.

7.7 Implications of these findings

The results analyzed above raise lines of intervention on what to do with high-performance teams and, especially, with low- and medium-performance teams. In this sense, it was established that low-performance teams have a low level of connectivity that makes them become trapped in negativity, persuasion and self-absorption. All this generates the dynamics of a fixed point attractor. Once a team or organization reaches this type of dynamic it is very difficult to get out, since a fixed point attractor, where negativity is greater than positivity, is a very stable and powerful attractor. Stable refers to the fact that something never happens, which is an endless constant.“Organizations and teams where fixed-point attractors predominate are condemned to die in a chaotically complex world that requires constant adaptation and innovation” (Losada, 2003, p.27)

Medium-performing teams do better in the sense that they show an initial ability to balance inquiry / persuasion and internal orientation / external orientation. They also have a positivity / negativity relationship in which positivity is greater than negativity. Their connectivity is also slightly higher than that of low-performing teams. Their problem is that they are not able to take advantage of these patterns. The reason for this is that their connectivity and positivity are not enough to escape negativity. In this way, they enter a dynamic of limit cycles, making turns and turns to reach other solutions. In the long run, these teams end up in the same place that low-performing teams previously ended up in their interaction: persuasion and self-absorption.

It is important to mention that 7U% of the teams were trapped, either in the point attractors or in the limit cycles. Only 2U% managed to escape from these limiting attractors, achieving a “complex order” or complex or dynamic.

The great challenge then for teams and organizations is how to create a new or liberating and enriching order within organizations, since teams are needed within organizations that can enter the liberator and creativ or power of positivity. Not an excessive positivity, optimism out of all reality, but a grounded positivity, where the negative feedback has the corresponding place to keep things moving within the agreed objectives. (Losada 2003)

Organizations with teams that are highly connected with strong and lasting ties are needed, in which:

• the polarity of the external and internal orientation, of you and me, is integrated in a sense of “we”; the polarity of inquiry and persuasion, of questions and answers, can lead to a productive and permanent dialogue, the abundance of positivity, rooted in negative and constructive feedback, can generate the state of realistic enthusiasm that drives organizations to the achieving and sustaining the heights of excellence.

8. Conclusions