Characteristics of High-Performing Teams

Important: GDPR Email Preferences

As you may already know, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will be coming into effect on 25th May 2018. We take your privacy seriously and we are working hard to ensure we comply with the new data protection laws. You can find out more about how we're doing this in our privacy policy on our website.

We want to make sure you continue to receive the latest newsletters, blogs, special offers and more.

As someone who has opted-in to receive our emails in the past, we’d like to give you this opportunity to confirm what you wish to receive:

Just so you know, if you don’t let us know what kinds of emails you want to receive from us, we’ll stop emailing you on the 24th May 2018 - you'll be missing out!

You are of course free to change your mind at any time – just follow the link at the bottom of any of our emails.

Characteristics of High-performing Teams

All high performing teams have four characteristics, which combine to create peak performance:

1. Goal focused.
2. Diverse skill sets.
3. Well-prepared and organised.
4. Cooperative.

1. Goal focused.

All teams exist to achieve goals. Teams that do NOT achieve their goals are NOT high performing.

If teams are to achieve goals, they must have a goal-focused mind set.

Many people are not goal-focused. Instead of focusing on goals, they focus on office politics, or distractions, or gossip.

Goal-focused teams are not side-tracked by internal distractions. Instead, they are committed to the goal.

2. Diverse skill sets.

All high-performing teams are composed of members with a variety of complementary skills.

Just as football teams need different skills - strikers, mid fielders, wingers, defenders and goalkeepers - so teams need a diversity of skill sets and attitudes.

Nobody is good at everything, and we need others around us to do the things we cannot.

A diversity of skills ensures the team as a whole has the intellectual, technical and psychological capabilities to solve problems that inevitably occur.

3. Well prepared and organised.

All goals need plans capable of achieving them. High-performing teams prepare detailed, practical plans and utilise their limited resources in the most efficient manner.

Failure to prepare practical plans causes people to act on impulse which is rarely the most efficient way to do business.

Failure to organise resources so that we have everything in the right place at the right time, is the cause of many disasters.

Therefore, all effective teams pride themselves on their excellent planning and organisational skills.

4. Cooperative.

All high performing teams are staffed with people of diverse natures, and skills, which means they see the same situations differently.

This fact may be the cause of conflict, but effective teams do NOT compete against each other. Instead they cooperate with each other, because they recognise that other members all have the same goal in mind.

Low-performing teams are staffed by combative people who squabble amongst themselves and spend their time managing internal conflicts.

High-performing teams are staffed by cooperative people who work together and negotiate joint solutions to their shared problems.

Team Leader Training

Team Leaders have an important role to play in ensuring their teams are high-performing. It is vital that they receive the right Team Leader training to enable them to lead and motivate their teams.

About the Author: Chris Farmer

Chris Farmer is the founder of the Corporate Coach Group and has many years’ experience in training leaders and managers, in both the public and private sectors, to achieve their organisational goals, especially during tough economic times. He is also well aware of the disciplines and problems associated with running a business.

Over the years, Chris has designed and delivered thousands of training programmes and has coached and motivated many management teams, groups and individuals. His training programmes are both structured and clear, designed to help delegates organise their thinking and, wherever necessary, to improve their techniques and skills.

Blogs by Email

Do you want to receive an email whenever we post a new blog? The blogs contain article 5-10 minutes long - ideal for reading during your coffee break!

Further Reading in Teamwork

• Tuckman's Five Stages of Team Development
  What is Tuckman's five stages of team development model and is it the best way for leaders to get the best performance from their teams?
  Read Article >
• Team Problem Solving
  It is a fact that the most profitable ideas are usually the fruits of more than one brain. These ideas are usually the fruits of many minds working in harmony, to solve a shared problem. The best way to achieve this is using the Mastermind method.
  Read Article >
• How can I get the team to work together?
  Do your team members sometimes fight amongst themselves, and tend to work against each other; rather than with each other? If so, what can you do about it?
  Read Article >
• Be a Team Player
  Think carefully about how you can make the lives of your fellow team members better. If you do, then you will be considered to be a positive, beneficial addition to the team. If you don't, you won't.
  Read Article >
• Building effective teams
  Building an effective team An effective team is a valuable asset An effective team has the ability to pool its mental, intellectual, emotional and material resources in such a way, that the performance of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, meaning: that if the members work together...
  Read Article >

Looking for People Management Skills Training?

If you're looking to develop your Teamwork Skills, you may find this People Management Skills Training Course beneficial:

Open Training Course Pricing and Availability

Next Open Course Starts in 6 days, Online - Teams, places available Book Now >