How do you build a high-performing team?

A solid foundation is a good start

Build the project team with complementary thinking, skills and personalities in mind. Someone who does not fit into your team dynamic, no matter how experienced that person may be, will not be able to perform to the best of their ability. Remember to always pay attention to personalities, motivations and individual goals and do not rush when making a selection.

Successful onboarding and shared values are key. Provide relevant information about the team’s mission, vision and goals and assign mentors or buddies to promote rapid integration. Make sure that each individual can identify with the core principles to create a sense of unity.

Avoid confusion and conflict by clarifying the roles and responsibilities of each team member. Encourage open dialogue about tasks and help team members gain a better understanding of their tasks. In doing so, also explain the reasons for tasks and projects, which will help create commitment and a sense of shared responsibility.

Regular team building activities, both informal and formal, are also helpful in strengthening relationships and fostering team spirit.

Get to know and understand one another at different levels

Use check-in questions to get to know one another better and forge a stronger bond. This can range from informal questions to more in-depth questions about personal experiences. For example, you can get an initial insight into who you are using Adobe’s animated and creative personality test.

To gain an even better insight you can use personality tests such as Insights Discovery and Enneagram. These tests help gain insight into individual thinking patterns and behaviour. Sharing this information promotes understanding and generates a more profound sense of empathy within the team, which will also encourage communication and cooperation within your team.

Standards and values

Together, define norms and values within the team such as respect, openness, commitment, trust and cooperation. By communicating about them and integrating them into your daily tasks you will ensure that they are not empty words, but that norms and values truly matter within the team.

Patrick Lencioni has an excellent approach in this respect. He starts from the five dysfunctions of a team to build trust on the basis of healthy conflict, commitment, accountability and a focus on common goals.

Conflict Management

As with all human relationships, clashes can happen within a team. These conflicts can be valuable opportunities for growth, providing you approach them in the right way. Effective conflict management techniques, such as (renewed) active listening, asking open questions and looking for win-win solutions, are the keys to transforming conflict into seamless cooperation.

At an overarching level, a culture of respect and understanding is necessary to nip conflict in the bud. A useful tool in this respect is the Thomas and Kilmann questionnaire to help individual team members discover their own conflict style.

Changes are part of the daily routine

Changes happen every day in a work environment. For example, (unforeseen) changes to the project resulting in different or alternative tasks, or team members leaving the department or organisation and new faces joining.

When changes occur in a team, it is important to focus on the new team dynamics. According to the model of the social psychologist Bruce Tuckman a team passes through five phases in a set order to develop into an optimally functioning team:

• Forming  - The group is being created. There is no actual team spirit yet and the specific roles for team members have yet to be determined.
• Storming  - Team members have their own place within the group and share ideas about the division of roles between them. Conflicts are quite common during this phase.
• Norming- Roles have been defined and rules and methods on how to work together have been introduced. Team members provide one another with constructive feedback.
• Performing - During this phase the team operates independently. Team members trust each other and work together towards the intended goal.
• Adjourning - The team is disbanded. This happens, for example, when objectives have changed or when the project has been completed.

Remember that stagnation equals regression. Regularly inject new momentum into your team. New colleagues, a different environment or a change in procedure can bring new insights and provide the emotional stimulus that will encourage behavioural and cultural change.

As you can see, a high-performing team need not be a rare phenomenon. The answer lies in mutual understanding and especially in an awareness of how to deal with norms and values, conflict and change.

Feel free to contact us for further information this topic. We would be happy to assist.