High Performing Teams 

Ever wonder why some teams seem to knock it out of the park while others flounder?  Here are three common mistakes companies make with their teams:

 

What goal? 

 

Despite best intentions, there is often a lack of clear and compelling goals.  There might be a “goal” but team members frequently have different definitions of success and different expectations about the priorities and path to achieve a goal.  They may not even understand how their work fits into the bigger picture or why it matters.  Ensuring everyone is inspired by clearly defined goals ensures that everyone is giving their best every day to progress in the same direction.

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Who’s got the ball?  

 

Having a team of only goalies or linemen will not lead to success no matter how hard working and talented each player is.  Most team members have a whole host of skills that could serve the team, but if teams don’t explicitly define who’s doing what, balls get dropped.  Or worse, team members butt heads - proverbially or in actuality – because they have overlapping responsibilities.  The result is not only hurtful to the company’s goals, but to the camaraderie necessary to have a high functioning team.  Once roles and responsibilities have been clarified, it’s also possible to confirm whether the team has the right composition, or as Jim Collins states in Good to Great:  “getting the right people in the right seats”.

 

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We don’t have time to connect

 

A pitfall that many teams fall into is the idea that they just don’t have time for all that “soft stuff” like communications and team building.  Unfortunately, teams who are not communicating invariably end up getting out of synch or at worst actually working at cross purposes.  With audacious goals, tight timelines and strict budgets it is only a matter of time before team stress reaches a fever pitch.  Relationships and trust that team members built during the “soft stuff” is what will provide the grace needed to get through the tough times.  Time “wasted” in service to team building and regular communications is nothing compared to the time wasted in “company drama”, confusion and misfires. A connected team is like an elite rowing crew – united in a common goal, multiplying their strength and trouncing their competition.