5 common mistakes to avoid when building high performing teams

High performing teams don’t just happen. They’re the culmination of strategic planning, effort and persistence.  

When it comes to building high performing teams, much of the focus is on what should be done, be it workplace practices, communication or goal setting, for example. 

However, it’s also important to understand what won’t work and misconceptions about how to build high performance teams.

In this article we cover 5 common mistakes leaders make when trying to build their own high performance teams. 

1. Team days and lunch & learns

When leaders look for team building solutions, they tend to fall back on what they already know or have experienced (regardless of how effective these things have been).

For many, this tends to come in the form of very tactical solutions - things like establishing regular lunch and learns or team days, for example.

While these types of initiatives (if executed properly) aren’t necessarily wrong, the mistake comes when leaders rely solely on them.

These types of tactical initiatives should never be viewed as a holistic answer to enhancing team performance but rather just one very small part of a broader strategic solution.

2. Podcasts, influencers and DIY books

‘Free advice’ and educational resources (by way of podcasts, influencers and DIY books) can be great to grow your knowledge base.

However, the downside of these mediums is that the information is highly generic in nature, and they often provide a solution without any knowledge of you, your team, the organisation and the exact problem to be addressed.

To create your own high performing team, you need an approach that is tailored for your unique circumstances, which takes into consideration your own organisation, and then adapts a solution (rather than having a solution and adapting the organisation). 

3. Taking the ‘beanbag’ approach

Foosball, beanbags and gaming rooms might be offered by some companies as a way to incentivise employees, however such perks won’t necessarily enhance performance.

On one end of the spectrum, individuals may simply be too busy to use such facilities (or won’t use them for fear they may be deemed slack for taking some time out).

At the other end of the spectrum, individuals may use such facilities too much and, as such, workplace productivity drops. Instead, it can be better to offer perks that are more aligned with the workplace, teams and the individual themselves.

This could include paying for teams to attend corporate conferences, holding professional development initiatives and offering volunteering opportunities.

4. Creating unnecessary structure

One of the most common mistakes when building a high performing team is creating unnecessary structure, especially when done in an ad-hoc way or as a knee-jerk reaction.

To enhance performance, it’s natural for leaders to revert to increased structure as it makes them feel in greater control of the situation.

This might scheduling more meetings (i.e. team check-ins), dictating specific work-from-home days (or worse, not allowing working from home at all), or creating additional processes and procedures. However, it’s all about striking the right balance.

When there’s too much structure, this can actually inhibit the professional growth of your team. So it’s crucial to understand what structure will add value, and avoid creating unnecessary structure particularly in an ad-hoc manner. 

5. Incentive-based rewards

Despite what you may think, incentives (money or otherwise) are not the only motivating factor for individuals to perform well in their roles.

There’s a range of factors that drives motivation and, in turn, helps build high-performing teams.

These can include the team and company culture, having a valid meaning and purpose in one’s own role, and opportunities for growth and professional development, to name a few. Incentive-based rewards might deliver enhanced performance in the immediate future, but it will be short-lived if other factors also need addressing.

Taking a strategic approach to building high performing teams

More than ever, high performing teams are critical to the success of an organisation.

Not just for the direct uplift they can have on the bottom line, but also for the indirect benefits to the organisation, such as more productive and happier staff, greater staff retention, and greater innovation, for example.

When it comes to building a high performing team, the key is to do what’s right for your team.

That means understanding what your team needs to reach high performance, and building a strategy and solution to suit that.

Band-aid solutions, ad-hoc methods, and uneducated approaches (although well-intentioned) are likely to cause more harm than good.

Our specialist coaches perform as an extension of your team, and use researched, evidenced-based techniques to help create your own high performance team.

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6 key characteristics of a high performance team