Achieving Flow on a High Performance Team

For many of us, memories of being on a team include somehow managing to get the job done; pushing out the deliverables; slogging to the finish line. We remember paying the price of late night toil and missed social engagements, all in order to please the bosses, and to maintain the status quo. If these achievements made a difference, it was hard to know, because it was on to the next project.

Without the right conditions, teams, despite their best intentions, will eventually run out of speed and energy, and meander slowly into a swamp-like state of atrophy. To move into a state of high performance, teams need an environment in which they are permitted to develop, which means letting go of the old “do as I say” mentality. With the right environment and skilled leader/coach, a high performance team can restore vitality and life throughout an entire company.

A High Performance Team is Curious

A leader gets the ball rolling on a particular challenge, then allows the team to take it forward. With the trust in the team and their set of skills well established, they have the space to get curious, to start to dive in and address the task at hand. With the leader asking a series of open ended questions, something emerges that is larger than any one individual, with new ideas working off of each other, morphing into innovative ways of developing new products and services.

A High Performance Team Takes Ownership

With just the right level of involvement from the leader, there is an explosion of team energy. As the team starts running with the challenge, they start to naturally take ownership of the result. From this experience of rising to the challenge and seeing what they are capable of, individual competence, and team competence grows. As individuals and as a team, they are ready to move to the next level, and grow within the company as professionals.

A High Performance Team Can Do Hard Things 

With confidence gained through competence, high performance teams feel comfortable to stay with difficult questions. Rather than focusing on the problem they ask, how can we make this happen?

A High Performance Team Knows Their Why

High performance teams see that their values are connected to the company’s values, as well as the customers’ values. Mission statements aren’t just words but motivation to take on challenges. They know their “why” behind learning new skills and developing capabilities, because they are engaged in the longer term plan. As the power of the vision for the company pulls the team forward, they are motivated to more readily plan out the steps and processes needed to get there.