Smart Ways to Build High-Performing Teams. We know that the world we live in is changing rapidly and unpredictably, making it tough for us as human beings. To add to this, human qualities impact the way we work and how we show up. Leaders play a significant role in building, retaining and nurturing high-performing teams whilst the requirements are constantly evolving to keep pace with what is going on in wider society. Leaders need to consciously enable their teams to perform at a high level without crashing and burning. An intentional and strategic approach is needed, one that brings together business, cognitive, and human performance factors – which I consider to be the core ingredients of sustainable peak performance.
With the right people and planning, we can build teams that excel and can navigate through the toughest conditions. Keeping these principles in mind, let’s break down what it takes to cultivate a high-performing team.
Growth Mindset: Introduced by Carol Dweck, a growth mindset is crucial for performance on an individual and team level. Peak performance starts with the mind, which in turn impacts our thoughts, feelings, choices and actions. If we create an environment where people feel they can experiment, make mistakes, learn, and bounce back from setbacks, we encourage excellence. Excellence in terms of innovation, healthy challenge, reduced complacency, greater empowerment and higher accountability. This allows us to push boundaries and collectively help each other to grow to the next level. High performing teams also recognise that they need to do things differently to get to the next level. What got them here won’t get them there. By continuously learning and evolving, they can develop an edge and leave competition in the dust. We can encourage team members to develop a growth mindset by sharing our own learnings from mistakes, eradicating blame culture and taking a forward-focused, collaborative approach to problem-solving. Concepts like a monthly learning hour can be introduced for team members to cross-pollinate ideas, share insights from books or training, or teach each other new skills.
Energy: In addition to a healthy mind, energy is a key trait of high performing teams – and energy cascades down from the leader first and foremost, because this individual sets the tone for the team. Energy is mental, emotional, physical and spiritual. High performing teams acknowledge each energy dimension and optimise these so they can perform at their best, day in and day out. Teams that operate at their peak are able to detect when energy is low and when they need to recover, so they can show up for each other and for their clients with a smile and the drive to get things done. If we want to avoid burnout, we need to keep an eye on energy. That includes our ability to focus and think clearly, our ability to get out of bed and feel rested after a good night’s sleep, and even our mood and how this impacts those around us. Simply encouraging your team to get moving from their desk, stay hydrated and take breaks can create the right habits that contribute towards high performance. Leaders can again set the standard by encouraging walking meetings, integrating headspace and mindfulness into team sessions, and being conscious about how their energy impacts their people. Once everyone is acutely aware of their own energy dials, they can take action to support themselves and each other in getting a boost. Remember, emotional contagion is real!
Purpose: Top teams are crystal clear on what they are doing and why they are doing it. When everyone is aligned on purpose and the meaning behind their individual contributions, intrinsic motivation kicks in and adds powerful fuel to any cause. Purpose also eradicates many obstacles and limiting beliefs, because we have something bigger to aim towards. This makes it easier to get over things that would otherwise hold us back. Leaders can reignite purpose in their teams by revisiting the mission, values and vision throughout the year, not just at the start of a project or initiative. Regular touchpoints and intentional integration of these aspects into conversations, presentations and team meetings will ensure that purpose stays front of mind. Leaders can also ask team members to share how the company or team objectives connect to their personal goals, to ensure a common thread is maintained for all individuals. If this is a struggle or non-existent, even more reason to spend time on this.
Accountability: It may seem obvious, but accountability is alive and kicking in high performing teams. Each person takes their responsibilities seriously, and they aren’t afraid to respectfully call each other out if someone needs to step things up. Every single person has shared and individual accountability, and this encourages high standards across the whole team. Everyone is proud of their contribution and aware that they play an active role in the team’s success. Leaders can level up accountability by introducing peer accountability initiatives. This removes the onus on leaders being the only ones checking in on their team members, and it also empowers team members to actively support and check in with each other, even when the boss is away.
Mental Toughness: We often think it’s technical skills that separate the average team from the very best. However, it’s usually the less visible factors that make the biggest difference, and these typically go under the radar. High performing teams are resilient and able to recover from setbacks effectively. This ties in nicely with the ability to adopt a growth mindset, to learn from failure, and become stronger when faced with adversity. Adaptability and comfort with discomfort help top performing teams to get ahead of the competition, embrace change and exhibit forward-thinking behaviour rather than dwell on what’s not working. Leaders can put strategies in place to manage stress and support wellbeing, so that team members have a cushion against knocks that come their way. Stress-testing or simulating difficult situations can better prepare team members so they feel confident and supported when faced with adversity.
The reality is that high performing teams do not come about by chance. Every little factor can be fine-tuned to continuously optimise teams, adjust for things that don’t work and use feedback to identify where marginal gains can kick in. For sustainable high performance, we need to focus on more than just technical skills. We must consider the whole human, because this is where we can find our competitive advantage. If we are intentional about building sustainably high performing teams, we must also be patient and recognise that it takes time to change habits and replace them with more effective ones. Over time, this will allow us to unlock the potential of each individual and the team as a whole.
