The gap between skills and performance is a frequent frustration and worse, a conundrum, for leaders. The team appears to have all of the skills required to excel but doesn’t measure up on key performance metrics.
The most frequent performance inhibitor is lack of team synergy. Getting along well together isn’t enough. High performance teamwork requires productive and energetic connectivity, the lack of which not only derails team performance but can negatively influence individual performance as well.
Creating Team Cohesiveness
The team elements that must be strong in order to create this type of synergy aren’t difficult to develop. And yet they are often given little attention because many teams and leaders don’t recognize the degree of their importance. Developing them starts with recognizing them, understanding the importance they play and assessing their strength within the team.
The following are essentials that, if not strong, are sure to limit performance:
Cohesiveness
A group in which each member, with head down, diligently applies their well-honed skills to
their individual piece of the team mandate may sound like the perfect picture to many leaders.
But this scenario produces much weaker performance than is achieved by a cohesive team of people who are pulling together. When a team is cohesive everyone is energetically focused on team goals or targets and is putting the interest of the team first. The leader plays a key role by clarifying the expectation of teamwork, recognizing team behaviours and ensuring team goals, objectives and priorities are kept constantly in front of members.
Communication
Although it is a core and perhaps obviously important team element, communication is most often cited as a weak link affecting team performance. Healthy team communication can include simple but often overlooked positive practices such as keeping one another informed, quick response to messages and inviting and providing feedback and input. It also includes open, honest and respectful communication that prevents or manages conflict and creates a positive culture in which team members can put their focus on performance rather than interpersonal issues or life draining team politics.
Shared Learning
Shared learning is a less obvious performance booster and its effect on performance is often missed, When shared learning is the norm members look for opportunities to share their knowledge with one another and skills and know how are exponentially multiplied.
When the leader triggers these synergy makers by modelling the appropriate behaviours and practices and coaching team members to do the same, the team quickly moves into a higher gear and can not only meet, but exceed, expectations.