So you want a High Performing Team?

So you have heard all about High Performing Teams.  You see that they get amazing results – the England Cricket Team in the recent World Cup Final a brilliant example.  Watching how the team spoke about each other, and how they supported the newest member – was simply inspiring.

And now you have decided that this is the direction you want to take your team.  But what now?

How do you move from the state of a team – a number of people who do something together as a group (Cambridge Dictionary Definition) – to one of a High Performing Team – where the ‘something’ that they do together yields amazing results?

There are two areas you need to address to achieve this.

1. Yourself as a leader
2. Your team

The role of a High Performing Team Leader is vital to the results of the team.

Joseph Folkman highlighted the 5 Top Behaviours in Team Leaders, in the Forbes article ‘5 ways to Build a High Performing Team’.

1. Team leaders inspire more than they drive
2. Team leaders resolve conflicts and increase cooperation
3. Team leaders set stretch goals
4. Team leaders communicate the vision and direction
5. Team leaders are trusted

It is therefore crucial that you as the leader are clear on the vision, can communicate it effectively and consistently, and that you build trust with your team.  This all takes time, and re-enforcement.

To take your team on the journey to becoming a High Performing Team we suggest following our 6 steps based on the Drexler / Sibbert Team Performance Model ®.  

1. Clear Vision – the “why” to what the team does, and what the future is going to look like.
2. Building Trust – the mortar holding your team together.  Without trust you have a dysfunctional team, and as Patrick Lencioni demonstrates in his model, trust is the foundation of your team.
3. Specific Goals – Clarifying what the team and individual goals are.  Building on the trust from step 2 through greater transparency within the team.
4. Gaining Commitment – Taking the ‘Yes’ we will do this and translating it into ‘how’, further building on the specifics of the goal.  The devil is in the detail!
5. Implementation – this is where you leave your team to do what they need to do (and as explicitly clarified in Steps 3 and 4), and you as the leader supports them and coaches, as and when required.
6. Maintenance – the best bit!  When you get to celebrate the successes (or possibly problem solve the failures), and then start again with the team looking forward to the next great achievement to be targeted.

Looking at it on paper – it’s common sense.  But taking your team on this journey is like managing a change.  Having this initial process supported with facilitation can make a huge difference to the success of implementation.  Especially when there are different team dynamics at play – take for instance the case of the remote sales team, where they meet only monthly.

As Basketball legend Michael Jordan says “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”

So you want a High Performing Team?  Let us help you get there.