3 Problems High Performing Teams Don’t Have

High Performing Teams are sometimes vague

Ok let’s begin by getting the cliché out of the way first:

Yes, I believe “teamwork makes the dream work.” Yet the problem is that for many, the concept of teamwork is an obscure ideal that doesn’t inform the way we behave. Growing up we are exposed to countless examples of teamwork long before we ever enter the workforce. From sports to school projects to even board games, we learn the importance of working together with others. So why does it remain so difficult?

I would like to suggest that one reason is because teamwork is often a moving goal line. People can always point to what’s not working, without understanding what their role to play is.

See the concept of teamwork is often… “fuzzy.” It’s vague and hard to nail down. In addition to that, a lack of teamwork usually doesn’t become evident until a problem arises. That is when you will truly know if your teams work well together. For most of my life, my vision was quite clear. Then over the last few years, I noticed a strange phenomenon. While driving at night, the headlights of passing cars seemed to be more distracting than usual. They appeared brighter and gave me a slight headache when they passed. They also would cast a huge glare in my field of vision.

I thought to myself, “Was it always like that? If not, when did it start looking like this?” Turns out nighttime myopia, is a very common condition where one has difficulty seeing in low-light conditions, and it often appears as people age. For a while though I didn’t notice because my vision during the day was, and still is, great. Furthermore, the decline at night happened very slowly. However, I mention this because it illustrates how erosion or deficiency of teamwork can stay hidden for a long time. Then one day it rears its ugly head and leaders wonder, how did it get to this level? That is why many clients engage in my services after a fire has started. Chances are many little problems were bubbling under the surface, but they simply didn’t know where to look.

I have an exercise I often use with teams during my workshops. It goes something like this. I split the room up into smaller groups and have each group brainstorm what a cohesive and high-performing team would look like to them. I encourage them to use as much detail as possible and include things like:

• What kind of behaviors is this team engaging in?

• What are they not doing?

• How do the team members feel at work?

• What do they value as a team?

• What kind of relationships do team members have with each other?

As you can imagine, this exercise is quite challenging for many people. However, after letting people wrestle with this question for a while, I then flip the script and ask them, what does a low-performance team look like? Without fail the answers then start pouring in. The exercise is purposely designed this way to illustrate an important concept:

When it comes to teamwork, many people struggle to define what success looks like. On the other hand, it is very easy for us to identify what we should not be doing, or what we don’t want on a team.

This can often create a culture of blaming in organizations, where people constantly point fingers when a project fails to meet expectations, instead of taking personal ownership. Research conducted by Salesforce in 2021, showed that 76% of respondents believed collaboration (or lack thereof) is a direct reflection of workplace culture. How we foster an environment of teamwork, directly impacts many habits and behaviors we will see present in our organizations. I explain more in my recent article on the Link between Culture and Values.

The good news is, once we understand this, it becomes easier to reverse-engineer strategies to improve teamwork and create a standard by which we can hold individuals accountable. I will return to exactly how we accomplish this shortly. For now though, let’s take a closer look at the state of many teams in our workplaces.

The Need for High Performing Teams

In a 2011 study conducted by Fierce Inc. 86% of respondents blamed a lack of collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failures. In addition, 97% of respondents believed that a lack of alignment within a team directly impacts the outcome of any given task or project. Are these many projects truly failing due to a lack of teamwork? It’s hard to say. However, it is very telling that the widespread perception in organizations is that their people don’t collaborate enough.

Furthermore, a whole other layer to this problem was added during the COVID pandemic and the rise of remote work that came with it.

Another interesting study published in 2021, examined data from the communications of over 61,000 Microsoft employees in the US to analyze the effects of remote work on collaboration in the workplace. They found out that firm-wide remote work caused collaboration networks to become more static and siloed. Furthermore, there was a decrease in synchronous (face-to-face, or in-the-moment) communication.

For all the benefits of remote working, teamwork is definitely not one of them.

These modern-day challenges mean organizational leaders will have to become even more adept at cultivating environments where cohesive teams can form. So the real question is how? As I mentioned earlier, some low-hanging fruit for leaders is to examine the current challenges your team is facing, and/or the behaviors you do not want to see, and reverse engineer a solution.

What is the antidote to this problem? What would your team look like if you overcame this challenge? What kinds of things are teams who do not have this issue doing? Thus I want to unpack 3 problems high performing teams do not have. Furthermore, we will identify strategies leaders can use to address these issues. I carefully picked these 3 issues because I have observed they are the most common reasons teamwork gets derailed in organizations. Let’s dive in!

Teams that Underachieve

1. Are Guarded and Filtered in their Conversations

One of the foundational elements of high performing teams is trust, and the easiest way to tell if a team trusts each other is how transparent and vulnerable their communication is. Do they openly admit mistakes and limitations to each other? Ultimately, it’s the confidence one has that their teammates have their best interests at heart.

The problem is that many teams have not developed this level of trust with one another. Therefore members constantly feel like they must protect themselves during conversation from gossip or reprisal. This often looks like veiled attempts to address issues without being fully transparent. It can also turn into sarcastic or passive-aggressive language. Furthermore, some team members may use inflation or euphemisms when talking about their work. Overall this hinders performance, as it prevents teams from properly addressing issues.

Leaders can combat this by first modeling vulnerability themselves. They must be willing to put their credibility on the line and talk about their weaknesses openly in front of the team. Furthermore, leaders need to provide constant opportunities for the team to spend time together outside of normal work interactions, like socials or team workshops. Trust is only built by spending time together and learning about each other.

2. Value Compliance over Critical Thinking

Every leader has experienced this problem:

Team members inundated them with trivial questions that they could solve themselves if they simply took a little time to think. I hear this complaint constantly from my clients. This habit is not ideal for high performance. However, many leaders don’t stop to think themselves how they may be contributing to the issue.

David Marquet was an accomplished submarine captain in the US Navy. Through his leadership, he was able to take the crew of the Santa Fe submarine from the worst to best performing in a matter of months, and 9 out of the 14 officers in that crew went on to command submarines of their own. It’s an amazing story! One of the practices David implemented to help achieve this was to encourage his crew to commit to action rather than comply. Practically this looked like replacing the old navy adage of “permission to do X” with “Captain, I intend to do X.” It was a simple habit, but this slowly started training the team to think critically rather than simply comply.

Often leaders can be overly controlling and not allow their team to make mistakes. This robs their pride of ownership and stifles critical thinking. They learn that success means, doing what my leader says, rather than adding value. Therefore, they are afraid to make mistakes and take ownership of their work.

The best thing a leader can do in this instance, is to first look at areas where they can empower their team and give them more authority to act. Furthermore, it’s important to clearly communicate what you expect from your team and where their authority ends. If they continue coming to you, resist the urge to solve their problem right away. Instead ask them to try again, and be ready to embrace some mistakes or inefficiencies for the sake of their long-term growth.

3. Avoid Difficult Conversations

In connection with #1, while some team members may speak in guarded or filtered ways, others may choose to simply not speak up at all and avoid any kind of conflict. This causes a team to avoid difficult discussions, like the kind that could uncover innovative ideas or confront unproductive behaviors.

These interactions are crucial for high performance because not only do they address problems, but they also make use of the diversity of skill sets and opinions on a team. In other words, no good ideas are being left on the table.

If a leader is doing the right things to cultivate trust in their team, the next step is to equip everyone to better engage with conflict. I have observed that even teaching your team 1-2 good conflict resolution tools will go a long way in increasing their confidence to deal with it. This is because it removes some of the ambiguity surrounding these difficult interactions, and it also creates a consistent language across your organization for how people treat each other.

Finally, a leader must also demonstrate that they are willing to hold people accountable. The more they do that, the more likely they won’t have to as team members will start holding each other accountable.

High Performing Habits

As I mentioned earlier, these are some of the most common reasons why teams suffer in their performance. These problems can also be very subtle, so leaders must develop awareness and learn to identify the different cues.

These kinds of issues can also be deeply rooted in people’s beliefs and behaviors so patience is key. As a leader, you will want to embrace the practice of small daily habits that promote effective teamwork. How can you take small steps to implement the strategies you read about regularly? That is where you will start to see change.

If you are interested in transforming your team culture, I would be happy to have a conversation about the different solutions I offer to build cohesive teams. Go ahead and book a Discovery Call with me to find out more!