Building a High Performance Team

When building a high performance team, regardless of your leadership qualities, the quality of your team, or the business environment in which you work, you are going to face obstacles and difficult situations.

This is the harsh reality of dealing with a human run ever-changing workplace. Much of what you'll face as a team will be out of your immediate control. Ultimately, it will be your team's response to it's reality that determines the success or failure of your organization.

Leading a team starts by realizing that people need to be dealt with as individuals.

Maybe you're saying, "Isn't that going to give some people privileges over others?"

No.

People have individual personalities, needs, and desires that need to be dealt with on a per-by-person basis.

Your job as a team leader, is to respond equitably to the needs of each individual team member, creating an environment where an advanced performance team can emerge and sustain itself.

"To create a high performance team we must replace typical management activities like supervising, checking, monitoring, and controlling with new behaviors like coaching and communicating."

--Ray Smith
CEO, Bell-Atlantic

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In my experience, both as a team leader and a team member I've found it difficult to manage the needs of my team members, but the case is clear. . . your team responds better when you take care of their needs individually.

Most peaked performance teams have members who appreciate their personalities (quirks and all), and who take their member's needs into account foremost in their decision making.

The Thought Counts. . .

. . . when a manager takes the time and energy to learn their team members' personalities, likes, dislikes, and needs and assesses how she can best serve them as a leader with a job to do.

Take Your Team From Unsustainable to Unstoppable

The key to building an unstoppable team is by finding the individual needs of your team members. I've already made this point. . . but while you're examining your team this way you may find the hidden value in each team member that takes you to the next level.

By looking closely you find hidden assets within each of your team members. This hidden vein of gold makes the difference between an average and an advanced team.

People Create the Core of a High Performance Team

• The more "individuals" the more hidden assets you'll find, when you look
• Better lateral thinking. Many minds focused upon a specific goal creates many possibilities for achieving it.
• A core goal. Attainable through finding the core of your team.

Team leadership skills support a high performance team