Have you ever come across a team that is self-motivated, inspiring, and joyful? A team that makes you love work and attend office every day, a team that encourages you to achieve all the goals you desire?
With such a team, you feel a great sense of belonging and know that you have others to back you during situations of crisis. This team ensures that work is fun and each day at the workplace is exciting.
On the contrary
Have you worked with a team that constantly has conflicts and disagreements? A team where you are not sure of whether you should share your opinions or not? People are afraid and don’t really bother about what you are doing or your happiness.
They work for themselves and there’s no sense of coordination. Work is painful and exhausting. You just wait to get on a vacation and take some time off the team.
Why is it that the environment of these two teams is so different?
We evaluated several work teams with different individuals. The behaviour of leaders affects the way a high-performance team functions. Here are 5 factors that can help build high-performance work teams and improve efficiency:
1. Team Leaders are an inspiration
Leaders play a significant role in creating the pull in high-performance teams. They keep the energy and enthusiasm high. As a result, team members remain inspired and motivated. They feel as though they are on a mission to achieve something and are doing something that is of great value.
2. Team Leaders maintain cooperation
Conflicts can cause major disagreements in a team. Leaders have the responsibility to instantly work on such conflicts and ensure cooperation persists.
A lot of times, leaders believe that members are mature adults and can manage conflicts themselves. But, that is not true. If adults were really mature, the number of divorces, separations, and wars would not have been this way.
High-performance teams address differences immediately. This requires immense involvement on the part of the team leader, bringing members to a level of maturity to handle the dispute.
In fact, when people realize that other members are trustworthy and have their back, they want to resolve conflicts at the earliest. Team leaders who place an emphasis on cooperation instead of competition are able to achieve outstanding performance.
3. Team Leaders focus on the extraordinary
Employees don’t like to do the usual. They don’t want to be just like any other team. Leaders who can set stretch goals and really motivate the team to achieve more than what they need to, build high-performance teams. They make employees accept their own capability and competence.
Achieving something extraordinary gives team members the opportunity to know that they are exceptional and can challenge themselves. They achieve a sense of satisfaction with their engagement and pride increasing to the next level.
4. Team Leaders with clear communication
Leaders of high-performance teams ensure that people remain on track. They frequently communicate the mission and vision so that no one gets distracted. Team members can get diverted with what’s happening around in the organization but it is the job of the team leader to ensure that members do not lose track of where they are heading.
High-performance leaders keep members informed of current achievements, expected achievements, and the approach for future goals
5. Team Leaders are trustworthy
A team leader must be trustworthy. If this is not the case, they will not be an inspiration for others. No one would want to involve them in conflicts. No one will believe in the goals set by them. Leaders must build relationships with their team members. When we like someone, we tend to establish a sense of trust.
Next, leaders must have the right knowledge or experience. They must be able to give the right guidance in times of a problem. Lastly, there must be consistency in the performance of a leader. If a leader has taken the responsibility to complete a particular task, it must be done. This way, the leader can set an example and be trusted for his word.
A Final Thought
Working with a high-performance team means growth for both the team member and the organization. Team leaders must exert and act in a manner that builds high-performance teams.