In today's fast-paced, ever-evolving business landscape, the ability to build and lead high-performance teams has become a critical competitive advantage. High performance means exceeding expectations and over-achieving our goals. These teams are more productive and efficient and foster innovation, resilience, and a culture of continuous improvement.
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As we enter the third year of our company's 10-year moonshot journey, nurturing sustainable high-performing teams has become a major milestone. Let's explore the essential characteristics of these elite groups:
1. Unified Purpose, Aligned Strategy
High-performance teams have a clear, shared purpose and well-defined collaborative strategy. They deeply understand the team's objectives, roles, and responsibilities, ensuring everyone works towards a common goal.
“Alignment trumps everything. Stay off the subject that disturbs your alignment, and everything that you are about will come into alignment.” – Abraham Hicks
To foster this alignment, leaders must:
Clearly articulate the team's mission, vision, and strategic priorities (True North, BHAG, aligning personal vision with group vision)
Involve team members in the planning process to build buy-in and ownership
Regularly review and adjust the strategy as needed to adapt to changing circumstances
2. Right People, Right Seat
Assembling the right team is crucial for success. High-performance teams consist of individuals with the necessary skills and expertise, the appropriate mindset, motivation, and the ability to excel in their roles.
“…leaders of companies that go from good to great start not with “where” but with “who.” They start by getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats. And they stick with that discipline—first the people, then the direction—no matter how dire the circumstances.” - Jim Collins, Author of “Good-to-Great”
Effective team building requires:
Carefully selecting team members based on their competencies, cultural fit, and growth potential (EOS GWC: get it, want it, capacity to do it)
Placing people in roles that align with their strengths and interests
Providing ongoing support, training, and opportunities for professional development (performance coaching, personal mastery)
3. Clear Communication, Common Understanding
Transparent, efficient, and frequent communication is the lifeblood of high-performance teams. These teams establish clear information-sharing channels, actively listen to one another, and maintain a shared understanding of goals, processes, and expectations.
“In teamwork, silence isn’t golden, it’s deadly.” — Mark Sanborn
To foster this, leaders should:
Implement effective communication protocols and tools (MECE, SCQA, Pyramid of Communication, etc.)
Encourage open dialogue, feedback, and the sharing of ideas (seek the truth)
Regularly check for alignment and address any misunderstandings (AAR, 1:1)
4. Effective Relationships, Prosocial Skills
High-performing teams are distinguished by robust interpersonal relationships, shared trust, and an environment that fosters collaboration and support. Team members exhibit prosocial skills, such as empathy, conflict resolution, and their ability to work well with others.
"A system is never the sum of its parts; it’s the product of their interaction." - Russell Ackoff
Cultivating these relationships requires:
Investing time in team-building activities and social interactions.
Helping individuals to develop prosocial character skills (ADKAR)
Promoting a culture of respect, psychological safety, and mutual support
Developing emotional intelligence and conflict management skills among team members
5. Embrace Diversity, Diverge-then-Converge
Diversity is a key driver of innovation and problem-solving in high-performance teams. These teams actively seek out diverse perspectives, challenge assumptions, and engage in continuous learning and improvement. It is important to cultivate a safe environment with trust.
“In a high-trust relationship, you can say the wrong thing, and people will still get your meaning. In a low-trust relationship, you can be very measured, even precise, and they’ll still misinterpret you.” - Stephen M.R. Covey
To harness the power of diversity, leaders should:
Actively recruit and include individuals with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and problem-solving approaches
Foster an environment of curiosity, open-mindedness, and the willingness to challenge the status quo (Systems Thinking, Design Thinking)
Encourage team members to share their unique insights and perspectives
"Listening to both sides of a story will convince you that there is more to a story than both sides." - Frank Tyger
6. Learn to Serve, Serve to Learn
High-performance teams are characterized by a servant leadership mindset (stewardship), where team members prioritize the needs of the collective over individual interests. They are committed to continuous learning, personal growth, and contributing to the greater good.
“There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest creed.” - Woodrow Wilson
Cultivating this mindset involves:
Adopting a coaching and mentoring approach to support team members' development (Performance Coaching)
Providing opportunities for team members to take on new challenges and responsibilities
Encouraging a culture of continuous learning and knowledge-sharing
“Wise people find purpose by serving others.” - Maxime Lagacé:
7. Continuous Learning, Continuous Improvement
High-performance teams embrace a growth mindset, constantly seeking ways to improve their processes, skills, and effectiveness. They implement Kaizen (continuous improvement) principles to identify and address pain points, driving innovation and excellence.
"Reality is made up of circles, but we see straight lines." - Peter Senge
To foster this, leaders should:
Encourage a culture of experimentation, feedback, and the willingness to learn from mistakes (Kaizen, fail-fast fail forward, anti-fragile)
Implement regular retrospectives and review processes to identify areas for improvement (Sailboat Retrospectives, AAR)
Provide resources and support for ongoing training and professional development
8. One for All, All for One. Together We Achieve More.
High-performance teams cultivate a strong sense of team identity and collective responsibility. They recognize that the team's success is greater than the sum of its parts and leverage the power of synergy to achieve remarkable results.
"We can all get more together than we can apart." - Martin Luther King Jr.
To build this team spirit, leaders should:
Foster a sense of camaraderie, shared purpose, and mutual accountability
Celebrate team successes and recognize individual contributions
Encourage team members to support and rely on one another, creating a true "all for one, one for all" mentality
9. Balance Extrinsic with Intrinsic Motivators
Motivating a high-performance team involves finding the optimal balance between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. I shared my thoughts in the article “Beyond Carrot and Stick”.
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By embracing these key characteristics and implementing the strategies outlined, organizations can unlock the full potential of their teams, driving innovation, productivity, and sustainable success in today's competitive business landscape.
People are the most important asset in our IT consulting and software solution business. Assembling a team of all-star players often fails to create a sustainable dream team due to the high costs and lack of collaborative chemistry. A high-performance team is an optimal and sustainable way to turn ordinary members into a great team. Today (30 June 2024) is the 20th anniversary of founding the software firm. My next goal is to transform it into an organic learning organization.
Well thought and written. Thanks sifu!