A couple weeks ago, I gave a talk on high-performing teams. You can catch the recording here.
The gist of it is, I’ve worked with many different teams. I’d consider a few of them to be “high-performing.” To me, that means the team works well together to produce a high-quality product that satisfies their customers’ needs.
Here’s what those teams had in common:
Purpose
Teams knew exactly why they were there. What difference their work made. How they were improving the lives of their customers. Every single person on the team could articulate it. This purpose can be documented through vision, mission, mission tests, OKRs, product goals and/or sprint goals as long as they are meaningful and focus on the team’s impact.
Cross-functionality
Everyone on the team does what needs to be done regardless of their specialization. On these teams, you don’t hear, “That’s not my job.” Instead, you hear, “How can I help?” You don’t see work being assigned to team members. Instead, you see the team working together to break down the work, swarm, and pair program.
Time
It takes time for people to get to know each other and establish an effective way of working. Forming, storming, norming, performing is a very real thing.
Every time you take away from it by adding a new person, taking someone away and assigning them to another team, sharing people across teams (don’t get me started on “shared resources”), the team takes a step back, usually into the “storming” category.
Motivation
Every single training I did at the start of my agile coaching career insisted on showing this video summary of Dan Pink’s Drive.
At the time, I wanted to scream.
Now, I get it. Motivation is another concept I see play out again and again on teams.
Low-performing teams are micromanaged, deadlined to death, and have no reason to do their work other than to collect a paycheck.
High-performing teams are trusted to decide what to do and how to do it. They’re given space and support to learn and improve. And they’re clear on why they’re there. Autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
Culture
This is the hardest one, especially in the remote age. Culture encompasses diversity, safety, trust, and vulnerability. It’s the difference between cameras on and cameras off (though not always). The difference between, “Why didn’t she just Google that?” and “How can we get our teams the information they need?” It’s how willing we are to admit our mistakes, our hopes, our fears, and our accomplishments.
High-performing teams know at least a little bit about people’s identities outside of work. There’s space for conversation. There’s time spent having fun. We see cats, kids, partners, and projects on camera. It’s more than just icebreakers and team-building exercises. And it comes from every level, including leaders.
Every high-performing team I’ve worked with has had these things in common. It’s less about performance and more about cohesion. It takes time and work to get there – months, sometimes years. It can be frustrating and you’ll make mistakes along the way.
And all of it is absolutely worth it.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash