Characteristics of High-Performing Teams

Characteristics of High-performing Teams

All high performing teams have four characteristics, which combine to create peak performance:

1. Goal focused.
2. Diverse skill sets.
3. Well-prepared and organised.
4. Cooperative.

1. Goal focused.

All teams exist to achieve goals. Teams that do NOT achieve their goals are NOT high performing.

If teams are to achieve goals, they must have a goal-focused mind set.

Many people are not goal-focused. Instead of focusing on goals, they focus on office politics, or distractions, or gossip.

Goal-focused teams are not side-tracked by internal distractions. Instead, they are committed to the goal.

2. Diverse skill sets.

All high-performing teams are composed of members with a variety of complementary skills.

Just as football teams need different skills - strikers, mid fielders, wingers, defenders and goalkeepers - so teams need a diversity of skill sets and attitudes.

Nobody is good at everything, and we need others around us to do the things we cannot.

A diversity of skills ensures the team as a whole has the intellectual, technical and psychological capabilities to solve problems that inevitably occur.

3. Well prepared and organised.

All goals need plans capable of achieving them. High-performing teams prepare detailed, practical plans and utilise their limited resources in the most efficient manner.

Failure to prepare practical plans causes people to act on impulse which is rarely the most efficient way to do business.

Failure to organise resources so that we have everything in the right place at the right time, is the cause of many disasters.

Therefore, all effective teams pride themselves on their excellent planning and organisational skills.

4. Cooperative.

All high performing teams are staffed with people of diverse natures, and skills, which means they see the same situations differently.

This fact may be the cause of conflict, but effective teams do NOT compete against each other. Instead they cooperate with each other, because they recognise that other members all have the same goal in mind.

Low-performing teams are staffed by combative people who squabble amongst themselves and spend their time managing internal conflicts.

High-performing teams are staffed by cooperative people who work together and negotiate joint solutions to their shared problems.

Team Leader Training

Team Leaders have an important role to play in ensuring their teams are high-performing. It is vital that they receive the right Team Leader training to enable them to lead and motivate their teams.

Definition: high-performing team

In business, a high-performing team is a team that hits peak results because its members keep a clear goal, bring varied skills, plan every task with care and work together smoothly; if any of these four traits drops, the team can no longer be called high-performing.

Article Summary

High-performing teams reach peak results because they lock on clear goals, blend diverse skills, plan every step with care and back each other without ego; when leaders train to guide this mix, steady success follows.

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Did You Know: Key Statistics

About the Author: Chris Farmer

Chris Farmer is the founder of the Corporate Coach Group and has many years' experience in training leaders and managers, in both the public and private sectors, to achieve their organisational goals, especially during tough economic times. He is also well aware of the disciplines and problems associated with running a business.

Over the years, Chris has designed and delivered thousands of training programmes and has coached and motivated many management teams, groups and individuals. His training programmes are both structured and clear, designed to help delegates organise their thinking and, wherever necessary, to improve their techniques and skills.

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Further Reading in Teamwork

• A Good Team Builder
  Learn how goal focused leadership turns team building into profit. Keep diverse staff united around one clear goal and watch cohesion, trust and results rise.
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• Tuckman's Five Stages of Team Development
  Discover the Tuckman model's five team development stages and learn why leaders must move from description to action to raise team performance and morale.
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• Characteristics of High-performing Teams
  High-performing teams hit goals by mixing diverse skills, tight planning and full cooperation; trained leaders build these habits and turn effort into profit.
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• Staff development training
  Learn how staff training built on goals, clear talk, plans, reasoned conflict, self motivation and inspiring leadership lifts staff performance and profit.
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• Team Problem Solving
  Learn the Mastermind Principle for team problem solving: form a small, diverse group, set a shared goal and watch creativity rise, speed and profits soar.
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