High Performing Teams

1. Characteristics

Next, it's important to look at the characteristics and benefits of a high-performing team. You just saw in the hypothetical food truck scenario what it looked like to move through the stages of team development, but what you didn't see was what went on behind the scenes: all the communication that went on to make sure that everyone was very clear in their role.

Clearly explaining a role allows the person in that role to be accountable for their actions and leads to them feeling empowered. This leads to mutual trust. When a person's empowered in their role, you can learn to trust them. You see that they're passionate about the goal that they're moving toward. They know that you trust they'll do their job, and you'll let them do what they need to do.

hint

It's better to have a strong team and a weak plan than a weak team and a strong plan.

If there is a weak link, say in the example team, especially as small as it was, there's no way that the team could execute the plan effectively. If you develop a strong team, you can trust that they'll identify and overcome any obstacles that come in the way of a plan, even if it's not planned out as well as it should be.

Don't focus so much on the plan. Rather focus on the team. Once they're empowered and accountable, you know that the team is going to be able to jump over those obstacles and solve conflicts. This gives them confidence in their own abilities and the abilities of each other.

Characteristics of high-performing teams include:

• Clear expectations
• Individual accountability
• Mutual trust
• Strong communication
• Diverse contributions

All of these characteristics build on each other. While there's a diverse set of skills and strengths coming together on my team, there was a commitment to that team and the goals. Everyone worked together, so they're all dependent upon each other. They all build on each other.

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2. Benefits

You can see that strong communication leads to clear expectations. Clear expectations lead to doing the job well and being able to meet the team's needs. When someone does their job well, they're empowered and they're accountable. When someone's accountable, you trust them.

Benefits of high-performing teams include:

• Rapid solutions
• Increased productivity, quality, and efficiency

A strong team can solve conflict quickly and efficiently. With a strong team there's increased productivity, quality, and efficiency. The goal is met with few obstacles because a strong team knows how to solve obstacles and issues.