What high performing teams need – managing your best people

Every now and then, you will be have a fantastic high performing team to work with. I wish this for you with all my might! The key thing is to help them thrive in the environment that they are in. How do we do this?

High performing teams need psychological safety

I hope you have heard this term and know what it refers to. But just in case it’s a new concept for you, here’s a quick explanation.

Teams with psychological safety are those who help each other, invite other people’s opinions without judgment, are not scared of raising an alarm, or challenging each other, or their boss. It’s the feeling that you are safe no matter what you do or say – without being rude, unprofessional or out of line!

High performing teams need psychological safety like air. A team like this is likely to fire some ideas at you or each other, and they need to know that each of these ideas will get sufficient air-time, attention and consideration. Such a team will need some steer and freedom to execute their idea – but don’t look over their shoulder all the time. They will want to know that if the idea doesn’t quite work out, it will be treated as a lesson and not as finger-pointing opportunity.

I hope that you have been in a such a team yourself. And you know what a great feeling it is to have such a supportive bunch of people around you.

It usually takes a while to create such an environment but I hope you will aim to do so. I refer to it when I talk about what great TEAMS are made of.

However, be mindful that it takes a proverbial second to destroy the existing psychological safety, and then an even longer time to rebuild it.

Harvard Business Review has written a great article about psychological safety at workplace – you can read it by clicking this link.

And if you’re into neuroscience like I am, there is a whole domain of neuroscience and psychological safety. You can learn more about this concept from e.g. Psych Safety

High performing teams need clarity

High performing teams don’t need micromanaging. Well, no one does to be fair. What such teams need is clear directions, expectations and parameters to follow.

They will do their magic in the most amazing way if you provide them with information that is void of vagueness. How do you do this? One of my favourite questions to ask recently is ‘have I just spoken in code to you?’. While whimsical a bit, the question allows the person to deconstruct with me what they have heard – because sometimes things make perfect sense in my head but not when I say them out loud.

Good questions to ask to check your team has the clarity are also

• “what (else) would help with getting this off the ground?”
• “what would potentially stand in the way to getting this assingment completed?”
• “who do we need to bring into this discussion to make progress?”

Lack of clarity leads to people spending their time and energy on guessing. And guessing is hardly ever the assigned task.

High performing teams need both a structure and challenge

Think of high performing teams as … a bunch of mad scientists for a minute.

They quite often will have some incredible ideas or solutions to problems. What they will need is space to work on them, while also having a structure that they can always refer to in order to reset or rebalance.

What does it mean in practice? You as the lead need to provide sufficient and aptly measured challenge for your team or give them the space to experiment with their own idea. High performing teams do not like being bored, after all.

But every challenge – or a controlled chaos – needs to some guardrails. These can be in the form of some repeatable and predictable rituals such as weekly team meetings or stand ups. You can introduce temporary daily 15min check-ins to give your team the time and space to feedback and review what they have worked on so far.

I like reminding my ‘mad scientists’ to take their lunch breaks. While I may hear “but I’m in the zone – not now”, I let them choose when to eat, but I do not let them skip a meal. The brains of your team need nourishment and a break too.

This is one of my favourite statements about helping your team:

Image credit: https://www.instagram.com/womanunmuted/

Be the support not the blocker for your team

There is a fine balance between being the supporting lead and a blocking one. And the best way to learn that is to learn your team. Some of your members will need daily check-ins, while others will need a 30min call every fortnight with you.

It’s about showing them that you want to get to know them better so that both of you form the most effective and suitable relationship. And once you’ve achieved it, it’s truly one of the most rewarding feelings you can get.

How do you work with high performing teams? What have you learned over the years that is worth sharing? Let us know in the comments!

Feature image credit: Photo by Guille Álvarez on Unsplash