High Performing Teams
When leading a team, irrespective of the domain, creating a high performing team is integral to success. But what is a high performing team, why is it important and, how do you build one?
What is a high performing team?
A high performing team is one that knows what good looks like and knows how to get there.
A high performing team works together, communicates effectively, and is comfortable in having challenging but constructive conversations.
At an individual and team level everyone pulls in the same direction, they demonstrate ownership and accountability and consistently commit and deliver.
A high performing team owns their product, and takes full responsibility for keeping it safe, secure, robust and reliable by ensuring they have balanced sprints that focus not just on new features but ensuring they address security and technical debt issues in parallel.
Why is building a high performing team important?
As someone responsible for a team, your aim should be to ‘lead’, not manage. You should look to guide, direct and help people to see and think for themselves.
As Captain David Marquet essentially details in his book, ‘Turn the Ship around’, a managed team will always need to be told what to do, they will look for someone to make the decisions for them, a high performing team however won’t, they will instinctively know what to do.
If a team has been coached effectively they will understand ‘why’ they do what they do, and, they will know what good looks like. For anything they do they will consider the value which enables them to make the ‘right’ decision.
This is critical to success. You don’t want your team to look to you in order to make anything happen. This makes you a blocker. When you go on holiday, if you’re sick or have a meeting, the team shouldn’t stop, they should continue on seamlessly, always knowing what the right call is and thus knowing you will support them. You will not achieve this if you dictate to the team. You will achieve this by effective coaching and clear direction setting.
How do you build a high performing team?
Patrick Lencioni talks about ‘The Five Dysfunctions of a Team’ in his book.
Below are the five items he believes will stop a team from being successful:
These (starting from the bottom) are what you, as a leader need to be aware of and this is what you need to work on right from the start. These are what you need to drive in everything you do with your team.
Get your team talking. Something as simple as getting everyone to say hello. Encourage those that are quiet to find their voice and, when they do, be proactive in providing encouraging feedback. Build relationships with your team, engage them and learn about them as people. Find what blocks them and work with them to identify resolutions. The culture you create dictates how happy your team and, a happy team is a motivated team!
Your team will need to know what good looks like and governance should be in place to make sure things happen, e.g. for a sprint, what are the definitions of ready and done. Your team should define how they will work with other teams and how they’d like to be interacted with (i.e. support requests, new work etc…). All of this needs to be a group effort, not dictated from on-high. Your team will need to buy into this for it to be effective, and that can only happen by involving them in the process and working together to create the definitions.
Constantly evaluate and be prepared to change. As a group you should always be looking and what is going well and what isn’t, and indeed what may cause your successes to become failures. Try new things. Experiment and learn. Never forget that a great idea can come from the most junior person in the team. Never be afraid to fail…but fail small and learn from it!
Together you will define processes that ensure quality is baked in and protect your team from a 2am wake-up call.
Summary
In order to be successful your team needs to be able to think for themselves and to know what the right calls are. A high performing team starts with you… It is your actions that will naturally build trust and allow for strong and challenging conversations, a focus on commitment and a strong desire to commit and deliver. Your coaching and processes will be what ensures your team consistently delivers value, and is proud of what they create. You set the standards through your actions and behaviours.
It is your actions, your coaching and encouragement that will allow your team to become a team of strong thinkers, who feel free, love what they do and work as a unit. Negative mindsets spread so, where it happens, be clear it’s not acceptable and encouage solutions, not problems.
You build a high performing team by working with them, supporting them, rolling up your sleeves and being an integral part of the team. You encourage psychological safety by giving everyone a voice, listening and supporting and focusing on the positives, whilst avoiding the negatives.
