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A Look Inside a High Performing Team

#engagement #eqfit #strategicinsights #teamsuccess Nov 21, 2022

The world has changed. Hybrid teams. Remote workers. Zoom, Teams, Google...the virtual connection platforms. The workplace has become wherever you are. The complexity to collaborate and work as a team has increased dramatically.

Challenges

There are unlimited challenges to team success:

  • Disconnected work places
  • Disruptions
  • Distractions
  • Stress
  • Low trust
  • Lack of connection
  • Worker shortages

And the list goes on. These challenges (and many others) will drain the three most important resources any team has...time, energy, and focus. These resources are critical to team performance. The more prevalent the challenges, the less of the resources available to fuel team success.

So, how do we begin to create an environment where team success can happen? By first understanding the context of the team environment.

5 C's of Teams

For a team to be high functioning and high performing, there are several foundational building blocks.

 

Team Culture

The culture, the set of values and practices that a team operates by, is at the heart of team success. The team culture is the agreed upon rules a team follows. It sets the standard for performance and behavior. Purpose and direction for the team should flow from culture.

Team Chemistry

The term "chemistry" related to teams can hold a variety of meanings. For the sake of this article, let's focus on the mix of unique individuals that make up the team. What is their personality, emotional intelligence, experience, cognitive abilities, knowledge, skills...basically, what does each team member bring to the team.

Team Connection

Connection is a mix of communication, collaboration, chemistry, and care that a team has for each other. True connection comes from a process of active listening, asking good questions to gain insight, and then taking the time to understand the perspectives and input of other team members.

Team Competency

Competency is embedded throughout each team member and then as a collective for the team. The measures of competency are varied from hard skills to human skills. Defining competency within a team is important to understand strengths, gaps, and areas of opportunity.

Team Coherence

Team coherence is related to one of the 5 drivers of team success...Trust. Coherence is a measure of alignment. High coherence teams pull together and operate at high levels, low coherence teams experience more disconnect, misalignment, and disruption.

These five foundational building blocks of a team will determine the team capacity and potential for success. Each must be considered and managed well for a team to attain the ability to function and perform at higher levels.

5 Drivers of Team Success

 With an understanding of the team environment, we can now focus on the 5 drivers of team success. Here they are:

Trust: Build safety & assurance to risk for innovating, sharing, learning.
• Motivation: Clarify meaning & commitment to drive toward excellence.
• Teamwork: Collaborate & communicate to take on the challenges.
• Execution: Focus on what's important & be accountable to generate results.
• Change: Adapt & innovate to go into the unknown, risk, learn.

These definitions come directly out of the best and most actionable team assessment I have ever used, Team Vital Signs by Six Seconds.

Just like the 5 C's of Teams above, there is a specific model for the 5 drivers of team success, and Trust is at the heart of that model.

 For a team to be high performing, each of these drivers must be present at levels that support and enhance team success.

When we looked at the 5 C's of teams, I mentioned values and practices that make up the team environment, especially the team culture. Each of the drivers of team success can be thought of as practices that bring value to the team and better manage the three critical resources of time, energy, and focus.

Instead of focusing on the challenges, focus on what you can directly impact. The 5 C's of Teams, and the 5 Drivers of Team Success.

For more on these, check out our other resources:

EQFIT® YouTube Channel

EQFIT® Blog

EQFIT® Podcast

 

Copyright © 2022 EQFIT® - Author: Steven Goodner All rights reserved. No portion of this material may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact: [email protected]

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