Fostering High-Performing Teams: Building an Environment of Engagement and Productivity 

Whether you are managing an in-tact team that all report to you or a cross-functional team that is working together on a project, it is a critical leadership skill to ensure the team is engaged and high performing as quickly as possible.  There are some key attributes of a team that make them high performing.  This CAP will explore those attributes and talk about how to build an environment conducive to having high engagement and productivity. 

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 Some of the key attributes: 

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Clear goals or objectives 

 

Established team norms 

 

Defined decision-making process and authority 

 

Documented roles and responsibilities of each team member 

 

Ability to have constructive conflict 

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Clear Common Goals or Objectives 

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​A team that has clear common goals or objectives can all head in the same direction, even if everyone is contributing in unique ways.  It is helpful to have defined interim milestones to allow the team to check-in and ensure that the different bodies of work are all progressing as planned towards the goal and any dependencies are identified. 

 

Here are some ideas to ensure that you have clear goals or objectives: 

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Have a kick-off meeting at the beginning of a project or when you start as a new leader in a department.  

 

Share the project or department’s goals and objectives as provided. 

 

Solicit input to clarify the goals and the key activities within the scope of the project or department 

 

Identify overall timelines and key milestones.

 

Determine metrics to measure success. 

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Established Team Norms

 

Team norms are a set of rules or operating principles that shape team members' interactions. Team norms establish clear, agreed-upon behavior, how the work will get done, and what team members can expect of each other. Establishing norms or validating pre-existing norms is a way to ensure team success. 

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Here are some ideas to define or validate your team norms: 

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For a new team (I.e. project)

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Have everyone think about the norms they have followed which have made them successful in the past.

 

Brainstorm norms by either calling them out or writing them on post-in notes

 

Agree on the norms you will follow through discussion or perhaps through voting (if discussion doesn’t help to get alignment)

 

Document the norms that are agreed upon.

 

Identify a check-in point in the future that allows you to see if everyone is following the norms and if there needs to be any refinement

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For an existing team (where you are a new leader)

 

Have the team identify the current norms that are followed. ​

 

Discuss additional norms that may be helpful 

 

Follow steps 3-5 above.

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Potential norms may include: 

 

Response time, especially after normal working hours and on vacation 

 

Agenda distributed in advance 

 

Share input succinctly, to give time for others to contribute 

 

Don’t interrupt 

 

Define when the meeting will focus on brainstorming (more options) vs decision-making (narrowing the options). 

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Defined Decision-Making Process and Authority

 

Team members can progress more quickly if they are able to understand how decisions will be made and at what point in the project.  In some cases, the organization will have a governance framework to facilitate cross functional alignment and that framework will likely define the decision-making rights.  In other cases, the team members may be granted the authority to make decisions independently.  It is important to understand the over-arching rules before establishing team decision-making norms. 

 

Here are some ideas to define decision-making process: 

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Organizationally, confirm thresholds of decision-making authority within the team (i.e. financial impact up to a specified dollar amount) 

 

Identify the executive sponsor for each initiative who can ultimately make the decision.  Understand their decision-making criteria (e.g. data, pilot results, customer feedback, etc) 

 

Determine criteria used to confirm agreement (e.g. majority vote, consensus, no opposition interpreted as agreement). 

 

Document the decision-making process, especially if it is not defined organizationally, and socialize it with leadership in the beginning of the project or upon acquiring the new team. 

 

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 Documented Roles and Responsibilities of Each Team Member

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Teams are made up of people with different roles and responsibilities.  Some team members have similar roles but different levels of authority.  Some team members may have roles that overlap and will need to determine who will take the lead each time tasks are assigned. 

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Here are some ideas to define the roles and responsibilities of each team member: 

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Outline the roles of each team member and indicate the RACI for each: 

 

Responsible – responsible for contributing to the completion of the task or activity 

 

Accountable – ultimately accountable for the task or activity 

 

Consulted – may be able to provide subject-matter expertise to the core team working on the activity but is not actively involved 

 

Informed – Informed about progress or decisions but is not responsible for the task or activity. 

 

Proactively determine areas where there are overlaps between team members’ responsibilities and identify who will take the lead in different situations, or determine when those decisions will be made (i.e., we will decide 4 weeks before the event who will be accountable for the PowerPoint presentation or give the presentation to senior management) 

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 Ability to have Constructive Conflict 

 

For a team to be highly productive, the members must be able to share their different points of view in a safe environment.  It may be helpful to question the assumptions other team members are making that lead them to their recommendations.  Inevitably, highly functioning teams will disagree at key decision points on how to move forward in general.  This is a healthy situation and contributes to better outcomes. 

 

However, conflict is not always constructive.  Interpersonal conflict between team members could indicate underlying disrespect or lack of trust.  This can result in personal attacks that escalate quickly and create tense relationships on an on-going basis. 

 

Lack of conflict is not necessarily constructive either.  If everyone agrees all the time, the team members may have homogenous background and may benefit from more diversity.  Or, tacit agreement may indicate that members do not feel psychologically safe to share conflicting views due to personal conflicts with other team members, overbearing team members, or feelings that their input is repeatedly dismissed. 

 

Here are some ideas to encourage constructive conflict: 

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Create a safe environment 

 

Encourage people to assume good intent from other members of the team. 

 

Identify potential triggers among the team members and proactively identify ways to mitigate the conflict. 

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Address personal conflicts in smaller groups. 

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Create team norms related to sharing and receiving input among the team members to set expectations. 

 

Celebrate constructive conflicts that resulted in a better outcome. 

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