Use Team Mental Models (TMMs)

Team Mental Models (TMMs) describe the shared understanding of the content, roles, responsibilities and tasks of all team members that are necessary to achieve a specific goal. TMMs form the basis for effective collaboration and fast communication in your company.

To take advantage of these benefits, you need to consider three phases. The first phase is about the basic description and design of the TMM (Desribe). Building on this, you can create a common understanding of the mechanisms and actions that are necessary to achieve your company goal (explain). Once you've gone through these two phases, you can use TMMs to manage expectations, coordinate actions, and predict their impact.

Work with agile methods

Agility is a tool that has been used successfully in software development for several years. In contrast to traditional approaches, the focus of agile methods is on implementation, adaptation and further development. This allows you to reduce the throughput time of conventional processes by up to 50%. Given this background, it is not surprising that companies that use agile methods are superior to their competitors.

Image

The focus of agile methods are so-called iterations. Each iteration lasts one to a maximum of four weeks, depending on the context. At the beginning of the iteration, the goals of the iteration are determined. Then we move on to implementation, which is characterized by a high degree of focus. At the end of each iteration, concrete, measurable results are available, which are approved based on predefined acceptance criteria.

Increase situational awareness (SA)

The sooner you notice developments that are relevant to you and your company, the faster you can influence them. It is precisely for this purpose that the tool situational awareness has been established in aviation and the military. The aim is to perceive relevant developments at an early stage (perceive), understand them (understand) and predict their future development (predict).

In aviation and the military, a high level of situational awareness can make the difference between life and death. In your company, it can mean that you perceive risks and opportunities faster than your competition and achieve a higher level of performance.

Establish a culture of open communication

The “social glue” in your company is communication. The better, more efficient and faster communication takes place, the more powerful your company is. It's not about simply communicating more, but about communicating the right topics at the right time and in the right way.

You have a variety of options for establishing a culture of open communication (speak-up culture) in your company. For example, by communicating on an equal level with your team, you can reduce the power distance, which in turn has a positive effect on the communication culture.

Use the right technology

Technology is not only one of the drivers of change, but also a tool that allows you to make and implement better decisions faster. Technologies such as AgilityVisual, which support holistic business performance management (BPM), play a special role. These tools allow you to visualize all relevant information in an integrated platform and quickly adapt it if necessary.

The advantage is obvious: you and your team can react to changes in the shortest possible time, advance the implementation of strategic initiatives and make faster and better decisions by using AI.

You can increase the speed of your business if you use the right tools. The examples presented are an important starting point that you can use to gain an advantage over the competition.