Achieve excellence with a high performing team

Successful people know that team work is critical to achieving performance. Henry Ford’s wise words sum this up: "Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."

We believe there are two essential factors that achieve teamwork. Not only must a group work flexibly to accomplish a shared goal, but a team that has a good time while they are doing it will generally over-achieve.

Team work is easier said than done though, as at its heart, you are still dealing with a range of individuals. So what is the key to creating success? Here are a few practical tips to use with your team.

Output versus objective

Getting things done is important and indeed that is the first step to achieving performance. A high performing team will take this one step further and be flexible enough to adapt to challenges that arise during the journey. This is incredibly important as projects evolve and become more complex.

Visibility of shared goals

Commitment is paramount to performance but before a team can commit to the goal, every member needs to understand what they are striving for and how they can make a difference. Don't forget to paint the bigger picture of how this particular project will achieve the company’s vision. This three-pronged approach allows individuals to see how they can personally contribute to the team’s goals, and understand how this will affect bottom-line results.

Creating a winning culture

People want to work for organisations with a great culture and this starts at the team or project level. In fact every individual is responsible for driving culture. Positive culture is derived from a series of factors, the first of which is accountability. Everyone has a role to play in being accountable and holding others to the same standard. Secondly, diversity and differences should be embraced as different people will raise different concerns. This leads us into the fact that teamwork is based around learning. Only through feedback will continuous improvement take place.

People + process = performance

Underpinning every successful team are solid processes. It may sound like an oxymoron, but it is process that allows a team to be flexible as a project continues. It’s critical as part of your process to gain agreement by everyone on the following:

• Communication needs to be timely and effective
• Agree how decisions will be made and enforced
• Conflict or issues need to be addressed early
• Meetings should always have an agenda, a clear outcome and actions need to be captured, communicated and deadlines set

High performing teams achieve incredible feats. Let’s go back to the example of Henry Ford, whose team work and high performing culture revolutionised the motor industry, devising the assembly line and transforming a luxury item into an affordable asset.

What is your team going to be remembered for?

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