Creating High-Performance Teams for Your Small Business

Every small business owner wants to create high-performance teams. But what exactly defines a high-performance team, and how can you attract employees who have those qualities? Charactaristics of high performance teams In a survey by EY, business leaders named the following as the most important characteristics of high-performance teams:

• A clear, achievable goal: 44 percent
• A shared commitment 40.9 percent
• Clear roles and responsibilities 39.1 percent
• A sense of purpose 33.0 percent
• Clear processes and procedures 27.2 percent
• Joint accountability 25.7 percent
• Focus on results 18.4 percent

The book Creating the High-Performance Team defines eight characteristics of high- performance teams, and there’s a lot of overlap between the lists:

1. Participative leadership that encourages empowerment and interdependence among team members
2. Shared responsibility, demonstrated by respect for other team members
3. A sense of common purpose and understanding of why the team is brought together
4. A climate of clear and honest communication
5. Members who are not threatened by change but see it as an opportunity for growth
6. A clear focus on the task at hand
7. Maximizes the talents of individual team members
8. Responds rapidly to challenges or opportunities and acts on them quickly

Where to begin What strikes me about both these lists is that a high-performance team isn’t built by finding some magic group of individuals, sitting back and letting them do their work. A high-performance team is built by a business leader taking charge to make sure certain things happen. For example, defining clear roles and responsibilities, creating clear processes and procedures, setting a clear, achievable goal and creating an environment where talents can be utilized are all the responsibility of the business owner and managers. How can you find employees who will fit into the type of team you want to create?

• Create job descriptions that emphasize these qualities, such as the ability to respond rapidly to change, communicate clearly and work interdependently.
• Ask interview questions that will elicit stories of whether candidates worked as part of a high-performance team—or whether they fell short. For example, you could ask employees how they dealt with a communication challenge in their prior jobs, or what they do when their roles are not clearly defined.
• Look for results orientation. Candidates whose resumes and interview responses focus on achievements and results are likely to be good members of a high-performance team.