8 Tips for Building High-Performing Teams

Building a high-performance team should be a top priority for businesses that want to surpass competitors and set themselves apart as top performers in their industry. High-performing teams are proven to be better for business success, increasing productivity and profitability by 20% and customer satisfaction by 10%. Such teams function seamlessly together and uplift the organization in more ways than one by utilizing their strengths backed by a strong sense of purpose. This article will give you 8 tips for building high-performing teams so you can take your organization to the next level.

The first tip for building a high-performing team is to establish a shared purpose with which all team members are onboard.

Set a clear overarching goal for your team that reflects both, the business goals and your employees’ priorities. Establish a clear connection between organizational and team goals to make members aware of the importance of their roles and let them know the part they play in the organization and team. This will create alignment between team efforts and business objectives, leading to impactful results.

To increase team members’ ownership and accountability for their roles, develop goals at the team level by involving employees in the decision-making process.

This will not only open you up to innovative ideas and input from your team, but also increase employees’ psychological involvement in business endeavors, leading to better performance.

Hence, to build a high-performing team, encourage your employees to take initiative and give their input whenever important decisions are being made.

You can take team involvement in decision-making a step further by empowering employees to make decisions themselves and present full-fledged plans and strategies to the manager.

In other words, let team members independently make certain calls that are within their expertise. This will also foster collaboration, build team relationships, and build employees’ confidence, empowering them to take on more responsibilities for the team’s benefit.

Diversity is a crucial predictor of a business’s innovative potential. Hiring diversely opens up your organization to a wealth of cultures, upbringings, and experiences that can then be leveraged to develop original and novel products, services, features, etc.

Thus, diversity is crucial for building high-performing teams, as it broadens your teams’ horizons and creates interesting dynamics and exchanges of ideas.

Diversity also exposes teams to different values and lived experiences, enabling them to think for larger groups of people and cater to a more diverse consumer base/clientele.

Hiring diversely to build high-performing teams also comes with the responsibility to foster inclusion and trust among your employees to avoid friction and a subsequent loss of productivity.

Focus on equality and equity in your employee policies, educate your workforce about inclusive behavior, and weave diversity and inclusion into your organizational mission to hire well-aligned individuals.

Inclusion must also be modelled by the higher-ups so your teams know that organizational leadership walks the walk.

Inclusion will create psychological safety in your organization, letting employees express their ideas freely and act on them collaboratively. By doing so, your teams will function with dynamism and smoothness, leading to greater motivation and higher performance.

Communication is another cornerstone of good performance. Maintain clear communication channels with your team and establish communication SOPs so that team members are always kept in the loop of activities, projects, and timelines.

Create specific and common groups/channels where your team can communicate about relevant topics without any information getting lost.

Effective communication will set clear expectations and prevent errors from happening due to an inefficient relay of messages. It will also let team members know who and where to communicate in every situation, reducing the potential for confusion or a “Chinese whisper” situation.

Keeping team members motivated is essential for building high-performing teams. One of the most effective ways to do this is by rewarding your team’s achievements and performance.

These rewards could vary depending on the scale of the achievement, but ensure that you consistently show your appreciation and recognition to boost morale. Here is a list of the kinds of rewards you can give to your team:

• Verbal or written praise
• Gift-cards and coupons
• Performance bonuses
• Promotions
• Pay raises

Lastly, offer ample employee development opportunities in the form of courses, diplomas, workshops, conferences, and on-the-job training to ensure your teams are always up to date on the latest knowledge and skills.

Employee development opportunities are also essential for employee’s personal career development, making them more meaningful contributors to the team and organization’s output in a way that also aligns with their priorities.