HPT (High Performing Team) Model
A Mental Model for the High Performing Team
“All roads lead to Rome”
Roman Empire proverb
“All roads lead to Rome” says the old roman proverb.
Maybe not all… not anymore, but for sure there are many ways to reach to Rome…to achieve “a goal”. And if you are a leader, a member of a team, one of your goals is to create and be part of the Great Team.
It is a bit like selecting a restaurant for a special occasion. You don’t search for “mediocre Italian food.” You don’t want a 3-star experience where the service is slow and the food is cold. You go for the best. You check the Google ratings. You want the place where excellence is the standard.
So why do we settle for “mediocre” when building our teams?
Charlie Munger, the legendary partner of Warren Buffett, famously said that we live our lives by following our mental models.
If you are a leader, you already have a mental model for how to lead—whether you realize it or not.
I want to share mine with you and also invite you to start shaping and making it stronger and better together… because no matter how good the model is, it always can be better.
Mine i named the “HPT (High Performing Team) model”. It has 5 pillars and 18 key elements:
1. THE NORTH STAR (Alignment)
Start with Why.
Mission: Mission is the boss.
Values: Holds us together and give direction.
High Bar: Standards that feel uncomfortably high.
2. THE FILTER (Focus)
How we decide what matters.
Add Value: Is it good for Customers’ and the World?
Say No, Say Yes: The art of focus on Priority
Challenge: Why requirements and processes. Seek a better way
3. THE ENGINE (Execution)
The mechanics of how we work.
Roles and Responsibilities: Radical clarity. Who is doing what?
Empowerment: Decisions as close to the “process” as possible.
Go to Gemba: Go to the place of process
Status: Brutal honesty about where we are (leading indicators).
4. THE FUNDAMENT (Culture)
The environment where humans thrive.
One Team: Team over Ego. One for all, all for one.
Safety: A safe environment to fail and “pull the Andon” without fear.
Energy: A high level of vitality coming from within.
5. THE MOMENTUM (Growth)
The active behaviors that make us faster and better.
Radical Feedback: Everyone to Everyone. Real-time.
Sense of Urgency: Keep the momentum going.
Problems: Essential to learn.
Continuous Improvement: An obsession with being 1% better every day
Reinvention: Break the status quo, think outside the box for radical leaps
The whole idea of this blog is to keep challenging this model. Keep finding the holes in it and make it stronger. To share the process of doing it. To invite you to start to master your own model. Put the “ego” aside, its not about (only) you, but it is about the team you are maybe leading or you are a vital part of. So.. lets Go!