Crafting Excellence: The Blueprint for Building a High-Performing Team

November 27, 2023•15 min read

With the rapid evolution of businesses globally, there has never been a more important time in history than right now, to build high-performing teams! What company can afford to simply rely on its product selling itself, and not place high expectations on its people to drive the business forward? No company I know - It is an absolute must to build every department, every group and every individual into high-performing teams and talent, if you want to scale successfully.

The objective is clear, but the ‘how’ not so much. I wish I could tell you there was one quick simple trick that would get the job done, but unfortunately, just like many things in life, there is no silver bullet for this goal either. I can however guide you through all the components that are required to be present to train and craft teams that embody excellence. The heartbeat of success lies within the capacity of a team to actually understand what “excellence” looks like, from ALL angles. Performance is multidimensional. For example, there is not much value in being excellent at planning but poor at execution. To develop teams to perform at an elite standard, start by creating an internal framework that guides each person and team to recognise what is high performance and what is not, and how they can measure themselves against it at any time. It’s my pleasure to provide you with the elements of such a framework.

The items below need to be considered in a black-and-white way. Any room for interpretation i.e. “the grey area” simply opens the door for “excuses”. High-performing teams don’t have excuses, period.

Let’s delve into the essential criteria that elevate a team from good to exceptional. 👊

1. Accountability:

A high-performing team thrives on accountability. Each team member understands their role and responsibilities, taking ownership of their contributions to the collective goal.
A person is either accountable or they are not. A team is either accountable or they are not. It should be measured that simply.
Establish this as the standard for accountability by setting clear expectations.
To test this element, consider all the people and teams you have worked with in the past, have you noticed that the ones who do what they say they will do, always happen to be the better-performing colleagues?
This level of accountability fosters a culture of reliability and trust which is the foundation of a high-performing team. If you and I are going to be a team, and I am going to be working really hard to achieve our common goal, I need to know that I can rely on you to be doing the same. The moment I get even the smallest sense that I can’t hold you to account, I will organically distance myself from you. This is an unconscious human behaviour, and sometimes it is silently conscious.

2. Calling Out Issues (Gap Analysis):

An organisation culture that encourages team members to identify and address issues, by comfortably calling them out openly, is a hallmark of high performance.
High-performing teams don’t compromise outcomes/results for politeness. This is not to say that individuals of high-performing teams are rude to each other. It’s the opposite, candidly addressing problems blocking their collective pathway is received with respect and appreciation. Almost like one person has uncovered the thing that was holding them back as a team.
When everyone thinks in this way, it is not an uncomfortable conversation. Star performers know how to have these challenging conversations with grace and that’s what makes them highly professional. This is also the environment that creates psychological safety for members.
You need to hire talented people with high EQ, at least one in each team, that other members can learn from.
Performing gap analysis for the purposes of improvement then becomes a natural occurrence.
To test this element think about the best team in the organisation, are they very open and honest about their deficiencies? Have they already flagged ways to work on them? This is the behaviour of a high-performing team.
To build this, create an environment where team members feel empowered to voice concerns and contribute to solutions. Constructive criticism is a catalyst for growth.

3. Masterful Planning:

Great teams are built on great plans. They invest time in meticulous, and these days agile planning, breaking down overarching goals into actionable steps. They are not for a moment unaware of the job ahead of them, and how the little tasks being done, roll into bigger milestones which then translate to a big deliverable being achieved.
The team only needs one or two individuals to volunteer to craft the plan, but it takes EVERYONE's contribution to maintain that plan. Again, there is no point in having a masterfully created plan that no one follows, updates or completes.
To enable a team to do an excellent job give them the tools they need, that is what organisations often forget. It is not all about how good the team is at planning, the business must meet this team halfway and provide them with the best equipment and software on the market for them to be a high-performing team. Planning software is incredibly important.
A high-performing team is often then quick to identify each other's strengths and should go so far as assigning the right roles each member should play when getting ready to execute the plan. This clarity minimizes confusion and promotes efficiency.

4. Execution Excellence:

Planning is only as effective as its execution. High-performing teams excel in translating plans into tangible outcomes. They are locked in on the output that produces the outcomes and they understand the activity in the plan that must be delivered, within time and the allocated budget.
It is a common misconception that if you bring a group of high-calibre people together they will automatically just perform at a high level. This is a false assumption. Sure they might organically outperform most other groups that don't have the talent that they do, however, I have seen many times a group of normal people perform exceptionally well because they follow a great execution rhythm.
Execution is a trained skill, it is not simply something people are always born with. There is therefore an art form to it, people acquire and learn these techniques along their career journey. Some people never learn it at all, and always await instructions from others before they execute. The talented people who have learnt the skills of execution know what is involved.
To train the execution skills, first teach them our MPA framework which works through the linear process of measurement, prioritisation and action. Other training required is in the areas of discipline, collaboration, problem-solving, creative thinking, time management, remote coordination, communication and rapid information digestion.
The organisation can help by fostering a culture that values execution and celebrates teams' milestones. Taking initiative and delivering results should be rewarded, but to be honest, for high-performing teams getting the job done well is reward enough.

5. Visionary Perspective:

A high-performing team isn't just focused on the present; they grasp the greater vision and ultimate target for scaling the business. Clearly communicate the overarching purpose and vision to inspire and align the team.
Each team member has an equivalent understanding of the vision and hence they have immense alignment with each other. The team never takes their eye off the prize and understands at all times that this is the ultimate long-term goal.
This is the concept of alignment. It is an incredibly powerful and important thing to have in any organisation. All it simply means is that everyone is rowing in the same direction towards the vision.
Plans may sometimes never go according to plan, due to things outside of the control of the team. You know you have a high-performing team when they have adjusted course the moment they realise their current plan will not achieve their outcome. It is the clarity of the vision that allows them the conviction to know when their short-term plan needs modification.
A high-performing team quickly established how their individual contributions contribute to the larger picture. It is often explicit and very effective that a conversation like this is verbally had. This sense of purpose fuels their motivation and keeps the team accountable.

6. Collaboration as a Core Value:

The very virtue of a high-performing team suggests that teamwork is required. The common misconception though is that collaboration and teamwork are the same thing, they are not. I can easily be part of your team and do what I need to do individually and never actually collaborate with anyone else in the team. Likewise, I can easily collaborate with many people but not act like I am part of any team at all.
High-performing teams need to be great at BOTH collaboration and teamwork.
Collaboration is more than a buzzword; it's a core value of high-performing teams as it suggests that one member "needs" the input of another member in order to get their job done. It takes a person with high confidence to feel comfortable knowing that they need the help of others, to achieve something of greater value than what they can produce themselves. It also takes intelligence to know when to collaborate and when this becomes over-engineering. High-performing individuals know how to balance this extremely well.
A business can support its teams by fostering an environment where open communication and idea-sharing are embraced. As well as leverage collaborative tools and create opportunities for teamwork.

7. Individual Excellence:

While collaboration is essential, each team member must also excel individually.
Most people get confused about how this is achieved, they often think which one is it? "Do you want me to work independently and autonomously or do you want me to be part of a great team?". High-performing individuals know you don't have to choose, they can achieve both.
Ultimately you don't have a high-performing team without individual excellence. An ordinary team is the sum of its parts. So if there are a few members in there who are not high-performing, the team will not be high-performing. If every individual in that team shines individually, that group has the highest probability of becoming a high-performing team. I say this, because of what is conveyed in this entire blog, it is not just about bringing a group of talented people together, while this is still a core element, all other elements mentioned here are required too.
As an organisation trying to build high-performing teams, don't forget that you must still provide opportunities for individual skill development and recognize outstanding personal contributions.

8. Proactive Contribution:

High-performing teams don't wait for instructions; they proactively contribute to the goal. Team members encourage each other to identify opportunities for improvement and innovation.
A team that strives for excellence only achieves it through proactive contribution. This is why they are so beautiful to work with. You don't have to tell them, the leaders in this team are already all over it. They have already identified what the organisation needs proactively and have set up their team to contribute towards that goal.
The team also then knows the importance of celebrating wins i.e. if a milestone is achieved towards that goal. These celebrations and appreciation of each other's efforts foster more motivation towards proactive contribution.
You can tell you have a high-performing team by observing the individuals within it. They are very curious and always seeking information, looking to measure their efficacy and progress towards the goal. They are not afraid to ask about another team's contribution as they seek to understand how the whole goal is coming together, as they are very mindful that their contribution is only a component of what is required. The team is not afraid to offer ideas or suggestions to the organisation on what is needed in totality to get closer to the goals.
As a CEO you cannot underestimate the power of these high-performing teams in being your absolute weapon to hit the bullseye. If you build every team to be high-performing, your business will be unstoppable in its scaling journey.
Do a quick measure of your management team by testing when the last time they individually raised the conversation of the businesses' growth direction and provided ideas on how the organisation could get there faster. If this has not happened in the last month, you need to start taking action to build yourself some high-performing teams.

9. Strategic Thinking:

Strategic thinking is the compass that guides high-performing teams. This is where members think beyond their day-to-day tasks and consider the long-term implications of their actions.
Imagine a business full of leaders who are all strategists. Ones that can solve any problem the business faces, without resorting to the CEO or the Board. Ones that were able to overcome any obstacle through creative outside-of-the-box thinking. How much more scale could this organisation achieve?
Strategic thinking is a rare skill, it takes a long time to be taught. Do not be distressed if you don't have an organisation full of people capable of doing this on a grand scale. All you need is a few of them, and for them to be in an influential leadership position.
The key challenge for the organisation is to identify the people in their organisation who are actually strategic thinkers. If you knew how many you had, you would be able to organise teams in such a way that there was at least one strategic thinker in the group. Please be mindful when doing this, that strategic thinking is not connected to age or seniority, so do look for the talent that may have this skill at all levels of the organisation. To be more precise with this, the organisation should regularly measure the personality and skills attributes of all of their people, so that the identification of this skill is more precise.
Whilst the skill is rare and cannot be taught quickly, to build a high-performing team that has strategic thinking you need to use the collective intelligence of the group. One individual may struggle to apply strategic thinking based on their IQ, EQ and previous experiences. However, when you have a team of different people with various IQs, EQs and work experiences, you can teach the team to be a strategic thinking unit. To do this requires a strategic thinking CEO or Board, as the team can only really learn this from an authority above them who is presumed to have the skill.
An organisation can also influence this skill by considering the diversity and inclusion of people from different backgrounds, who when combined become quite a powerful group of strategic thinkers.

10. Methodical Communication:

Communication is the glue that holds a high-performing team together. These teams excel at ensuring communication is methodical, clear, and transparent.
The biggest challenge any team faces is communication - poor communication is a barrier for success. The reason it is more challenging for teams is because this is often not a focal point. Rarely have I observed a low-performing team focus on the communication between themselves. They are often silent, or quietly play the game blame, or resort to just concentrating on their own work. If they only discussed their internal dialogue - what is working and what isn't, the team's performance would improve.
Everyone knows what communication is, so what is 'methodical' communication? Methodical communication is structured communication, where there are rules such as the frequency of it, the format of it, the level of it, the style and tone of it, and the language used in it. It is almost like 'code' for that high-performing team, where every member just understands the communication system and knows how to partake in it.
This form of sophisticated communication system is a beautiful thing to watch. If you want to test this element, simply observe any team in the organisation. Watch who is talking to whom and how. Seek how they communicate with each other when they are not in person. You will find a high-performing team's communication is what binds them together. Conversely, if you find a low-performing team, it is evident by the lack of methodical communication.
An organisation can help to build high-performing teams by creating a great internal communication framework, which all teams can use to improve their performance.

11. Adaptability & Learning Styles:

Everyone is not the same, high performing teams not only know this, they account for it. They take the time to get to know each other in the group. They quickly identify and acknowledge the deficiencies in each other, not to hold it against them when something goes wrong in the future. Rather they use it to avoid putting that person in a position where those weaknesses are necessary to achieve the job, they instead ensure at all times that they are playing to the strength of that individual. You can only know this, by understanding both sides of the equation of a human.
Learning styles and orientations are very important to understand, nearly all great leaders know this, and so do high-performing teams. Teams that excel demonstrate the willingness to show empathy for the learning styles of their members. It takes greater effort to do so, however, they know that it pays off.
High-performing teams are also very adaptable to what is happening around them, both internally within the team and any dynamics that might be at play, as well as externally to their team. They are ready to adapt whichever way is required.
To build teams that can have adaptability and responsiveness to learning styles, an organisation should ensure they assist by providing them with the data they need. Such as personality tests; governance authority to make decisions to a certain level; and skills information of each member.

Building a high-performing team is a journey that requires commitment, strategic planning, and a keen understanding of the dynamics that drive excellence. By instilling accountability, encouraging proactive thinking, and fostering a collaborative and visionary environment, organizations can pave the way for teams that not only meet but exceed expectations. An organisation must build teams because they are scaling. I have personally been part of, created and led many high-performing teams and I have decided to only surround myself with them. I've witnessed the transformative power of these teams and their pursuit of excellence and I couldn't imagine operating any other way.