What REALLY makes a high performing team these days?

In a true high-impact team, the output is much greater than the sum of the parts...

Ultimately, it’s about creating and maintaining relationships where no-one wants to let the other down. It’s a great feeling when colleagues genuinely pull together, tackle obstacles openly and maturely, and can celebrate big and small wins as a shared success.

Of course, most of us have known the discomfort of working in teams that don’t gel. Whether it’s an unaware leader or a team-wide inability to handle debate that’s to blame, poor team cohesion blights our happiness, our contribution and our productivity.

If it goes on long enough, it can be hard to believe that the dynamic will improve or that the creeping blame culture could ever give way to something more healthy.

But a poor-functioning team IS able to change, if we become more aware of the ‘why’ of poor team vibes.

Most teams have plenty of potential for high impact and better performance. They just haven’t recognised the true barriers yet, or don’t have the skills to navigate the troubles.

What makes the biggest difference when developing high-performing teams?

There are several factors at play in developing a high-performing team, and in our view, two of the biggest differentiators are a genuine respect for difference (contrasting personalities, approaches and working styles) and healthy communication patterns. Both can be improved for individuals and teams with the right awareness in place.

Before we explore them further, let’s talk about what else a great team needs:

Culture/safety/trust: If team leaders have the interpersonal skills to encourage colleagues to express ideas and challenge each other without feeling judged, berated or ignored, people will give more of themselves. Consider whether everyone feels supported, especially quieter colleagues more reluctant to voice concerns or left-field ideas when surrounded by extroverts. Given that high-performing teams need to be able to assess and take risks together, pivot quickly in crisis and sometimes make difficult decisions to achieve ambitious goals, a culture of trust like this really counts.

Fairness: Ideally there’s a solid feeling that your team is about the whole team and not just one or two ‘star individuals’. The ability to nurture the whole-team dynamic does start with the leader, but it’s important that all team members respect all contributions, however unexpected or different they might be.

Clarity and shared purpose: In pursuit of true collaboration, commitment and camaraderie, the most effective team leaders are ultra-clear with everyone on the vision and goals for each project, and on how each person’s contribution will affect this. In fact, the defining characteristic of a team IS shared goals. It’s vital to be clear about how performance will be measured, too.

Diversity: The best teams have a healthy mix of capabilities, skills, background and personality. This includes technical abilities and experience but also interpersonal skills such as communication and conflict resolution. A diverse team means less subconscious groupthink and more building on one another’s ideas. Even in the most satisfying teams there are characters whose communication style or approach to challenges we can’t understand or tolerate easily. Yet the onus is on each of us to respect that we don’t all come at a situation or challenge in the same way or view our time at work in the same way.

Connecting to values: This is the real secret sauce to better collaboration. Collaboration and productivity are closely linked, and when people feel connected to each other in pursuit of shared goals, they’re more likely to thrive. Misunderstandings and invisible barriers can form quickly in a disconnected team. In order to connect well with someone, we need to understand their values and motivations, as they firmly affect our behaviour and interactions.

Expectations and feedback: It’s important to define up front what success will look like, as well as likely milestones, constraints and resources available. It also important to be clear about the balance of authority and power. However uncomfortable it may sometimes feel (to give and receive), feedback is a gift. If leaders can offer empathetic, bespoke guidance tailored to the recipient’s preferred communication style, people can adapt their style and behaviour to create more harmonious relationships. The key is to focus on people’s working preferences and behaviour, not their competencies.

Transformational, not transactional leadership: Transactional leaders focus on enhancements and contingent rewards and punishments to influence behaviour. They are more likely to focus on short-term results over relationships and team culture and to manage by exception, being proactive only when something is going wrong. Transformational leaders influence team behaviour through enthusiasm, charisma and vision. In a feedback-rich environment that encourages purpose and pride, they stimulate new perspectives and ideas, motivating and coaching their team.

Ownership: A sense of shared accountability is vital, with a conscious effort being made by all (especially the leader) to avoid a blame culture or recurring lack of ownership for mistakes. Enabling trust and autonomy can unleash creativity and ownership.

How a common language can transcend team differences

All of Insights’ work is about understanding and respecting different working preferences. It’s a part of working life that we continuously explore, and help organizations, leaders and teams get to grips with. Recognition that each person likes/needs to work differently, a shared understanding of individual preferences and strengths and learning to navigate them is what we believe lies at the heart of team effectiveness.

Back to those all-important communication patterns. Even highly self-aware people have bad habits! Ideally, teams will undergo facilitated coaching on how to talk to each other maturely, avoiding toxicity, tension, drama and unhealthy behaviour choices. Using respectful, emotionally neutral language that transcends culture, generation or geography helps people connect better. Non-judgmental language means we don’t need to make conversations quite so personal and that makes for healthier debate, especially in high-pressure situations.

The Insights Discovery model for developing more awareness around this works on the basis that human behaviour can be described through four main colour energies: Fiery Red, Earth Green, Cool Blue and Sunshine Yellow.

These give us invaluable insights into people’s preferences and can reduce the frustration of miscommunication and unnecessary conflict. It helps us acknowledge our blind spots and how others perceive us in difficult moments, as well as on our good days.

Crucially, it helps colleagues redefine relationships with team members and learn how to communicate in a way that’s healthier and more resilient in times of stress and pressure.

Where some team members may be more logical, practical and factual in their approach (typically the Thinking preferences favoured by Fiery Red and Cool Blue), others (with the Feeling preferences of Sunshine Yellow and Earth Green) may lead with more empathy, sensitivity and creativity.

Understanding these working preferences and developing our interpersonal communication skills to adapt to them, even if it takes us out of our comfort zones, is one of the most powerful super-skills that team leaders and team members can acquire.

High-performing teams are non-negotiable for successful organisations. Insights teams solutions help you tackle your most pressing team challenges on two fronts: how your team likes to work together and how well they work together. They provide practical and sustainable tools to help your teams collaborate effectively for success today and long into the future...

Team development