“The team is the only unit that has the flexibility and resources to quickly respond to changes that have become commonplace in today’s world.” – Ken Blanchard

Teams are the future of work because teams are a requirement to stay competitive in today’s environment. As Ken Blanchard loves to state – “No one of us is as smart as all of us.”

Teams have the power to accelerate productivity and morale or destroy it. But surveys show that most of us have not been trained on how to lead and participate in highly productive teams. Today, let’s review what the Blanchard organization has learned about how to build high-performance teams so we can build our own.

“A study of 12,000 Swedish workers over a 14-year period found that workers who felt isolated and had little influence over their jobs were 162% more likely to have a fatal heart attack than those who had greater influence in decisions at work.”

Studies like this and the fact that teams can be far more productive than individuals are driving the use of teams as the primary vehicle for getting work done.

What are the characteristics of high-performing teams? These are the characteristics the Blanchard organization has found in the highest performing teams they have worked with.

Align for Results

Great teams align for results by clarifying the team purpose, defining goals and roles, and agreeing on acceptable and unacceptable behavior by the team members.

Perform Under Pressure

To perform under pressure, strong teams embrace and address conflict openly. No pink elephants are left unnoticed! They invite team members to be themselves and express themselves. They encourage candor/straight talk and listen with curiosity.

Unified teams are better teams. In great teams, the members work collaboratively and hold each other accountable. They build trusting relationships and always openly appreciate each member’s contributions to the team.

Sustain High Performance

High-performing teams sustain their performance by staying unified and sharing leadership. The team members work together to adapt to change and accept greater challenges so every person has the chance to rise to the occasion and become their best self.

When leaders promote and sustain these characteristics in their teams, high performance will be the outcome. Just like individuals, teams operate at different levels of development. Recognizing what level a team is at allows the leader to lead based on the needs of the team.

We’ll dive into the team development stages and the appropriate management style in the next column.

We love helping leaders build great companies and we’ve got some great free resources for you in our resource library. You can check them out at www.valuesdrivenresults.com/resource-library/ or give us a call at (229) 244-1559. We’d love to help you in any way we can.

Curt Fowler is president of Fowler & Company and director at Fowler, Holley, Rambo & Stalvey.

Curt and the team at FHRS help leaders build great companies through Fractional CFO, strategy, tax and accounting services.

Curt is a syndicated business writer, keynote speaker, and business advisor. He has an MBA in strategy and entrepreneurship from the Kellogg School, is a CPA, and a pretty good guy as defined by his wife and five children. (Welcome Baby Owen – June 2021!)