Efficiency and effectiveness: building a high-performing team

October 2022  |  FEATURE | LABOUR & EMPLOYMENT

Financier Worldwide Magazine

October 2022 Issue

Many factors can help drive the success of a business, perhaps none more so than its employees. With great dedication, variegated knowledge and specialised competencies, talented workers can truly make a difference in any organisation. In an increasingly complex economic landscape, organisations are more reliant on high-performing teams to cope with growing challenges, differentiate themselves from the competition and take the business forward.

These highly skilled individuals, working in cross-functional areas, with shared vision and values, focus on achieving common business goals. According to a 2019 report from Deloitte, “shifting toward a team-based organisational model improves performance, often significantly”. Fifty-three percent of respondents to Deloitte’s survey said they experienced a significant improvement in performance since transitioning to a team or network-based organisation.

“Members of top-performing teams share high expectations of one another and a purpose that is explicit, consequential, strengthening and aligning,” explains Cheryl Fields Tyler, founder and chief executive of Blue Beyond Consulting. “The team and individual members have goals that are clear and compelling, and that require learning and teamwork to achieve. Team members also cultivate and value diverse perspectives, effective collaboration and ‘group genius’, and they exhibit a growth mindset and commitment to a high standard of excellence.”

One way businesses can build high-performance teams is by reimagining operating models in the digitally disrupted, post-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic world. For instance, Deloitte has advocated for companies to “do more with less, reduce operating costs, and create additional capacity to fuel the mission and business in the midst of shrinking budgets, all while creating an engaged and agile workforce”. By leaning into agility and resiliency while driving efficiencies, companies should prioritise areas such as cross-functional collaboration, resource sharing and talent agility, improved customer and employee experiences, augmented data availability, enhanced operational responsiveness, and greater digital integration and modernisation. In this way, companies can emerge from the pandemic era leaner and more focused.

From an operational perspective, many companies were forced to make short-term cuts to achieve immediate cost reductions and keep the lights on through the pandemic – a typical response to crisis. But according to Deloitte, making such cuts often means companies overlook key opportunities to redesign for optimised value delivery, revenue growth and market share in a sustainable manner. With efficiency and effectiveness front of mind, companies should address obsolete structures, capabilities, roles, processes, technology and organisational culture. The pandemic allowed some companies to address these issues, but, in practice, sustaining high-performance teams should see businesses adapt their operating models, funding and governance processes continually.

Essential elements

According to McKinsey, the best-performing teams in a workplace consist of at least six members, but no more than 10. Fewer individuals means less diversity and fewer ideas. On the other hand, larger teams may become less effective as ‘sub-teams’ start to form, leading to divisive and distracting behaviour.

For Ms Fields Tyler, one of the key characteristics of a high-performing team is that it embodies a culture of not only high expectations but also deep trust. “Deep trust means that team members know and appreciate each other as individuals, and they feel psychologically safe to show up, speak up, and contribute without fear of punishment, humiliation or manipulation,” she explains. “It means everyone gives and receives authentic appreciation and constructive, candid feedback that in turn fosters productive and respectful dialogue and debate.”

Selecting the right people is, of course, vital, and diverse, socially sensitive groups are often more successful. According to a study by academics from MIT, Carnegie Mellon and Union College, the proportion of females in a group can be positively correlated with the collective intelligence of a group, likely because women scored higher than men on social sensitivity. Having the right skills and mindset is also crucial, and this includes being open to change.

In the view of Polly Rodway, a partner at Brahams Dutt Badrick French LLP, the essential element of a high-performing team is communication. “An open channel for communication, recognition of its importance within the team, and structures in place to ensure effective communication are essential,” she notes. “This enables a team to appreciate and recognise different strengths and play to them. It also helps to facilitate respect and support for each other, which brings out the best of each team member and in turn translates to high quality work product and a happy work environment.”

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, personal wellness and wellbeing have perhaps never been more present in employees’ minds. Companies that ignore this fact may find it almost impossible to cultivate high-performing teams. “Firms have a duty to provide a safe place of work for their employees,” says Ms Rodway. “They also have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees. These are good reasons why firms should take wellness considerations into account. Legalities aside, firms perform better when employees are healthy, motivated and focused.”

The pandemic certainly changed the playing field, redefining our concept of the workplace and altering our perceptions of work-life balance. As Ms Rodway attests, the pandemic forced us all to reflect on the interaction between our professional and personal lives. “For many, it forced down the physical barriers between the two, with employees working from home, often with partners, children and pets in the same location,” she says. “As a result, in order to protect wellbeing, employees and employers have had to establish virtual barriers in their place. This might be in the form of out of hours email policies, encouraging time off or establishing wellness support at work.”

According to Ms Fields Tyler, the way the world has evolved over the last few years has put tremendous pressure on people, not least due to the anxiety caused by the ongoing pandemic. “The levels of stress and burnout in our society really take a toll, and a business cannot thrive if its people are not thriving,” she says. “The lessons of the pandemic are to trust our people, practice empathy, prioritise health and wellbeing and reinvest ourselves – so we can do our best work with thought, care, good humour and joy.”

To ensure that employees continue to perform, companies need to monitor the health of their employees and react to signs of potential problems. “Leaders and managers must be equipped to demonstrate empathy by noticing employees who may be struggling with mental health or physical health issues,” argues Ms Fields Tyler. “They must invest in building relationships, listen supportively to team members and guide them to helpful resources. They must also model inclusive flexibility as well as model or champion wellness efforts. Helping to prioritise what must get done – and what can slide if necessary – can go a long way in alleviating stress and burnout.

“First we had to learn how to be efficient and effective working from home – all while setting boundaries to avoid burnout and work toward an unprecedented work-life integration. Now, many employees are having to relearn many of the same things while back in the office or working in blended environments,” she adds.

Leading from the front

One of the most important elements of building high-performing teams is leadership. Leaders must be able to form and guide teams that can achieve or exceed organisational objectives in a changing business environment. They must understand how to create the conditions that allow their teams to perform at a high level, using the tools necessary to create better alignment, engagement and accountability within the organisation. And they need the ability to apply their knowledge effectively to whatever commercial situation they face, driving continual improvement.

“Team leaders and management in general are essential ingredients in delivering high-performing teams,” believes Ms Fields Tyler. “They create the weather in the organisation, the implicit and explicit expectations that signal to people what is important.

“It starts at the top with the chief executive and executive team, but they alone are not enough,” she continues. “Team leaders – and their managers – need to be enfranchised to the purpose, values and vision of the company. They need to know why the work they are doing is important for the business, for the customers and for the employees. They need to be equipped, enabled and held accountable to be those kinds of leaders.”

Team leaders should take an inventory of the skills, talents, abilities, education and experiences of their team members, evaluate them, and form a plan to maximise these qualities. That will involve developing team goals, providing feedback on performance, devising appropriate rewards and remuneration, and conducting training, among others.

The war for talent has empowered employees to expect more from the companies they work for – and collaboration is high on the list. “Team efficiency and effectiveness are essential because high-performing teams deliver results and it is what employees want,” says Ms Fields Tyler. “Indeed, many say ‘working with a great team’ is their primary reason for staying with an employer. When deep trust and high expectations work together in an elevating, virtuous cycle, businesses see higher employee engagement and stronger business outcomes.

“Our research suggests that employees overwhelmingly regard collaboration as important but only about a quarter of knowledge workers strongly believe their company is good at it. Leaders can inspire their teams toward better performance by a deliberate and thoughtful process based on trust and accountability that sets clear expectations, fosters team cohesion, and encourages excellence through a clear and compelling purpose,” she adds.

Building a high-performing team is not easy; there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach. Leaders need to be able to identify the unique needs of team members and see that those needs are met. “Firms should enable employees to have a positive relationship with work,” suggests Ms Rodway. “This, in turn, is likely to result in better work product, as when employees feel valued and supported, they are more willing to strive further for the workplace and its clients.

“In most businesses, a firm’s employees are its best asset,” she continues. “Talent retention is essential. When you lose talent, you not only lose that individual, but you lose some stability in the workforce. Firms face significant challenges in staff retention because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the way our working lives have changed. Not only are firms competing over remuneration, but also over working arrangements and flexibility. This is something we have not had to confront in such a way until now. It dramatically raises the stakes for retention as well as recruitment.”

High-performing teams can unlock competitive advantage for firms. By taking steps such as setting achievable objectives, prioritising communication and being transparent with employees, companies can empower their team members to contribute to a shared objective by delivering optimal results.

© Financier Worldwide

BY

Richard Summerfield