5 Ways to Create a High-Performing Team

Introduction

It is a well-known fact the formation of a solid team and subsequently a high performing team requires conscious and deliberate effort besides landmark leadership. There are many factors that determine group performance, but when there is diversity of views, people communicate effectively and there are goals and trust in a team, even miracles are possible. Managers who decide to engage employees and develop them make work force to perform to the highest level. 

Here are 5 key ways leaders can help create high-performing teams:

1. Hire For Team Fit

Strategic efforts when onboarding newcomers should aim at having consistency in work and organizational culture, values, and goals. Don’t just assess people against their productivity; assess them against how well they fit into the existing organizational structure. But don’t only consider hard skills, include EI and soft skills as well. Strategic staffing for people brings them together in such a way that they form a team that will work cohesively.

2. Facilitate Open Communication

Effective multiteam systems share information freely and honestly with each other. Managerial leaders should create climates in organizations that allow people to feel comfortable to experiment, discuss, evaluate and, where needed, confront and criticize. Establish specific rules regarding conduct, and tone of communication. Allow people to contribute feedback in more than a single approach. And be a role model for the employees by demonstrating the areas of personal growth on the job. Such problem will be easier to solve if the problem will arise because the level of trust between the manager and the employee increases.  

3. Establish Alignment On Goals

Sometimes, organizational priorities may create conflicts, redundancies, as well as initiatives that are in conflict with each other. You need to identify and explain candidly the goals of the team and have a basis of mutual understanding of assignments and responsibilities. All activities should be tied to the strategic goals. Daily or at least weekly sync on what’s going well, what’s happening, and what is getting in the way is preservation of alignment. When a team is aligned on where they are going, they get moving.  

4. Build Working Relationships Based on Complementary Skills

There is need to identify the training needs for both individuals and the team as well as finding out areas of strength and development needs within the team. It is recommended to look for complementary skills that would enable group members maximize use of their strengths and develop on areas of weakness by reciprocation. In order align individuals in the capacity where the stronger ones can mentor the weaker ones do so deliberately. Valuing the differencesTodd, F, & Rotondo-Ribeiro, J (2011) recognize that repairing supervisors’ egos reduces tribalism Silos Only by valuing differences can one leverage diverse competencies.  

5. Terminate Trust and Psychological Safety

There is no way a team can be able to take risks, come up with new ideas as well as working at optimum production with out trust being placed on them or created. Managers should show employees that they care for them, for managers have to be role models, managers need to say sorry when they are wrong. Support the risky business endeavors and coinages that won’t always hit the ground running. Ensure that employees feel comfortable to ask what is probably perceived as ignorant questions and present ideas which may be seen as silly. Trust and psychological safety put teams in the driver’s seat and let them do what they feel could be described as magnificent.  

Conclusion

Building a great team involves paying a lot of attention in several areas - work-related culture, communication, role definition, member skills, and safety. Addressing the 5 areas of focus simplifies assisting a team to achieve maximum results and reach uncommon heights together. Therefore, investing in team development enables every person to grow to higher levels as well as take the organisation forward.