I’ve noticed that great teams do some extraordinary things that earn them the respect of their customers and colleagues as they consistently deliver results and add value. Their professionalism is exceptional, and their commitment to business-like conduct is unwavering.
It’s not a surprise to me that well-disciplined and serious business professionals can collaborate at a very high level and distinguish themselves as top-performers. That makes common sense to me. Here are some traits to a great team.
Structure and Discipline
Great teams are able to set themselves aside as high-performance operators by developing a structure that allows them to communicate in ways that enable them to collaborate and deliver highly valuable solutions for customers.
By communicating and making decisions at a high level, they allow themselves to process transactions with their customers on a repeatable basis that ensures success for the customers and the team.
This isn’t structure for structure’s sake, this is a structure that enables customer value and results. The discipline of these teams ensures that all process is intended to ensure a wonderfully valuable customer experience.
Clarity and Authenticity
Teammates speak with one another in brief, clear patterns that convey meaning quickly and empower action that leads to customer value and recurring results. These teams don’t bother with complication or obfuscation, they get right to the heart of the matter with straight talk.
Great teams eschew mind games and manipulation and speak in direct terms that help to identify options and get to decisions faster, leading to confident actions that move the team and customers forward.
Growth and Opportunity Orientation
The best teams remain open to positive change and expect to recruit continuously to identify the best, most talented people who can join their cause, and fuel the growth of the company as they gain training, skills, and experience solving problems for their growing roster of customers.
These teams assimilate new team members by sharing their high-performance culture with new employees selected because they “Fit” the company culture. Those teams mentor the new associates and remain close at hand while the new teammates ascend to full speed and learn to coach and mentor each succeeding generation of great new employees who follow them.
Masters of Constructive Conflict
For too long, too many of us have held onto the notion that conflict must inherently be negative when members of the team have divergent viewpoints. I’ve noticed teams that struggle with conflict and either avoid it entirely, or set it aside until anger sets in, and then they engage in strident debates or personal attacks.
It’s time that all of us follow the lead of the masterful teams who have learned to skillfully travel the road to positive, constructive conflict. By believing the best in others, and seeking to understand their viewpoints, we can listen and empathize with the diverse views of our teammates.
We need only to share our best ideas and listen to the best ideas of others, to allow ourselves the opportunity to maximize our interactions with the other members of our team and our business partners.
None of us can do it alone, can we? Of course not, that is why we must pay close attention to our teammates and do everything we can to support them, nurture them and to do our best to allow them to achieve as much success personally and professionally as possible. We need to leave some room for them in the spotlight and be gracious and generous so that they can enjoy the glow of the limelight when their hard work delivers strong results and achievements.
What about you? What are your thoughts about how great teams demonstrate their greatness? Tell us a story about a great team you worked with, or a great team you led to success. We’d love to hear your story, honestly, we would! If you send us a story to info@michaelbeachcoach.com, we’ll send you a great list of Team Building Best Practices. Check out our YouTube channel and subscribe to our valuable series of business and leadership videos.
