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High Performing Teams
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High Performing Teams

By: Michael Voss

Any high performing team will always demonstrate an element of pure class. They’ll have the guns or the stars who have the ability to do extraordinary things - whose competence in the technical aspects of their work make them outstanding contributors to the team.

We all recognise the importance of ‘having the right cattle’ in the pursuit of high performance and getting results; but a group of individuals coming together for a common goal does not automatically constitute a strong and effective team. It runs much deeper than that.

In our pursuit of seeking “the right cattle” we can encounter other issues that come with accessing highly driven people. Can they work together in a team? We must constantly challenge ourselves as managers and leaders to not only look for the best people but for the ‘right’ people for our organisation.

For performance to be efficient and effective we must challenge individuals to come together on a more personal and deeper level than simply being joined by name or company; and get them to work together for a common purpose and a common result.

Two characteristics that differentiate high performing teams are support for one another and mutual accountability or responsibility for shared team results.

We can get so wrapped up in our own world of achievement, we can often forget about the impact that our own behaviour is having on those around us. That at times, we are willing to do something that doesn’t just look like ‘by numbers’.

Great teams are willing to look out for one another. To cover for a teammate until they are able to resume their role. They have players who swallow their own ego and perform a role for the team even though they think they may be too good for that role.

Great teams have players who have the ability to not only perform their role for the team, but to also help others around them to achieve their goals. To think beyond themselves, not only when they are playing well, but when they are playing below their best.

Great teams have players that ensure team rules are followed and that the style of game they want to play is encouraged and supported by everyone.

They have a group of people who accept mutual accountability for the result of the team. They share the glory or the pain irrespective of personal performance because their commitment is directly linked to team results.

This is difficult to balance, because with high achievers and high performers there will always be strong individual ambitions, goals, wants and needs.

It’s about submitting your ego to the team cause - accepting a role for the good of the team, and appreciating and recognising others who do likewise.

If we have too many individuals who want to be the star then we can encounter problems in the work environment. Not enough people will want to contribute the most to the team cause or be the person who has the most influence on the team result.

Sport brings us so many analogies of what this is like. We get to go to the footy and make observations about what role someone has played for their team and how they went about it. We see the admirable qualities the team has, yet we also see individual ‘players’ on our team that give their all alongside the ones that contribute little to the team outcome. Sometimes, because of personal brilliance, individual players get away with behaviours that simply do not reflect a team attitude.

I had the pleasure of playing along a player by the name of Shaun Hart. He was the benchmark of team attitude for me at the Brisbane Lions. Despite pressure and fatigue, his decisions always reflected what was in the best interest of the team. Under-rated in the public arena but pure gold within the inner-sanctum, he was respected enormously by his peers and was the ultimate support player. The worker-bee.

Sydney is a team filled with examples of support and responsibility. Their ability to cover for one another is typical Swans style and is admired by everyone for achievements on and off the football field. Even Barry Hall who, despite a brain fade against West Coast when he lashed out and punched an opposition player, stood up the very next day and said it wasn’t good enough, it was unacceptable and that he had let his team down and the young fans for whom he is a role model. That’s leadership. It doesn’t matter who it is – personal behaviour is a team priority that drives a team result.

This all starts with leaders. If leaders can take enough ownership for the performance of the team and measure people on this, despite other technical competencies alone, then peer pressure ensures their survival in that environment.

And if they don’t ... well I would argue that it is best at some point that they do make the decision to leave as your team will be better for it.

Look across your own team. Who is taking responsibility for the team results; who is supporting others to achieve their outcomes and driving the standards that are expected within your work environment?
Be the team that becomes the contender rather than a bunch of talented individuals who could have been anything.
Michael Voss is a former triple Australia Football League (AFL) premiership captain of the Brisbane Lions and is regarded as one of the all-time greats of the modern era. He played 289 AFL games from 1992-2006, won the coveted Brownlow Medal in 1996, was a five-times All-Australian selection, including twice as captain, and skippered the Lions for 10 years, including the 2001-02-03 premierships.

Article Source: http://articlenexus.com

Michael is Director of Australia Pacific Leadership Group. Australia Pacific Leadership Group assists companies develop their leadership talent through unique leadership training based on a business, academic and sporting framework.

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