The Anatomy of the
High-Performance Team

"To reach the mountain top, you have to aim for the stars."

Obviously no team will be perfect. The goal, therefore, is to create a "high-performance team":

• In business terms, a team that has the highest possible output at the lowest possible costs given market conditions and the company's policies.
• In personal terms, a group of people who freely help each other accomplish tasks and feel personal investment in the team's success.

For a better idea of what this looks like—and thus, where your team stands—consider the following characteristics drawn from the scientific literature on teams.

• Performance
• Members
• Manager
• Meetings

Performance

The team performs better than others on:

• Surpassing targets for task due dates and quality.
• Labor and materials costs.
• Customer satisfaction.
• Making consensus decisions without conflict or "groupthink."
• Worker morale, motivation and satisfaction.
• Meeting management expectations.
• Absenteeism and turnover rates.

Members

Do:

• Make sacrifices to help other team members.
• Volunteer for team tasks and do them as promised.
• Praise and actively support other members.
• Disagree openly with the team without making personal attacks.
• Freely admit mistakes as soon as they're made.
• Practice active listening.
• Mediate internal and external differences on their own.
• Keep disagreements within the team.
• Keep the team up-to-date on information or skills it needs in their specialties.
• Keep the group focused on its values, objectives, and criteria for decisions.
• Handle many, if not all, of the team's administrative tasks.

Don't:

• Refuse to share information.
• Avoid (constructive) conflict when it's necessary.
• Dominate group discussions.
• Talk negatively about the team outside team meetings.
• Resist or sabotage group efforts.
• Refuse to compromise.
• Put their own agendas ahead of the team's agenda.
• Lose self-discipline in dealing with team members or stakeholders.
• Blame others.
• Have more concern about recognition of their individual efforts than about their teammates' success.

Manager

Leads by:

• Giving the team its direction and boundaries, but not telling it how to achieve goals.
• Making sure it has the same resources he or she would want to achieve what he expects of it: human, financial, equipment, materials, information, and training.
• Staying out of day-to-day operations and decisions.
• Encouraging the team to solve its own problems and conflicts.
• Letting the team make mistakes to learn.
• Involving the team early and often on all strategic decisions that might affect it.
• Learning the team's values, and modeling them when dealing with the team.
• Taking on team tasks when asked.
• Keeping colleagues and superiors informed on the team's progress.

Has time to:

• Think about strategic issues.
• Question assumptions.
• Learn.
• Coach others on teaming and technical skills.
• Champion customers, quality improvements, or teaming across the enterprise.
• Take on special projects.
• Perform line work he or she enjoys.

Meetings

Before and during meetings:

• An agenda, meeting notes from the previous meeting (if any) and handouts related to the agenda are sent out in time for participants to review them before the meeting.
• The meeting starts precisely on time—neither early nor late.
• The agenda is followed closely, but allows for new topics to be addressed at appropriate times.
• Rules to eliminate time-wasting are gently but firmly enforced.
• The meeting ends early or on time with all agenda items covered.

After meetings:

• Participants feel their views were heard and valued.
• Participants support the decisions of the group.
• Participants feel their time was well spent and want to attend the group's next meeting.
• Actions are taken as a result of every decision.

Contact TeamTrainers to start your team toward this kind of performance.

What creates a high-performance team?