Developing High Performing Teams

Key Takeaways

• Use task needs analysis to identify KSAs when adjusting team inputs.
• Employ team development interventions targeting mediating mechanisms when facing structural limitations.
• Team Building enhances social relations and role clarity.
• Leadership development improves team effectiveness and outcomes by 29%.
• Team development interventions targeting mediating mechanisms offer the best ROI for organisations.

Developing High Performing Teams

The continual pursuit of refinement and efficiency has led many organisations to heavily integrate teams into day-to-day operations. Instability within the macro economy, increased domestic and international competition are all factors that have led organisations to be agile and protect themselves from the impending complexities of modern-day business. Beyond serving as a safeguard against risks, teams provide organisations with increased efficiencies that translate into performance gains and ultimately increased profitability. Specifically, understanding teams and cultivating high-performing teams can allow organisations to better utilise pre-existing human capital to generate performance gains. This report will examine the factors that influence teams as well as evidence-based best practices that can facilitate high-performing teams within an organisational setting.

Defining Teams

A team, within an organisational context, is two or more individuals who socially interact (in-person or virtually) with each other. These individuals share one or more common goals and are brought together to perform and complete tasks that align with organisational objectives. The individuals are interconnected in terms of workflow, goals, and outcomes, meaning that each member's contribution affects the overall team outcome. Additionally, each team member has different roles and responsibilities that contribute to achieving the team goal. Finally, the team is a functional element that is part of a broader organisational system, with similarities and differences from the general organisational objectives.

Importance of High-Performing Teams

High-performing teams can provide a significant competitive advantage for organisations in areas such as productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction. As the prevalence of team-based organisations rises, the underutilisation of teams, specifically high-performing teams, will result in a drop in and sacrifice of competitive advantage. Industry exploration suggests that organisations with high-performance teams are almost two times more likely to be financially successful than organisations in the same market area.

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
– Henry Ford

Understanding Teams

Along with having a prevailing role in organisations, teams are an integral part of wider society and have garnered significant attention in research. From this literature, teams and their subsequent performance are conceptualized as a multi-level process consisting of team-level taskwork, individual-level taskwork, and team member interactions. A leading framework within the team’s literature is the Input-Mediators-Output (IMO) framework. Furthermore, the IMO framework provides a broad foundational understanding of teams that is necessary for later parts of this report that explore how to develop high-performing teams.

Inputs

Inputs refer to predisposed factors that facilitate or limit the efficacy of taskwork. Example inputs include individual team member traits (knowledge, skills, attitudes and personality), task characteristics, team design (composition and size), and organisational context.

Mediators

Mediating mechanisms describe how team outcomes are derived from the set of inputs; in essence, how team members interact to accomplish the task. Mediating mechanisms are often referred to as the ABC’s (Attitudes, Behaviours, and Cognitions).

• Attitudes: Internal states that impact interactions (e.g., mutual trust, cohesion, psychological safety, collective efficacy).
• Behaviours: Processes and skills required to accomplish teamwork (e.g., leadership, information sharing, conflict resolution, backup behaviour).
• Cognitions: Collective experiences and knowledge that enable effective teamwork (e.g., shared mental models, situational awareness, transactive memory systems).

Notes:

1. Collective efficacy: The group’s belief that they can excel in performing the task.
2. Backup behaviour: Team members supporting others to perform their roles.
3. Shared mental models: A collective idea of the team norms and goals.
4. Transactive memory systems: Allocation of knowledge across members, with awareness of who knows what.
5. Psychological safety: An environment where members feel safe to share, question, or make mistakes without fear of punishment.

Outcomes

Outcomes are defined as the accomplishment of individual, team, or organisational goals. Goal accomplishment can be measured by:

• Outputs such as efficiency, innovation, productivity, or sales quotas.
• Team member attitudes (trust, wellbeing, satisfaction).
• Behaviours such as turnover and absenteeism.

Effective Teams

Key findings from the literature link the following elements with effective teams:

• Team knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs): Essential for effective teamwork.

• Knowledge: Understanding necessary information (e.g., roles, expertise).

• Skills: Observable capabilities (e.g., communication, adaptability).

• Attitudes: Perceptions/emotions surrounding teamwork (e.g., trust, preference for collaboration).

• Team task analysis: Identify teamwork behaviours and tasks, then define the required KSAs.

• Team selection methods: Choose members based on KSAs aligned to tasks; use assessments/tests to ensure diversity.
• Team leader development: Enhance leader capabilities to improve overall functioning.
• Performance measurement systems: Assess processes and diagnose performance with multiple measures.
• Diagnostic feedback: Provide timely feedback on performance to enable adjustment and improvement.

Best Practices

Teams are complex multi-level entities. To develop high performance, interventions can target:

• Inputs (e.g., team composition, traits).
• Mediating mechanisms (e.g., communication, behaviours).

Mediating mechanisms are often the best choice when structural or resource constraints exist.

Developing High Performance: Mediating Mechanism Focused

Team Building

Interventions aimed at improving social interactions and interpersonal relations:

• Goal setting: Active participation in setting goals.
• Interpersonal relationship management: Encourages communication, trust, and positive attitudes.
• Role clarification: Improves understanding of roles and responsibilities.
• Problem-solving: Fosters cooperation in decision-making.

Research shows role clarification and goal setting are most effective for improving shared mental models. Team building increases both short-term effectiveness and long-term ROI.

Leadership Development

Leadership training is associated with up to 29% improvement in outcomes. Competencies developed include:

• Conflict resolution.
• Feedback aligned with group norms.
• Change management.

Typically delivered in two stages (foundational online learning + in-person role-play with feedback). Training also develops psychological safety, creating an environment where members feel safe to share ideas and take risks without fear.

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