The need for building high-performance teams has never been as critical in today’s ever-changing business environment. The last three years have been (and continue to be) the most challenging period in recent history for every business and leader. Navigating a pandemic, managing supply chain issues and winning the “war on talent” has created an unprecedented challenge.

Building high-performance teams requires more than just choosing the right people with the right skills and bringing them together (nothing is ever simple). It requires careful development and nurturing of key traits, behaviours and best practices. It’s not just about doing our job well but also the way in which we do it.

"No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you're playing a solo game, you'll always lose out to a team," –Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn cofounder regarding the value of high-performing teams.

There are eight key aspects of building and leading a high-performing team. Here is how you can cultivate them within your organisation.

1. Lead by Example and show the way:

To build and lead a high-performing team you must become a high-performing leader. High-performing leaders are highly self-aware, both emotionally and intellectually, and in tune with their own strengths and weaknesses. A leader must cultivate the ability to communicate big-picture strategy and vision whilst also understanding and communicating the details in executing said strategy and vision.

A high-performing leader is a great listener and can ask thought-provoking questions. They are driven by bringing the best out of their team and they delegate like a pro! They must be able to create accountability and also be vulnerable so they can build trust and strengthen relationships.

2. Have clear goals, roles and responsibilities:

High-performing teams have clear goals and individuals understand their role in achieving them. Goals are both aligned and defined so everyone knows what they need to do and how to get there and their progress is tracked via regular performance reviews.

Leaders talk about their goals and vision clearly and concisely and do so relentlessly. They lay the foundations for an open channel of communication and create an environment where feedback is normalised and genuine.

Conflict and misunderstanding can cause inefficiencies and can quickly derail a talented and productive team. A leader of a high-performing team manages conflict and eliminates it by clearly defining everyone’s roles and responsibilities, preventing confusion around project ownership, maintaining work and deadlines organised and ensuring accountability across the team.

3. Embrace diversity of thought and wide-ranging skill sets

Diversity should matter to a company for so many reasons. The more diverse we are, the more successful we are. Conversely, homogeneity can lead to “groupthink” and repeating the same mistakes.

Diversity of thought helps teams reduce blind spots and enables individuals to challenge the status quo. A leader should encourage innovation, allowing team members to speak up and contribute without fear of negativity.

"Working with people who are different from you may challenge your brain to overcome its stale ways of thinking and sharpen its performance." David Rock – cofound of the Neuroleadership Institute and Heidi Grant, a social psychologist (via Harvard Business Review).

If you want your team to innovate and be brave with their ideas, then creating a diverse team with varying backgrounds and skills is the path to get there.

4. Follow a clear Vision and Mission

Job seekers look for cohesion between their own beliefs and those of the companies they are considering working for. People innately want to work for a company whose mission and vision match their own values. Consequently, you must have a clear mission that you consistently convey (and live and breathe daily) to the team from the moment they are hired. Make your mission visible (on your website, social pages and around the office) and reward employees for exemplifying your company’s values.

Teams work best when their actions impact the “greater good” beyond their individual goals. They are more likely to stay at your company and become high performers and feel engaged and motivated.

5. Mutual respect:

Skilled members of high-performance teams are aware of and recognise each other’s skills, expertise and working methods. This creates a strong bond and opportunities for building capacity and increased productivity.

6. Create an efficient infrastructure and automate repetitive work:

Establishing a consistent reporting cadence (weekly or monthly) is key to building a high-performance team (and measuring performance openly). Reporting should be digestible and highlight accomplishments, wins and progress towards goals as well as openly sharing “lowlights” including challenges, corrective actions and due dates. It’s important these are shared with all key stakeholders and you can actually measure the all-important performance of your team.

Establishing an efficient workflow and infrastructure is important and it can assist in automating repetitive work. Reading and responding to emails takes up approximately 28% of each workday – time that could be spent on more critical tasks. Automating what you can (payroll, lead tracking, email marketing and social media for example) can be extremely helpful in streamlining and focusing work. Don’t be afraid to experiment with apps and software for your team and innovate where you can!

7. Empower team members with decision-making authority:

To empower your team is to supercharge them and make them as effective as possible, enabling them to make the necessary decisions to achieve their goals.

The ability to make decisions also increases a person’s sense of ownership and ownership drives accountability. It enables an individual to have a personal state in the wider organisational goals and leads to an ownership mindset – a key part of any high-performing team.

8. Encourage ongoing personal and professional development:

Learning and development in all its forms (traditional and more modern methods) should be encouraged as it creates well-rounded and engaged employees. A recent survey by TalentLMS* found that 91% of companies and 81% of employees say that up-skilling and re-skilling boosted work productivity. Interestingly, 80% of employees say training boosted their confidence – a win-win surely?

Giving opportunities for growth and development (be it attending conferences and special training programmes) is also something that the wider working population (made up of mostly millennials and Gen-Zers) expect. Consequently, if you want to recruit and retain future innovators you need to invest in this and create a culture of learning – the returns could be incredibly powerful!

Like anything worthwhile, there are challenges, and developing teams with a high-performance mindset is certainly in the “hard to get right” category. As a leader or manager, the power you have to select and shape your mean is monumental. A great number of HR-related projects can assist you in leading your team to high productivity and Core HR would love to help you, your team and your business soar. Call us to discuss how we can help!

*Survey: The State of Employee Reskilling & Upskilling Training (talentlms.com)

Building and Managing High-Performance Teams