What is a Performance-Driven Team? What Characteristics Do They Have?

Apr 22

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How can your team outperform others? By becoming a high-performance team, of course.

This is how Harvard Business Review defines a team:

“A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.”

Add “high-performance” or “performance-driven” into the mix and you’ve got yourself a small number of people, with all of the above, who consistently produce results that exceed expectations and goals. High-performance teams outshine others when it comes to meeting business needs.

Leaders boast about teamwork, but not many know what these admirably successful teams entail.

Let’s take a look at the common characteristics

Common purpose

Vision, objectives, and values should be aligned amongst every member of the team. These shared notions are what drives decisions. When all team members understand the ultimate goal, what the priorities are, and are in agreement with how to navigate the path to success; less time is spent questioning what the next move shall be, which means more time on execution.

Specific performance goals

Teams understand exactly what needs to be achieved together through individual efforts. The SMART model is commonly used to set goals.

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Attainable

R = Realistic

T = Time-bound

Open communication

Everyone feels that their voices are heard, perspectives matter, and are thoughtful in deliverance to ensure messages are clear and respectful. There is a habit of engagement within the team to share information and make certain the entire team is aligned.

Diverse, complementary skill sets

Birds of the same feather flock together” is an old saying which refers to how people share many similarities (values, interests, backgrounds, thoughts, etc.) tend to form groups with one another. In a business setting, this isn’t ideal. For example, if everyone on the team possess mainly technical skills, areas outside of technical functions such as sales or marketing will be weak. High caliber teams comprise of individuals in these three skill groups:

Technical/functional
Decision-making/problem solving
Interpersonal

Accountability

Another word for this could be “discipline”. There is a responsibility to not only oneself to consistently perform at a high level, but also to the entire team. The mentality is similar to:

“If they fail, I fail. And if I fail, they fail. Therefore, I need to consistently give great results, as well as do what I can to help my teammates succeed.”

Flexible and adaptable

There’s low resistance to and efficiency in adjusting what’s needed when new challenges arise. A team’s response time attests to their ability to meet goals by critical deadlines.

Continuous learning

There’s an emphasis on persistent improvement and development as individuals, as well as a team. This also touches on reactions to failures. Calculated risks are welcomed, therefore there’s bound to be mistakes and undesired results. These moments are viewed as learning opportunities rather than complete setbacks.

Does your team exhibit these characteristics? If not, what can you do to push your team towards becoming a high-performance team?