Is Your Team High Performing ... or Hardly Performing?

Building a high-performing team (HPT) is one of the most valuable achievements a leader can strive for. HPTs are known for their positive morale, high motivation, productivity, and commitment to excellence and to serving their stakeholders well. Sadly, according to recent Gallop surveys, about 70% of the United States workforce is not fully engaged on the job. The result is that many work teams struggle and perform at a mediocre level – or worse.

In contrast, some teams stand above the normal and are high performance. How are HPTs developed and supported? Let’s look at five keys to put into practice.

Keys to Developing High Performance Teams

1. Define a Clear Vision and Purpose

Andrew Carnegie said, “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to reach uncommon results.” A good starting place for building an HPT is a clear and compelling vision. Our team members need to understand the "why" behind their work, which fosters motivation and alignment. Vision provides direction and purpose, helping individuals see how their contributions fit into the bigger picture. We should ensure that each team member understands the organization’s mission and how the team’s goals align with it. This alignment helps build commitment and enthusiasm, which are essential for achieving high performance.

2. Open Communication and Trust

Trust is the cornerstone of any successful team. When trust is present, our team members are more likely to share ideas, ask questions, and provide feedback. Open communication enables teams to work more efficiently by eliminating misunderstandings, addressing conflicts early, and encouraging creative problem-solving. I appreciate this quote from Stephen M. Covey, author of The Speed of Trust: “Without trust, we don’t truly collaborate; we merely coordinate or, at best, cooperate. It is trust that transforms a group of people into a team.”

These next three keys are based on an extensive research project involving more than 2.5 million people in 237 companies. This study looked to find the common characteristics of HPTs. It was discovered that HPTs share these special characteristics that directly speak to the meeting of three important needs of team members.

3. Sense of Fairness

HPTs are first characterized by a sense of fairness. People have a need to be treated equitably, and that sense of fairness has three components.

• There is a physical part: this includes a safe working environment, realistic workload, and reasonably comfortable working conditions.
• Another part is economic fairness: people have a need to feel they are paid a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work with satisfactory benefits and have a reasonable degree of job security.
• The third part is equity: being treated respectfully. Included is a reasonable accommodation for personal and family needs and being treated like an adult, not a child.

Included under the sense of fairness is appreciating diversity. Diversity is essential for innovation and problem-solving. An HPT is made up of individuals with varied skills, experiences, and perspectives. We should strive to build a diverse team that brings unique viewpoints to the table, fostering creativity and driving better decision-making.

As inclusion expert Verna Myers notes: “Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance.” It is crucial to not only have diverse voices in the room but to create an environment where they feel empowered to contribute. This inclusive approach can lead to more robust solutions and cultivate the sense of fairness we need.

One way to check the feeling of fairness on our teams is to conduct an annual team survey – and include some questions related to fairness.

4. Sense of Achievement

HPTs are characterized by a sense of achievement. Achievement includes taking pride in one’s accomplishments by doing things that matter and doing them well; receiving recognition for one’s accomplishments; and taking pride in the organization’s accomplishments.

There are six primary sources for a sense of achievement:

1. Challenge of the work itself.
2. Acquiring new skills.
3. Ability to perform.
4. Perceived importance of employee’s job.
5. Recognition received for performance.
6. Working for a company of which the employee can be proud.

One tool we can use to help build a sense of achievement is to participatively set and work together to achieve SMART goals. SMART goals are team goals that have these characteristics:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Ambitious yet achievable
• Results oriented
• Time specific

Communicating progress and celebrating progress on goals will help develop a powerful sense of achievement within our team. Remember the principles that “success breeds success” and “celebrating small wins leads to bigger wins.”

5. Sense of Camaraderie

Benjamin Franklin said, “We must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” HPTs are characterized by a sense of camaraderie – having warm, positive, and cooperative relations with others in the workplace (“one for all and all for one”). Setting and working together to achieve SMART goals helps build camaraderie. In addition, try having periodic fun and team-building activities. Need ideas? Here is a list of five to get you thinking:

1. Take your team to a movie (the large screen IMAX movies are great – even better if in 3D).
2. Play a fun game together, like your own customized version of “Family Feud.”
3. Try a fun recreational activity like miniature golf, or just have an afternoon in the park.
4. Attend a favorite sporting event, concert, or other social event that team members would enjoy (it’s important to know your team on this one).
5. Last, but not least, anything with FOOD seems to be a big hit, either having food catered in or going out to a nearby restaurant.

A tremendous yet overlooked tool that leaders can use to build camaraderie is recognition. To help conduct recognition well, consider these five recognition principles:

• Be specific about what is being recognized.
• Do it in person.
• Be timely.
• Be sincere.
• Recognition should be given for both individual and group performance.

Putting it All Together

Let’s look at six ideas to build and maintain engagement with our team members:

• Don’t let the newbies sink. Get your new employees off to a great start by clearly explaining the goals and expectations of the team, regularly checking in with them, and assigning a teammate as a “buddy” mentor.
• Create a physically comfortable work environment. Ideas can come from peers, conferences, and the employees themselves.
• Eliminate perks that favor one level of employee over another. The goal is to avoid sending the message that some employees are “second class” when in reality everybody contributes to the success of the team.
• Avoid micromanaging. Give employees as much flexibility and as many choices as you can. Avoid “dirty delegation” and think about how you would like to be treated.
• Spill the beans. My former CEO Peggy Fowler once said there are three keys to being a great manager: Communication, Communication, and Communication. If we don’t communicate a vacuum is created. The vacuum is filled with the rumor mill, which is notoriously negative and will sink morale faster than the iceberg sunk the Titanic.
• Observe basic courtesies. Never underestimate the value of simple greetings, a smile, or saying thank you. These courtesies send a positive message to employees that they are appreciated, and you care.

A final thought: working to develop HPTs is very satisfying and rewarding. I resonate with this quote from Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic and a leadership expert: “No individual achievement can equal the pleasure of leading a group of people to achieve a worthy goal. When you cross the finish line together, there’s a deep satisfaction that it was your leadership that made the difference. There’s simply nothing that can compare with that.”

Keep working on building HPTs – it’s worth the effort.