What makes a high-performing team?

It’s usually quite easy to spot when a team isn’t really working as a team.

You can have a room full of talented people, each of them very good at what they do, and still find that it doesn’t quite add up.

You see it in sport all the time. A football club can bring together world-class players from around the world, but if they don’t gel, the team can still underperform.

The individual talent is there. But that isn’t what makes a team.

Creating a team should be easy in sport, we are all focused on being World Champions or winning an Olympic gold medal, but still it doesn’t happen.

I know the same thing is even more difficult and yet just as vital in business.

If you don’t understand the foundations of building a culture and a high-performing team, it’s simply a case of luck rather than proactive work if it does happen in your business.

More than a collection of good people

For me, a high-performing team has a few things in common.

• People know what their job is.
• They trust the people around them to do their job.
• When things don’t go to plan, they rally around and get the job done.
• They’re well led.
• They manage conflict well.
• They keep learning and improving.
• They have a single-minded goal that they are determined to achieve.

That last point really, really, really matters. Without that, the team will be under-achieving.

A team can have good people, good processes and good intentions, but if everyone is pulling towards a slightly different outcome, it becomes much harder to perform consistently.

There needs to be a shared goal that everyone understands and is committed to.

I talk about what I think makes a high-performing team, and why a lifeboat crew is such a good example, in this short video.

A shared goal

We often look at elite sport when we talk about high-performing teams. The All Blacks are an obvious example.

But for me, a lifeboat crew is just as powerful.

If you’ve ever watched Saving Lives at Sea, you’ll have seen what real teamwork looks like, and those characteristics shine through.

That’s what makes them such a good example of a high-performing team.

For businesses, the lesson is really about clarity, trust, leadership and most importantly a shared sense of purpose.

A group of individuals or a real team?

Take a look at your business through the same lens.

When things get difficult, do people work together naturally? Do they know where they’re heading and what they need from each other to get there?

Having good people is a great starting point. The real difference comes when those individuals know how to work together as a team.

What do you see when you look around your business?