Since the days, organizations started, teamwork has been one of the fundamental pillars of an organization’s success. Quick and professional collaborative work gives businesses the credence and ability to deliver high-quality products and services, punctually. However, forming a flexible and friendly team is a refined human science. This is because all team members are different and consequently everyone needs a bespoke and personalized approach. Simultaneously, all team members should be instructed on how to act as a single entity.

So, what’s the secret behind a high performance team? How do leaders build one within their organizations? Let’s explore some answers

Defining a high-performance team

It’s not that people working on a common project in one room can be called a team. When we talk of team, we are talking about qualified professionals who share the same values and come together to achieve a common business goal. Such professionals know how to solve the problems efficiently and demonstrate a prominent level of communication and cooperation, providing the expected business results and creating the desired business impact.

Considerations, when building a team

1. Team size: One of the most common mistakes that some leaders tend to do when building a team is to gather a large number of members. In most cases, teams of more than seven people experience poor coordination, increased stress and low productivity. This happens because some tasks remain incomplete due to those members who don’t take the initiative, assuming that “it’s someone else’s responsibility.” In addition, based on data, large teams are more likely to face coordination and communication issues. Hence, a team of five to six specialists is the golden average.

2. Diversity & inclusion: Over the past few years, business leaders have focused more on building diverse teams and be more inclusive. Actions in this area includes hiring people of different genders, ages, nationalities and from other underrepresented groups. When forming a perfect team, leaders need to pay special heed to the team members’ life stories and their individual differences. Leaders need to remember that strength lies in diversity and the most creative ideas are usually born in teams which are characterized by a diverse views.

3. Inter personal relations: As Peter Schutz, Porsche’s former chief executive officer, famously said, “Hire character. Train skills.” While a team member’s job experience is significant, their ability to interact with their peers should not be underestimated either. Leaders need to understand their level of emotional intelligence. They also need to learn, how well can they deal with conflicts and complaints? In what way do they react to critics? It’s also a great practice to explore employees’ behaviour and reactions to stress levels.

Creating a high-performance team

1. Create a clear mission.

An organization’s success and teamwork begins with a well-defined mission statement. This factor plays a crucial role in every team. For example, historically, all noble sports teams have achieved significant results and victories because they had a clear plan and mission uniting all players. The same works for every team. It’s because great leaders are able to articulate a clear team vision and mission that is aligned to the corporate vision and mission. These leaders are able to make the team members know who they are, where they are moving up the career ladder and what they can achieve. The correct mission statement creates a common goal that allows teams to get the desired business results.

2. Set up effective lines of communication.

Communication is one of the most consequential aspects of strong teams. A lack of understanding of how to communicate effectively in a team can have some serious repercussions. When managing a team, leaders need to make sure that all members have direct and boundaryless communication lines with one another. This can lead to increased team motivation, productivity and profitability. Teams that communicate regularly clearly understand the common goal and can support each other without competition. Additionally, it ensures tasks don’t stagnate, and the working environment becomes flexible, innovative and empowering.

3. Share feedback regularly.

Feedback is vital to your team as it helps all team members see their contribution to the business goals and understand how organizational leaders view them. When leaders communicate openly and share honest feedback to each team member, they provide valuable experience that keeps their team united. Feedback, further opens the way for coaching conversations.

4. Contribute to team members’ professional development.

The more leaders invest in their team, the better their business’ bottom line will be. Great leadership is all about developing and empowering the team. Leaders may look at the following ways of improving their team members’ expertise and overall job satisfaction.

• Training: professional courses that empowers team members to stay on top of the latest knowledge and skills pertaining to their field.
• Possibilities and perks: to meet employees’ needs and engage them within the team.
• Appreciation: having a robust rewards and recognition mechanism.

5. Track team’s projects’ progress.

Progress tracking of projects is an integral part of a productive work process. When the leader and the team knows how much time is devoted to a specific task, what goals need to be achieved and who is responsible for the tasks, the leader is on the right path to achieving the objectives. Further, properly organized progress tracking allows the SMEs to quickly identify which parts need to be improved upon, as well as bottlenecks that are preventing the project from development.

Evidently, a high-performing team plays an essential role in overall business growth. Using the above fundamentals, go a long way towards building a cohesive team that is effective and creates the desirable business impact.

This blog has been written by Meena Murugappan, an Associate Partner at Growthsqapes.