What differentiates a high-performance team of a common working group? If you have been part of a dream team, Surely you know: that feeling of belonging to a team that charges you with energy, encourages you to achieve challenging goals and always covers your back.
A high-performing team is that place where everyone is willing to go the extra mile.. And to do it with a smile.
Achieving this dynamic is the dream of any leader. And an essential requirement of organizations that want to be innovative and dominate the market.
But what exactly is a high-performance team, what are the benefits? for an organization and how alíder to encourage them?
Keep reading this article to find out everything you need to know about high-performance equipment.
What is a high-performance team?
There is an African proverb that says:
“Walk alone and you will arrive quickly, walk accompanied and you will go further.”
But there is also the Spanish saying:
“Better alone than badly accompanied”.
So which one is right? The truth is that both. Because the only way to achieve extraordinary results is to work as a team. But it is not worth just anyone, it must be a talented group with a success mindset and a common purpose..
The talent of a team is not determined by the sum of the capabilities of its members. In fact, these can be higher or lower than that of the group.
It has happened to all of us to shine in a certain team, but seem our own shadow in another. Truth? Team dynamics are so powerful that they are able to multiply or divide our individual capabilities.
That is why we can list a number of qualities that distinguish high-performance teams from other groups:
- High commitment to team members and the project.
- More ambitious goals than standard teams.
- Each person complements the capabilities of the other team members.
- Everyone understands their role and responsibilities within the team.
- Feeling of group trust and mutual respect.
- Need for little supervision by management thanks to its responsibility and focus on results.
- Looking to the future and clear purpose.
Benefits of a high-performance team
The creation of high-performance teams has spread dramatically in response to the BANI environment in which companies are forced to adapt to continuous changes.
Working under a collaborative culture is the most appropriate approach for solve complex problems and make better decisions.
But thebenefits To achieve a high performance team go much further:
- Creativity and the development of new skills are enhanced.
- Increases productivity, since the same team does more tasks satisfactorily.
- They raise the self-esteem of its members, allowing them to achieve more challenging goals.
- Encourage innovation: more new products and services are launched on the market in shorter periods of time.
- They improve internal and external collaboration with other working groups, suppliers and managers.
- They solve conflicts more quickly, before they become real problems.
- The culture of guilt is eradicated, now everyone assumes that it is part of the process and it is the work of the team.
- Communication becomes more effective at all levels, improving the ability to Give and receive feedback among its members.
How to get high-performance teams
In a high-performance team, the leader’s role is to exercise a Positive influence in the collaborators so that they achieve excellent results in a climate of collaboration. It also involves Leading change necessary to ensure the sustained achievement of high levels of competitiveness.
And set an example. Because leadership is not imposed, it is won. People who lead a group must lead by example, be empathetic, and know the strengths and limitations of their team. This is the path to success.
Is this your case? First of all, we want to congratulate you. Having the goal of leading a team to its full potential is the first step to achieving it.
Secondly, we want to help you by advising you some practices that you can apply in your day to day to achieve adream team professional.
1# Set challenging goals
The best way to achieve great results is to set excellent goals. And this is one of the main functions of a good leader.
Be sure to formulate Smart goals and devotes time to each team member to establish or clarify how their activities contribute to these strategic goals.
2# Transmit passion
Transmit to your collaborators enthusiasm and commitment for the project. To achieve this, be inspired by the behavior of enthusiastic people. Enthusiasm is transmitted by contagion, So set an example by “visibly” practicing positive thinking in the face of obstacles.
Banish the word “impossible” from your vocabulary. Instead, say “very difficult” or just “hard.” Get your team used to focusing on the goal to be achieved, rather than on the risk of failure. It is proven that optimism increases the probability of success.
3# Promotes autonomy
Analyze the capabilities of your collaborators making sure to detect their “hidden talents”. Then review the tasks you are currently carrying out and reflect if there is any that could be assumed by any of your collaborators and would be an opportunity for their professional development.
In that case, delegate the task and also the authority necessary to carry it out. It clearly communicates the opportunities for growth it can bring and provides sufficient support and resources.
What to do with the time you have released? Take the opportunity to protect your collaborators and take on attractive projects that challenge you and your high-performance team.
Another word you should avoid is“But”. It is said to be the great universal draft, since what goes before that word is automatically canceled out of the listener’s attention.
4# Spend time giving feedback on performance
What happens when someone commits to something and doesn’t stick to it? How are successes recognized? How do you experience failures?
Frequent feedback and performance evolution are essential for the smooth running of a high-performance team.
Establish systems to measure individual and team progress against goals, one-to-one interviews, or follow-up group meetings.
Observe your collaborators when they get the job done:
- “Surprise them” when they are doing things right and congratulate them often.
- It encourages people who are improving their effectiveness at work, as well as those who display cooperative behaviors.
- Give concrete guidelines to improve the activity.
- Give feedback on the spot, but privately, those behaviors that do not follow the procedures or values of the company. Remember that one of the most harmful things for the team is to ignore, and therefore reward, cases of poor performance.
- Clearly communicate how each person contributes to the team’s success and how a neglect of one’s responsibilities harms everyone
This is how BeUp helps you build high-performance teams
Creating and monitoring high-performing teams is a very demanding task, especially in large companies, where it is more difficult to detect hidden talent and organize it into groups.compatible, diverse and complementary.
That is why in BeUp we have been developing for 15 years accompanying teams through team coaching or training programson high performance teams, with a very practical approach, based on our experience of more than 20 years and the latest neuroscientific research.
Companies such as AXA, Sanitas or Aldi have already learned the essential keys to creating high-performance teams that grow the business from the inside out.
Do you want us to help your organization too? Write to us and we will tell you how.