Research & Insights – High Performance Teams
Introduction
This quarter we look at high performance – in individuals, teams and organisations.
Every organisation has a culture but not every organisation has a high performance culture – a culture that enables you to build, create and maintain financial, people and brand sustainability.
Propelling this are the real conversations instigated by courageous leaders who have the confidence, conviction and courage to tell others how they are really feeling, what they are really thinking and what they really expect.
A high performance culture is one where people ‘say it as it is’’ and the systems and technology deliver as promised – no matter how tough this might be.
What is Self Mastery? A Case Study
Self Mastery can be a difficult process to both explain and understand. When coaching a young man, this analogy was used to help him understand the concept.
Why create a high performance culture? Because it means the organisation consistently achieves its core purpose:
- attracting the right type of customer,
- generating the right level and right kind of revenues,
- producing the right level of bottom line performance,
- creating the right level of return to its shareholders,
- providing the right type of place for people to work, allow people to feel they belong and allow people to perform to their true potential,
- develop the right kind of brand in the market,
- partner suppliers so as to bring out the best from them and
- adhere to socially and environmentally responsible behaviours
Long term, whole of business sustainability is assured when this core purpose is achieved.
High Performing Teams and Organisations
Collaboration is the essential ingredient for a team to operate in the high performance space. Yet in my experience too few people have really experienced collaboration in their business teams. I believe most business people experience compromise and mistake it for collaboration.
High Performing Individuals
The achievement of a high performance culture requires high performing teams and high performing teams require high performing individuals i.e. people!
As an individual what can you do to move into the high performing space? As a leader, how do you get the best from your people?
The Practicalities – What Prevents the Creation of a High Performing Team?
The goal of a creating and performing as a high performing team is a big one – it’s not an easy thing to do or maintain but that which creates excellent results is rarely without hard work.
Thought for the Quarter
For me, the success of building a High Performance team comes not solely from the more conventional ways of skills and behavioural training but more profoundly from the willingness for each individual to take 100% personal responsibility not only for themselves but for the whole team.
This is a Courageous way of turning up in the world because what it really means is that if there is a lack of performance in the team, it is highlighting a situation for each person to own rather than only the people directly with whom the issue shows up for. When we see an issue arise in a team where we are not getting what we really want, say a team member who is always dragging their heels or not meeting their promised deadlines, instead of having the attitude of, ‘ well that’s their problem, not mine’ a Courageous Leader would take a moment to look closely at what is occurring inside them to see in what way they are contributing to that dynamic.