Elevating Performance: How to Build a Successful Team

An organization’s success hinges on its ability to cultivate high-performing teams, especially in competitive business landscapes.

Effective teamwork, meanwhile, is the key element that enables these units, as it allows individuals to leverage not just their own strengths, but that of others as well.

As a result, such groups can drive innovation and productivity, as well as attain goals that seem impossible when tackled alone.

Such breakthroughs, however, wouldn’t be possible without the guidance of skilled leadership, which nurtures strong team dynamics.

To help you understand the subject further, we’ll dive into the essentials of building a successful team, tackling:

• Why effective teamwork is important
• Leadership’s role in cultivating it
• Various considerations for forming high-performing teams

What is teamwork?

To start, teamwork involves a group’s collaborative effort to achieve a common goal or complete a task effectively and efficiently. It entails combining individuals’ strengths and compensating for others’ weaknesses, all while fostering a sense of unity and a shared commitment to success.

Why is effective teamwork important?

Fruitful teamwork, meanwhile, lets your organization enjoy multiple benefits, some of which include:

Enhanced productivity

Teamwork greatly enhances employee efficiency, as the right approach will have individuals playing to their strengths.

Synergistic efforts reduce the duplication of work and streamline processes as well, allowing personnel to accomplish tasks more swiftly while using less resources.

For example, a sales team’s coordinated strategies can result in easier client management and quicker deal closures, saving valuable time and effort.

Better problem solving, increased innovation

Each employee possesses a unique point of view. Effective collaboration, meanwhile, encourages the sharing of these diverse perspectives. This allows teams to come up with creative ideas and solutions that tackle complex problems more productively.

Improved job satisfaction and retention

A couple of studies show that cohesive teams are key to keeping employees:

• Statista, for example, found that a whopping 89% of workers believe teamwork between departments and other business units to be either important or very important to their job satisfaction.
• Gusto, meanwhile, saw 37% of small business employees saying that working with an excellent team was their main reason for staying.

Greater adaptability

Well-coordinated teams are more adaptable to changes brought about by organizational developments, as their established support systems allow them to handle unforeseen challenges.

Teams that work well together can pivot and re-strategize as a unit, ensuring your company remains resilient despite disruptions, whether they be industrial, technological, or regulatory in nature.

Such an ability is crucial in finance, for example, where rapid technological advancements can easily change market conditions.

The value of having an effective leader

Truly impactful teamwork, however, can only be achieved with an excellent leader, as they’re instrumental in harnessing each member’s potential. Here’s how one can benefit your organization’s teams:

Organizational alignment

Leaders provide employees with a clear vision and direction, aligning their efforts with the organization’s goals. Their guidance ensures everyone works toward a common objective, all while understanding the company’s long-term strategy.

A compelling vision establishes a sense of purpose as well, which can inspire team members to fully commit to their roles and meaningfully contribute to the business’s success.

Support

Stellar leaders provide continuous support and offer development opportunities. They identify team members’ strengths and weaknesses, then give access to resources that help them improve.

By investing in the professional growth of their teams, leaders ensure their employees are equipped with the skills and competencies needed to excel in their roles and help the company flourish.

Employee engagement

According to Gallup, managers account for 70% of the variance in team engagement, indicating the key role leaders play in keeping members motivated and inspired.

That’s because, on top of giving guidance, they’re in charge of recognizing and celebrating team and individual achievements, which boosts morale and compels employees to go above and beyond.

With leadership fostering a supportive and encouraging environment, they can not only drive employee engagement, but also elevate team performance.

Conflict resolution

Conflicts are inevitable in any team, but emotionally intelligent leaders can effectively manage and resolve such difficult workplace scenarios.

They’re able to understand others’ emotions and place themselves in someone else’s shoes, which enables them to address issues fairly and promptly.

Since such leaders prevent small disagreements from escalating into major problems, they’re able to foster a harmonious work environment where team members feel respected and heard.

Trust

Trust is in leadership and other team members is a cornerstone of effective teamwork. A leader, meanwhile, is responsible for building and maintaining this trust.

By displaying integrity and reliability, as well as being consistent and transparent, an effective leader can promote a culture of trust within their unit.

When members trust their leader and each other, it facilitates better collaboration and allows the group to achieve its goals more efficiently.

How to build a successful team

Now that you know how conducive good leadership is to effective teamwork, here are some steps you can take to establish these aspects in your organization:

Cultivate a positive work culture

A supportive and encouraging work environment is critical to team success, as it creates less stress, enhances productivity, and promotes engagement. To create such a desirable workplace, make sure to:

Prioritize employee well-being

Employees can’t be expected to be at their best when they don’t get ample time for rest or their personal interests.

Make sure they’re not only productive at work, but are also able to enjoy their lives beyond it. So, make work-life balance a part of your culture by offering flexible arrangements, encouraging workers to take breaks, and investing in their wellness.

Recognize contributions

Appreciation is an extremely effective motivator, as it validates individual and collective efforts. In fact, 83.6% of employees say recognition impacts their drive to succeed, while 81.9% of them agree that it enhances their engagement.

To establish an uplifting culture, properly acknowledge and reward your teams, whether it be through simple tokens, performance bonuses, or company-wide recognition.

Embrace diversity

Feeling included, regardless of background, is critical to employee engagement and job satisfaction. According to McKinsey, compared to their colleagues, individuals who enjoy this aspect are around 3x more likely to be committed to and excited by their companies.

Since diversity and inclusion allow solutions to be built on unique perspectives, they enhance collaboration and decision-making as well. Through 2022, Gartner even projected 75% of organizations with diverse and inclusive decision-making teams to exceed their financial targets.

Communicate effectively

Robust internal communication strategies act as the backbone of any successful team, as they ensure individuals are well coordinated and in tune with each other’s tasks, work styles, and skills. To ensure seamless communication, do the following:

Establish clear channels

Having teams use common communication channels is an easy way of keeping members in the loop.

A project management platform like Asana, for instance, allows those involved to properly track the progress of specific assignments. Email or a tool like Slack, in the meantime, can be used for direct or company-wide communications.

Clearly delegate tasks

Proper task delegation ensures each member understands their responsibilities and deadlines. It prevents any confusion and overlaps in duties, which enables more efficient work processes.

Encourage open feedback

Give constructive feedback, as it fosters continuous learning and fuels individual and collective improvements. Regularly sharing it helps employees recognize their strengths, weaknesses, and accomplishments as well.

Communication, however, is a two-way street, so also be open to receiving honest input. Give team members the opportunity to share their perspectives, as they can also help you develop as a leader. Besides empowering communication, it encourages a culture of learning as well.

Such an initiative can even compel talent to stay, as companies who conduct regular feedback experiences enjoy 14.9% less turnover.

Be transparent

Transparency helps build trust, as keeping everyone aware of key updates and decisions displays leadership’s honesty and integrity. It’s conducive to collaboration and collective performance as well.

This is of utmost importance, especially during volatile periods that see major changes in operations and roles, as poor communication can lead to confusion and stress, then take its toll on employee well-being.

Define distinct roles

Determining a member’s responsibilities isn’t a simple matter of task delegation. It involves an approach that aims to utilize each employee’s strengths and cover up for individual weaknesses as a collective.

Maximize your team’s skills

To optimize team performance, one must leverage the unique skills of each member. Doing so entails linking roles to competency frameworks, as they define the proficiencies that contribute to an individual’s ability to do their job well.

By firmly understanding each employee’s part and giving them the appropriate responsibilities, you allow them to focus on their strengths and contribute more effectively to the whole team.

Set goals

Unrealistic goals are counterproductive, so set clear and achievable ones to keep your team focused and motivated.

Make sure they’re specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) and set performance barometers to gauge your team’s progress. For instance, how many sales should your team aim to close for Q3 of 2024?

Then, based on your team’s performance, regularly review and adjust these goals to ensure they stay aligned with the organization’s objectives.

Measure team and individual progress

Key result areas (KRAs) can help in this regard, as they’re overall goals that steer how one does their job. They can guide general objectives for a division or your entire organization as well.

Basically, they specify the scope of the team and its individual members’ jobs, as well as their desired outcomes. To give you a better idea, here are some examples:

1. Human resources (HR): Your HR teams will mostly concern themselves with hiring, retention and the like. Their KRAs should include:

• • Improve employee satisfaction
  • Develop recruitment strategies
  • Enhance transparency of internal promotion process

2. Sales: Sales personnel, meanwhile, will typically aim to increase your sales figures or improve customer sales experiences. Some KRAs would look like this:

• • Boost average deal size
  • Grow quarterly sales
  • Build and implement sales referral program for repeat customers

3. Marketing: As for marketing, their KRAs will revolve around how successful they reach out to prospects, customers, etc.:

• • Create and launch profitable campaigns
  • Generate more qualified leads for sales
  • Decrease marketing cost per newly acquired customer

Emotional intelligence training

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a key leadership skill, but your teams can greatly benefit from developing it as well. It equips them with proficiencies like active listening and empathy, which improve communication, collaboration, and interpersonal relationships.

This enables seamless conflict resolution as well, as employees are geared to handle disagreements constructively and maintain a harmonious workplace.

Provide learning and development opportunities

Continuous upskilling and reskilling keeps your employees’ capabilities up-to-date and allows them to carry out their duties well. When offering such opportunities, consider the following:

Training and certifications

Invest in training and certification to enhance your teams’ skills and knowledge. This allows them to keep up with advancements in their field and handle new challenges. Not to mention, the added credentials can open doors for further career advancement.

Design a career ladder

Employees want to know their growth potential within an organization. Those who see it, meanwhile, are more likely to be engaged and committed. 94% of workers, in fact, say they would stay with an employer longer if it showed a commitment to helping them learn.

To retain and motivate high-performing teams, design clear career progression paths for individual members. This provides them a sense of direction and purpose, driving them towards growth, which benefits both the individual and the organization as well.

Keys to a successful and high-performing team

At this point, you should have a clear understanding of how you can assemble an effective team. Before you do so, however, keep these critical considerations in mind:

Effective leadership

As we’ve deeply tackled, excellent teamwork hinges on superb leaders. To take your members to the next level, remember these helpful tips:

Have a clear vision

Your vision will guide the team’s efforts and maintain their focus, so establish a distinct one that motivates them to excel. Don’t forget to align it with your organization’s goals as well.

Maintain high personal standards

Employees will follow your example, so establish and follow high standards, whether they be for your management style, performance targets, or how you conduct yourself.

Provide support and guidance

Competitive business environments will always pose challenges. To help your personnel overcome them, facilitate effective teamwork by actively offering support and guidance.

Motivate your team

To maintain high levels of performance and morale, find ways to encourage your team. Besides the typical recognition and rewards, do your members want to be responsible for the organization’s high-profile projects?

By learning what makes them tick, you can keep your employees engaged and committed to achieving objectives.

The right assessments to develop effective leaders

Assessments are effective tools for nurturing excellent leaders, as they measure various characteristics ranging from skills to behaviors. By maximizing them, you not only identify superb individuals, but reveal potential ones as well.

Profiles Asia Pacific possesses a wide array of top-tier assessments, ensuring you have a pipeline of such leaders.

Developing the right approach

To deliver a more innovative approach to leadership development, however, we created a tool that reveals an individual’s potential to lead.

Our ProfileXT® Executive Leadership Report illuminates a candidate’s innate characteristics, behaviors, and leadership styles, all of which indicate their approach to confronting challenges and achieving excellence. This report projects six universal leadership competencies as well:

• Innovating strategic initiatives
• Maximizing resources
• Utilizing organizational synergies
• Producing quality results
• Mentoring others
• Maintaining high personal standards

Wrapping up—Build successful teams with superb leadership

Creating a high-performing team is a long-term process that requires commitment and continuous development.

Effective leadership, meanwhile, facilitates this by fostering a positive work environment, supporting growth and development, and promoting open communication, all of which are conducive to effective teamwork.

If you’re looking to develop truly impactful leaders that can build successful units, maximize our ProfileXT® Executive Leadership Report and take the next step in elevating your company’s teams. All you need to do is reach out!