How to Build a High-Performing Team: Best Practices for Successful Collaboration
Creating a high-performing team goes beyond just having one or two standout individuals. It’s about fostering an environment where every member works cohesively towards shared goals and maximises value for stakeholders across the business. But what makes a team high-performing? Is it having the right skills, the right personalities, or something else entirely?
In this blog post, we’ll explore the key elements that contribute to building a high-performing team based on insights from team coaching and leadership experts.
1. Define the Team's Purpose
Every team needs a clear sense of purpose. Why does the team exist? What is the work that can only be done collectively? Without a defined purpose, teams can easily devolve into groups of people working in parallel without meaningful collaboration. Defining your team’s purpose helps everyone focus on the shared goals that only your team can achieve, while also understanding what isn’t part of their collective responsibility.
Ask yourselves:
What is the work that we can only do together?
What are the goals that can’t be achieved by individual teams or departments?
For example, one team may be responsible for delivering a message from senior management to the rest of the business. This may include filtering sensitive information and ensuring clear, consistent communication to all stakeholders. This is their purpose – a clear mission that all team members work towards.
2. Establish Team Identity
A high-performing team needs a clear identity – one that both team members and others outside the team can recognise and respect. Team identity goes beyond the name or the logo; it’s about how the team presents itself both internally and externally.
How do we want to be perceived by others?
What is it like to be a part of this team?
When defining a team’s identity, consider the “team T-shirt” test – if the team had a T-shirt, what would it say? This can provide insight into how deeply the team identifies with their collective mission and how well they support each other in achieving it.
Teams with strong identities are aligned and can work through difficult challenges with consistency and professionalism.
3. Foster Relatedness and Trust
The foundation of a high-performing team is trust and relatedness. Teams must be able to communicate openly and honestly, trusting that members have each other’s backs. This creates an environment where psychological safety thrives, enabling difficult conversations to happen without fear of retribution or judgment.
Teams that have high relatedness are not just colleagues – they are people who understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses. They support each other, communicate effectively, and work towards a common goal with mutual respect. Without this foundation, teams can easily fragment, especially in high-stress environments.
4. Clarify Values and Beliefs
Every team has implicit or explicit norms of behaviour. These can either strengthen the team’s performance or undermine it. Clear values and beliefs guide the behaviours that are acceptable and expected within the team. This includes everything from accountability to feedback and how conflicts are resolved.
Teams should ask:
How do we behave towards each other?
How do we hold each other accountable?
What behaviours do we expect from each other in meetings?
A team charter can be a useful tool in setting these values. It ensures that everyone is on the same page and holds each other accountable for maintaining the team’s culture.
5. Increase Awareness of Impact
Awareness of individual and collective impact is crucial for team success. This includes understanding how your actions affect others and how the team’s behaviour influences the broader organisation. Tools like the Johari Window can help individuals become more aware of how they are perceived and how their actions contribute to the team's dynamic.
How aware are we of the impact we have on each other?
Are we able to give constructive feedback?
Teams that lack this self-awareness often struggle with interpersonal challenges that could be easily avoided with open dialogue. Encouraging honest and constructive feedback helps the team continue to grow and improve.
6. Refine Ways of Working
Every team needs clear guidelines on how to work together effectively. This includes deciding on meeting structures, decision-making processes, and methods of communication. Many teams start by creating meetings and ways of working before they define their purpose and identity, but the reverse is essential.
Start by answering questions such as:
How do we make decisions?
How do we hold each other accountable?
Do we need regular meetings, or can we communicate asynchronously?
By creating clear and efficient ways of working, teams ensure that time isn’t wasted, and everyone is aligned on how to approach their collective tasks.
7. Commit to Continuous Learning and Transformation
A high-performing team must always be evolving. The work will inevitably change, and the team must be flexible enough to adapt to new challenges. Continuous learning and growth are vital components of sustained high performance. Encourage the team to reflect on their progress, share lessons learned, and apply these insights to improve.
Teams can foster a learning culture by:
Sharing lessons learned from past projects.
Seeking feedback from stakeholders to identify areas for improvement.
Supporting each other’s professional development.
Final Thoughts
Building a high-performing team isn’t an overnight process, but with a clear sense of purpose, strong identity, trust, and effective ways of working, your team can reach new levels of collaboration and success. Focus on the seven key areas: purpose, identity, relatedness, values, awareness, ways of working, and transformation, and you’ll be well on your way to creating a team that consistently delivers value for your organisation.
By fostering a strong team culture, you’ll not only create value for your business but also a more engaging, supportive, and rewarding work environment for everyone involved.