How to Build an Effective High-Performing Team
Team collaboration improves team effectiveness. And effective teams are likely to be more successful, continue to be collaborative, and therefore become high performing.
Are your business' teams effective?
Do they work well together?
More importantly, do they work well both within themselves and cross-functionally?
It's hard to maintain team efficacy in today's ever-changing environments. Still, it can be far easier to manage, develop, and optimise team performance with a few solid foundations in place.
This blog post is all about those key foundations. But, before we dig into what they are, let's take a quick look at why effective teams are essential for business success.
Why are effective teams so important?
LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman says, "No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy if you're playing a solo game, you'll always lose out to a team."
That's assuming the team is performing effectively, of course.
For many business leaders, the terms "effective" and "high-performing" are interchangeable. In my opinion, that's OK if that high performance doesn't come at the cost of team members' wellbeing.
That said, for companies, high-performing teams are commonly credited with streamlining productivity, promoting company growth, and increasing business revenue. This is particularly true in small businesses where a company's different teams are generally closer to its various functions and can be more agile in responding to trade and/or environmental changes.
As individuals, we've all played a part in a team at some point, whether at work, school, or in sports. Some of these team experiences may have been enjoyable, rewarding and productive, while others were stressful and unproductive. A hostile team environment can easily affect our individual motivation and ability to perform well, which in turn affects the team's overall performance. It's a vicious cycle.
So, what's the secret sauce to a happy, effective, high-performing team?
For teams to be effective, they need to be cohesive. According to Keri TenBoer, an associate at professional recruitment and staffing advisory Russell Tobin, "while many teams work well together, true success comes from being on a cohesive team. Increased team cohesion in the workplace has resulted in increased success, work satisfaction, team member self-esteem, and decreased anxiety."
Keri explains that this interconnectedness occurs when a team can stay united while working collaboratively towards a common goal.
There are several advantages to this. Expert in Industrial and Organisational Psychology, Dr Annette Towler credits team cohesion with:
- Being a positive predictor of performance, particularly over time,
- Creating a shared bond that drives team members to stay,
- Allowing collective work that produces more innovation.
Is your team cohesive? Not sure? That's OK. Here's how to recognise a cohesive and effective team…
What does an effective team look like?
Specific characteristics separate effective teams from their poorer performing counterparts. Here are some of them:
A Common Purpose, Vision and Values
Effective teams are aligned in terms of their principles, vision and their focus on shared objectives. They work collectively and cohesively towards these while also clearly understanding the business results and solutions they are responsible for delivering and sharing key guiding values and reason for being there.
Mutual Awareness and Respect
Members of high-performing teams recognise and respect one another's skills and ways of working, as well as those of their managers. This fosters collaboration and cohesion, increases productivity, and develops members' sense of value in the workplace.
Clear and Consistent Communication
Leaders of effective teams are confident in consistently communicating the team's vision and goals. Also, team members know that they have easy access to open and constructive lines of communication between themselves and their leader.
Appropriate Planning, Resources and Practices
For a team to perform at the top of their game, they must have a plan, access to the necessary resources, and have the proper boundaries in place to avoid conflicts and to encourage innovation and creativity. Management's support is invaluable in ensuring these are in place.
That all sounds good, right? But how do you make it happen? Here are a few tips…
How to build an effective, high-performing team
The tips I give my clients are:
1) Encourage a culture of self awareness
Everyone has their own communication styles, approaches to their work and behavioural preferences. And the first step to understanding others, then understanding the dynamics in a group, is understanding yourself.
Self awareness is the root of harmony within a team - it can help people understand how to resolve conflict in a healthy way, or potentially even to avoid it altogether. There are various exercises and tools that can be used to explore this including:
- Values assessment tools
- Psychometric assessments
- Emotional Intelligence tools
- Facilitated team workshops
Life is so much easier when you have access to the information, resources and opportunities that you need to hand. This goes for being at work too!
Making sure systems are fit for purpose, information isn't buried in impossible layers of folders, processes are simple and equipment is easy to get your hands on can be the difference between someone who thrives or the proverbial straw that eventually breaks the camel's back.
I would also recommend you pay close attention to the development wants and needs of those in the team, create paths for them to grow, and in my experience, you get their best work in return. Encouraging and facilitating employee growth and development makes management more effortless too. Providing ongoing training is another good idea, and it ensures employees' skills don't stagnate.
To function at an optimum pace and level of performance, your teams need to know what's going on and where they're heading.
Best practice would be to set SMART (Specific, measurable, achieveable, realistic, time-bound) objectives at individual and team level and implement communication practices such as:
- Keeping employees up to date with happenings in your business
- Alert your staff as soon as possible if there are new procedures to follow
- Encourage communication between employees - formally and informally
- Enable clear communication with tools like cloud-shared spreadsheets, project management software, and communication tools like Slack or Google Hangouts
- Hold periodic meetings to ensure key points are being discussed
With employees spending so much of their time working, it helps to create an enjoyable working environment. Obviously you want them to be professional, but it's important to provide balance and help them feel valued.
Recognising and rewarding your team members doesn't need to be monetary either - you could try celebrating successes with team games, friendly competitions and social events.
And, of course, a few kind words or a simple "thank you" won't go amiss.
Particularly in today's hybrid world, it's important that everyone knows how to get the support they need from you and to feel like they are in safe hands. The mental health epidemic feels like it's forever growing and you have a duty, as a leader, manager and human being, to look out for your people.
It's also important for you to help them nurture their own reasons to be motivated and engaged in the work they are doing. So, even if you're not a natural-born leader, it's essential to grow your leadership skills and communicate your enthusiasm for your business to your employees. If they know you're excited about what your organisation does, that's half the battle won.
Other important traits which I would suggest are worth working on include:
- Integrity
- Humility
- Patience
- Listening
- Leading by example
But, what if you're not a business leader? What if you're a team member? How can you support your team's success? Don't worry; I've got you covered with this next section.
How can an individual contribute to a high-performing team?
I'm sure you've heard of the saying, "there's no 'I' in 'team'". However, teams are made up of individuals, and each person's commitment to the group (or lack thereof) affects its success.
As Virginia Fraser points out in her article on the Training Industry resource website, "A common characteristic of high-performing professionals is that they work "above the line" and hold themselves to a strong degree of accountability, responsibility and ownership. They own who they are and use their understanding of themselves to leverage their strengths and navigate their weaknesses. These professionals aren't superheroes, but they know themselves and the value they bring."
She encourages individuals to explore this further by asking themselves three questions:
- What are the top three strengths I bring to my team?
- What times have I worked below the line? How can I use my strengths to stay above the line?
- What changes can I make to increase my responsibility for the team's success?
To answer these and remain a valuable team member, you'll need to develop your self-awareness, awareness of other people, your understanding of the team's goals, be willing to ask questions and communicate and be credible and reliable.
Also, remember that it's vital to invest time and effort in your physical and mental wellbeing to maintain your own peak performance.
A note on remote
Between increased productivity and higher employee retention to reducing environmental impact, the benefits of remote working are clear and remote working is likely to remain part of global post-Covid mainstream work life for the foreseeable future.
However, it has its downsides too.
Did you know that feelings of employee isolation reduce productivity up to 21%? Whereas socialising between team members improves communication patterns more than 50%? ¹
So, it's vital to make sure that your business has the right tools and processes in place to support remote workers daily with team connectivity and cohesion, open communication, and ensuring no team member is left behind.
Bonds between virtual, hybrid, and in-person teams can also be bolstered by leading team-building events yourself or by providing facilitated team building events. This is where a trained host will run engaging activities for you and your team, either regularly online or periodically face to face.
Need help building an effective, high-performing team?
If all this sounds great, but you're still unsure where to start, that's OK. Many people don't, and I've got your back.
I offer straight-talking advice on building your team in the most effective and efficient way possible, but a way that still upholds your plant-and-people-first values.
I partner with companies and individuals to address their unique needs and tailor my services accordingly. Some examples of my team-focused services are:
- Psychometrics
- Values assessments
- Customer journey mapping
- Team design
- Defining roles and responsibilities
- Systems and processes.
No matter the scale or scope of the high-performing team you'd like to build, get in touch. I will always do my best to support you.
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