Communication and Trust are Two Important Characteristics of High Team Performance

Results, commitment and processes are three of the five characteristics of high team performance, which I discussed in my last Insight. 

Here are the final two characteristics. 

• Communication—This is so much more important than just sharing information with your team, like I mentioned when I talked about processes in my last Insight. A high-performing team encourages, welcomes and supports a lot of different ideas. Even if the ideas sound a little crazy, even if the ideas sound a little bit—or a lot—unworkable. High-performing teams welcome ideas from every member on the team.
  
  It’s important to hear everyone out and not eliminate any ideas early on, and high-performing teams do this well. So communication is really being open to new ideas. It’s openness to people’s opinions. It’s welcoming and encouraging participation from every team member. 

Don’t overlook the quiet team members. If someone is hanging back, the team should look for ways to make the person more comfortable participating. A lot of times, those team members that hold back are thinking about and analyzing ideas. They often have incredibly valuable things to share that probably didn’t even occur to the rest of the team because they weren’t thinking that deeply.

The team also needs to have a thorough discussion, and analyze all ideas and suggestions, to identify the best ideas and which ones they want to move forward on. 

• Trust—This characteristic almost goes without saying. In order for a team to be effective and high-performing, each member needs to feel secure. Team members need to feel like it’s OK to ask for help. It’s OK to say, “I don’t know.” It’s OK to admit a mistake was made without fear of retaliation (or fear of any kind).
  
  In fact, on high-performing teams, mistakes are usually viewed as an opportunity to look at how things can be done better or more efficiently, and then create processes accordingly.
  
  If processes are in place, there won’t be many mistakes. And if people are committed to the results, following the processes and there’s open communication, trust just becomes one “ingredient” in the “recipe” for a high-performing team.
  
  High trust levels also make it easier to share all those wild and crazy ideas. It makes it OK and safe to voice your opinion or share feedback when someone has done something that might negatively impact the team, the relationships on the team or the results the team is trying to achieve. 

Team leaders and members are all responsible for making sure the five characteristics of high team performance are in place. The team leader is really the person who is going to drive this “train,” but each team member—through their commitment—needs to hold each other, and themselves, accountable.

Team leaders and members are all responsible for making sure the five characteristics of high team performance are in place.