06 May TSLH #018: 4 Pillars To Build A High-Performing Team
Read time: 4 minutes
Whether you’re a first-time manager or the seasoned leader of a team, chances are, your goal is to build a high-performing team.
I mean, I have yet to meet a leader who tells me “I want to have the lowest performing team ever and I’ll be proud of that when that happens!”
Building a high performing team can be a dauting vision. I’ll argue though that if you build the foundations the proper way, your vision will be much easier to achieve.
There are 4 pillars I recommend to build so that you lay strong foundations for your high-performing team.
For each pillar, I will tell you what the typical behaviors of low vs. high performing teams are. Then I’ll give you a few questions you can use for yourself or with your team to work on going from LOW to HIGH.
Shared values and behaviors.
Questions for reflection and discussion:
- What are values or beliefs that you have and that you see key for the team to embrace as a group?
- How do we want to keep each other on the team accountable for the shared values and beliefs we adopt?
- What process will we follow if someone does not behave as agreed on the team?
Safe space to learn from mistakes.
Questions for reflection and discussion:
- What does everybody need to have in meetings or discussions to be comfortable talking openly about issues and disagreements?
- How will we keep each other accountable for admitting mistakes and finding solutions or better ways of doing things when we make mistakes?
- What process do we want to follow to discuss the learning from mistakes we make?
Healthy conflicts.
Questions for reflection and discussion:
- How do we want to handle conflicts and disagreements when they arise on the team?
- How do we want to keep people on the team accountable with our desire to stay clear of judgment, blame, and finger pointing?
- How do we stay accountable to each other for expressing disagreements openly with the team or in 1-1’s?
Mutual accountability.
Questions for reflection and discussion:
- What is the role of the leader on the team? What is the role of everyone one else on the team as far as leadership is concerned?
- What are decisions that can be made by anyone on the team as part of our shared leadership and mutual accountability agreement?
- How do we exemplify leadership?
Remember, you won’t build a house on weak foundations and you won’t build a house in one day. This is exactly the same for a high-performing team. A high-performing team needs strong foundations and will take time to build. I recommend to start with building the 4 pillars I discussed in that newsletter. This is done through a lot of discussion and listening, and exchanging views, opinions, perspectives of the same topic. The outcome of these discussions though will be enormous for you: Engagement, trust, accountability, collaboration, productivity, etc. Why would you not want to have that on your team?
I wish you a great read. I’ll see you next Saturday!
TL; DR (Too Long, Did not Read)
4 pillars to build a high-performing team
- Shared values and behaviors.
- Safe space to learn from mistakes.
- Healthy conflicts.
- Mutual accountability.
Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
1️⃣ Work 1-1 with me to step up as the authentic leader you aspire to be.
2️⃣ Hire me to help you build a high-performing team.
3️⃣ Start with my affordable digital courses on Mastering Difficult Conversations for Leaders and Goal Setting