5 Tips For Leading High-Performance Teams

But first, let’s define the high-performance team.

What Are High-Performance Teams?

A high-performance team is a group of people who work together for a common goal and can achieve extraordinary results. We create high-performance teams on a solid foundation of:

• building productive communication,
• creating innovative solutions, and
• delivering great performance.

In other words, high-performance teams have a naturally high-performing team culture.

Building a High-Performance Team

Teams don’t simply happen. Indeed, teams are much more than groups of people. They occur when there are common goals, values, and behaviours. And every leader has a part to play in building teams. Here are the Lazy Leader’s top tips for building high-performance teams.

Model excellence

You’ve probably heard the phrase: behaviour breeds behaviour. We can illustrate this using a simple model called the Betari Box.‌‌

In a nutshell, the Betari Box helps us to understand how our attitudes and behaviours directly affect the attitudes and behaviours of others.‌‌

When we’re stuck in a cycle—mistrust, not taking responsibility, positive attitude and so on—it is up to the team leader to break the cycle and change attitudes.‌‌

Inevitably, this has a positive impact on those around us. When we take charge and change our behaviour, our team is more likely to follow our lead.

Open and honest communication

A hallmark of the high-performance team is a high level of open, honest, robust and transparent communication. High-performance teams increase trust by building a culture of partnership and shared values.‌‌

This starts with open and honest communication.

When honesty and transparency are lacking, there can be no trust.

Without trust, teams fail to solve problems or make decisions. Without trust, there is conflict.

A supportive environment

High-Performance teams meet regularly and discuss progress, concerns, and ideas for improvement.‌‌

Likewise, the team leader meets the individual to talk about their objectives, development, and performance. The high-performance team supports its members by: