High-Performing Teams Do This Well
Over the past three months, clients – in a variety of industries – have expressed an interest in a session called “Developing High Performing Teams.” While discussing this option, I typically hear something like, “We really like each other, but things are hard right now. We have a lot of new team members, too many vacancies, and most of us are not in the office full-time. We feel stuck.”
I love helping groups discover what their stuckness is rooted in.
Last week, I had two separate clients ask two different - yet similar - questions. One asked, “What have you noticed that high-performing teams consistently do?” And the other asked, “What have you observed that average teams do which prevents them from becoming a high-performing team?”
First, high-performing teams value healthy competition. This is quite different from unhealthy competition which destroys relationships and breaks down the team. In unhealthy competition, individuals may win but the team ultimately loses. In healthy competition, when an individual wins the team also benefits.
It seems that high-performing people don’t function with a scarcity mindset believing there is a finite amount of success to go around. Instead, they know that in pushing themselves to be better they can inspire their teammates to do the same.
I have noticed that high-performing teams excel in three areas which are directly connected to competition:
1. Possibility over failure: High-performing teams prioritized the possibility of success over their fear of failure. When they are pushed to try something new, they lean into the possibility of success. They are aware that failure is an option, but their decisions are not rooted in fear. High-performers work hard because they believe in the possibility of success.
2. Collaboration over silos: People who are high-performers understand they need other people. They know their teammates influence their success, and they embrace the process of being challenged by those around them. They see competition as a team sport, not an individual sport.
3. Celebration over envy: High-performing teams celebrate the success of individual members. There is no space for envy on these teams. They understand that the accolades of a teammate positively reflect on the team as a whole.
So, you might assume that average teams don’t embrace healthy competition. You are right, but there is more to the story. I have witnessed a behavior on average teams in all industries. The issue? They fight the process.
Let me give you an example of what fighting the process looked like with a college soccer team.
This team had been average for several seasons. During the fall, they finished second to last place in their conference. That season, all players were required to pass a fitness test, and everyone passed the test with at least 10 seconds to spare.
In the spring, the coach announced he was changing the fitness test standards. He decided to give them 11 fewer seconds to complete the test. This meant that if every player did what they did the previous season – and if the slowest player dropped 1 second from her time – they would all pass, but that was not how they saw it.
To say that this team lost their collective minds would be an understatement. Players requested multiple meetings with athletic department administrators and filed what they believed were legitimate complaints. They argued that the standard was unfair, that a four-month notice was not enough time, and that the change in the standard was bad for their mental health.
They were fighting the process. They didn’t want to travel the road from average to high-performing.
Their coach knew the goal wasn’t to repeat what had helped them earn second to last place, the goal was to be better. Unfortunately, the team spent all their physical, mental, and emotional energy questioning his leadership, fighting the fitness standard, and arguing about how and when this change was announced. As a result, they remained average.
High-performing teams value competition while average teams are busy fighting the process.
I recently found myself torn between these two worlds. I typically spend the last few months of the year mapping out, as well as building and designing new programs and projects. Last week I was wrestling with how long my list of new projects had become.
I started to think it just wasn’t possible and that I was asking way too much of myself. It was like I sat down with Human Resources (me) and complained that the boss (me) was asking me (yep, me) to do too much! I quickly realized I had taken on the “fight the process” mindset. Instead of complaining about the path, I have now embraced a high-performing mindset and I am excited to see what I can do. I am raising the bar on my personal standards and it feels good.
Maybe your team is feeling stuck. If so, please realize that constructing something new almost always involves deconstructing something old. What got you here might not get you to your final destination.
Does your team want to be average or high-performing? Stop fighting the process and lean into the possibility that you can do and be more than you ever dreamed.
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