How to Develop High-Performing Teams

We are living through incredible times. Times where the world continues to change at an accelerated rate. Our economy has been affected on a global scale and this, in turn, has impacted us on every level. Our environment, our well-being, and the way we view things have drastically changed.

To lead forward, a new approach is needed, not just for ourselves but for everyone around us. But what more can we do to keep surging forward while becoming stronger?

Companies now embrace hybrid models but that shift doesn’t suit everyone. We now need to further reflect to respond instead of instinctively reacting.

The rise of antifragility

Resilience, while talked about a lot, is not enough to lead us into our new world; we need to build strength from what we have learned and put these lessons into practice. Becoming antifragile is about learning from changes and becoming stronger, as opposed to simply coping with changes.

I have previously shared Taleb’s property of systems, otherwise known as antifragility, and believe that corporates, governments and businesses alike need to be more deliberate in how they support their people and evaluating how effective their efforts are in delivering impact. 

Developing antifragility will only be possible if we invest in our people and give them the time to learn and build as individuals and as teams.

Creating a psychologically safe space for people to grow

This won’t happen overnight. Training is most effective when we get to apply the things we learnt and the same applies to leadership development. While sending our people to training days is great, what we need is a system and a platform to practice what’s been learnt. This will be driven by the culture and the creation of a work environment that is psychologically safe enough for them to explore their new ways of doing things.

Ideas and practices stem from the top. As leaders, it is our responsibility to provide our people with the space they need to grow, especially if we want to develop high-performance teams.

We need to become clearer with what matters, brilliant at putting things into practice and consistent with both.

How to create high-performing teams

Here are some small insights on bringing about changes to create high-performing leaders that lift their teams enough to result in high performers in all areas of your business.

Let’s start with how you can begin to influence your team. Remember people connect with people, so it is important to think about how you make people feel. 

• People will always remember how you behave in moments of crisis or during challenging times, it sticks with them. In these instances, you need to be able to listen, truly listen, so that you understand and remain calm. 

• Remember that we always see things through our own lens. Acknowledge this to avoid assumptions. Taking the time to reflect before you react allows you the opportunity to ask the questions that will get you the most important insights.

• Change does not mean the end. On the opposite, it is most often the opportunity to find new ways of doing things, to ask “what else?” 

• Always ensure values are aligned. Being clear with your purpose and ensuring that everyone knows how they can contribute to the path forward is integral to success. People want to feel like they belong. When they feel connected, you build trust.

 And always keep in mind that rewarding behaviours is equally if not more important than rewarding outcomes!

None of what I am sharing with you is new, but the most important elements are consistency, vigilance and inclusivity. People want to see that what you say is what you do, they need you to show them the way forward and they need you to be part of the journey with them.

You need to be open to their suggestions, including errors and mistakes, while remaining calm and accepting the lessons learnt along the way. Encouraging people to share their mishaps in a safe environment is not lip service, it is genuinely looking at how you could have done things differently to contribute to a better outcome for your team.

Always look forward, don’t dwell on what happened, we all know you can’t change the past. But as Taleb highlights, these are the moments that we learn from and make changes as we step forward – making us stronger.

If we want to develop high-performing teams, we must lead through inclusion. We need to be comfortable with mistakes to continue to build and strengthen and we need to be able to share these experiences and findings in a safe environment. They need to be lived experiences.

Lifting people as we rise is the final key to developing high-performing teams. Nobody rises alone and nobody rises without mistakes. Being transparent and authentic allows people to relate. Seeing you rise from your mistakes and getting stronger with each lesson learnt will empower them to step up, take risks, and contribute at a higher level.