We Can Do It

With a “We Can Do It! ” attitude Team A managed to build a house in 2 hours and 55 minutes, creating a world record under strenuous conditions. The video “Four Hour House” showed us a competition based out of San Diego. This motivational video illustrates the principles of total quality management and team work. But in a regular situation how can we actually build leadership from the ground up? This four hour house was built with a high performing leadership team. High performing leadership teams have clear guidelines and expectation all times, these guidelines is what allows them to be high performing.

Let’s take the “16 attributes of high performing teams” (Bb) and apply them to the 4 hour house video, in order to see if all attributes were in place. 1. Need to have clear goals. In this case the clear goal was to build a 3 bedroom, 2 bathrooms and have it in ready to move-in conditions in under 4 hours. 2. Goals are known and supported by all. In the video this was demonstrated by where during the “pep-talk” we saw some of the contest participants talk about their time goals concerning the house. 3. Goals can be achieved in steps.

This attribute was set through a list of times and tasks that kept both team A and team B in check. This list planned the whole process of building the house and at the same time it recorded the achieve time in comparison to the planned time. 4. Excellence is the only acceptable standard. This attribute was set into place during the entire process of building the 4 hour house, as only a house in excellent conditions would pass the inspection and be ready to “move-in”. 5. The team and its members get immediate feedback on how they are doing.

This is also completed through the tasks and timing list. It allows members to constantly know where they should have done better and were they are doing great. A good example of this is when team B quickly discovered that it needed to reset the roof by re-aligning it again with the serge of the concrete. 6. All team members have an opportunity to use their skills and abilities when they participate. This was not mentioned in the video, but as we saw the illustrations – you could constantly notice the use of teams inside teams.

By this I mean people working in their respective areas (where they are obviously skillful) and leading others by constantly communicating with their peers. 7. All team members engage in continuous training and development. Teams were composed by house contractors, who are continuously trained in their fields. But this was also achieved by having a “practice-built” a week before. 8. All team members have adequate resources and facilities to succeed.

These resources were both the materials they had available to build the house, but also the support and encouragement that was needed to actually achieve it. . Team members can exercise self-initiative and make their own decisions on how they will perform. This was demonstrated all around, each team member was highly trained and an expert in their area of work that they all were capable to make decisions on the split of a second. 10. Rewards are based on accomplishments. As their most important accomplishment was to build the house in less than four hours, the rewards would be given to the winner of the competition – in this case Team A, who successfully built the house in 2 hours and 55 minutes!

The team competes against the competitors and against past performance. This was achieved by acknowledging the competitors weaknesses and strengths during the “practice build” a week before. 12. The team knows how to praise and recognize its accomplishments, and it also comes from many sources. This comes from the leaders of the group, who constantly praise its members by saying simple things as “it’s a lot of fun and we’re going to do it! ” Constantly encouraging the members in order to keep them motivated. 13. Team members are committed to the success of one another and to the team.

This was seen through the tremendous amount of planning and organization that went on into the building of the house, but the most important key element of the team’s success was always communication. 14. Everyone knows the plan, strategy, and tactics to be used to achieve the goals and objectives. This comes down to the people who make it happen, meaning the leaders – whose job is to constantly communicate with the team members letting them know that even though this is not the normal job, it is exiting – and that that excitement is what is going to pull them through until the finish line.

Rules and penalties are known in advance by everyone and they are fair, consistent, and immediate. This attribute was imposed by the “referees” that were constantly walking around to make sure that the house was up to par. 16. Many aspects of performance are measured. In this case, I believe, performance was solely measured by the ability to deliver a well-built time in the fastest amount of time. As we can see above the teams in the “Four Hour House” video had all attributes necessary to be a high performing team. That is why with massive amounts of communication and practice they achieved their goals as a high performing team.