6  Hallmarks  of    High  Performing  Teams  

Deidre  Paknad  CEO    &  Co-­‐Founder  of  Workboard

High  performing  teams  seem  to  generate  their  own  energy  and  elevate  everyone  on  the  team  to  their  

full  poten6al.  

What  sets  high  performing  teams  apart  and  why  aren’t  all  teams  so  successful  and  fun?

They  aren’t  just  a  collec6on  of  strong  individual  performers.  They  don’t  leave  great  performance  to  luck  or  personality,  they  design  for  success.      They  have…  

Defined  Goals

 CommiDed  AcFons

True  Transparency

Frequent  Feedback

Unabashed  Accountability

Celebrated  Successes

Defined  goals  and  a  clear  plan  to  achieve  them  are  essen6al  to  great  performance.      Abstract  annual  goals  aren’t  enough.  Teams  need  shorter-­‐range,  compelling  and  clear  goals  that  unify  and  galvanize  them  on  shared  purpose.      Sequencing  these  to  an  annual  result  works  well,  but  it’s  key  that  the  team  wants  to  achieve  the  goals.  

Defined  Goals

Successful  teams  write  down  the  commi?ed  ac@ons  each  person  owns  on  the  path  to  goal  achievement  (and  they  waste  less  6me  determining  who  owns  what).        

Members  feel  a  sense  of  personal  ownership  and  have  a  shared  inten@on  to  accomplish  the  results  they’ve  commiIed  to  the  team  week  over  week.        

Making  progress  on  ac6ons  aligned  with  a  goal  people  believe  in  energizes  people  and  elevates  their  performance,  according  to  author  and  Harvard  professor  Teresa  Amabile.  

CommiDed  AcFons

Facts  and  status  enable  members  of  the  team  to  work  more  effec6vely  together.  They  can  pivot  or  adjust  course  quickly  on  unforeseen  events,  and  execute  with  greater  efficiency  and  predictability.    Embracing  transparency  is  one  of  the  most  dis6nct  features  of  high  performing  teams  (and  a  stark  contrast  to  the  poli6cized  and  professional  “ball  hiders”  that  frequent  lesser  performing  teams).      

True  Transparency

People  with  wriIen  goals  and  wriIen  ac6on  plans  improves  goal  achievement  

43%        Adding  status  reports  boosts  the  likelihood  of  achievement  

to  76%  

True  Transparency

The  team  leader  and  members  hold  themselves  and  each  other  accountable  for  their  commitments  and  goal  achievement  week  to  week.          

Unabashed  Accountability

When  the  team  or  a  person  comes  up  short,  it’s  not  swept  under  the  rug  –  it’s  triaged  and  addressed  quickly  to  get  back  on  track  to  goal.    There  is  a  uniform  expecta@on  of  each  other,  that  when  combined  with  a  uniformly  high  level  of  commitment  to  goal,  are  the  essence  of  a  high  performing  team’s  greatness.  

Unabashed  Accountability

Members  of  the  team  get  and  ask  for  regular  feedback  on  their  work.  Learning  members  get  posi6ve  feedback  that  enables  them  to  learn  and  engage  quickly,  while  expert  members  get  construc6ve  feedback  that  helps  them  

con@nuously  advance  already-­‐mature  skills.      Because  team  members  are  focused  on  achievement  and  respect  each  other’s  commitments  and  efforts,  feedback  is  easier  to  give  and  apply.    

Frequent  Feedback

Celebrate  Success

They  savor  the  small  and  the  big  wins  as  a  team.      High  performing  teams  celebrate  people’s  individual  contribu6ons  and  the  accomplishments  of  the  team  as  a  whole.      In  large  matrixed  organiza6ons  where  teams  coalesce  and  disband  quickly,  it  takes  extra  effort  to  celebrate  success  but  it  is  actually  more  rewarding  than  a  cash  bonus,  according  to  McKinsey.  

People  who’ve  worked  on  high  performing  teams  tend  to  remember  the  experience  and  their  team  mates  vividly  for  years  to  come.      When  they  describe  the  experience,  they  use  words  like  “epic”  and  there  is  tangible  pride  and  gra@tude  in  their  voice.  That  team  imprint  is  far  greater  and  longer  las6ng  than  its  contribu6on  to  the  company  at  which  its  members  worked.  

It's  not  just  the  business  results…    

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Engage  and  Empower  Your  Team  More  Easily  

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