How to develop a high performing team

How do you create a high-performance team?

In this week’s article, we will go through the elements of underperformance and also the methods to improve your team’s productivity. We will also discuss about the know-how of dealing with underachieving staffs and how we can fine-tune their roles and get them performing to a higher standard.

It’s all about trust

There’s no different, every manager dreams of a high performing team. Not only it’s great for the business, but also the individuals in the team as not a single person would want to go to work and feel they are not doing well. You might ask, what are the benefits of being in a positive team? It plays a HUGE part in contributing to the overall enjoyment of workplace. However, it takes more than just time, but a whole lot of commitment and drive. Being a leader of a high-performing team, it’s an ongoing task that requires a growth mindset – got to be mindful of your team, their capabilities, goals and also the business objectives. All in all, getting all team members on the same page and maintaining a good level of enthusiasm at work.

You need to build TRUST. It is important to be consistent, knowledgeable but do take note that it is equally vital to know your team member as people, not just employees. This will help to build that trust and push the team into the right direction of developing a high performing team. Yes, it takes time, but it takes more time and energy to manage a team that is not performing. In the long run, it will not only cost the business but yourself when your team is not performing to the expected standard. Can one bad apple really spoil a whole barrel? Well, in this case, YES.

How to improve performance

Don’t delay if you found that an employee is not performing as expected (or not hitting the KPI’s). As soon as you discover an obvious dip in performance in an employee, it’s critical to speak to them about it. As a team leader, you should not leave this to chance and risk your employees not fulfilling their full potential and falling out from the team eventually.

It is significant to remember that all team members require a different support and feedback at different situations in different ways. It’s time to ditch a one-size-fits-all approach. As a people manager, you have to identify how each of your team likes to be managed to get the best from them. The high-energy, impactful team member will need to be managed differently to the quieter, doer and both will be receptive to different forms of feedback and support.

There are many possibilities of why a particular employee may not be performing as expected. It could be a matter of skills, not being able to fit in to the office’s culture or even a misunderstanding of your expectations. Therefore, having a conversation and following up consistently will eventually get you to seeing the real problem and solving it with the most suitable method.

Also, there are other elements that will be able to help your staff member, such as additional skills training, group activities to promote team work and an overview of what the team is expected to produce and how.