Genuine high performing teamwork, particularly in cross functional teams like Senior Management Teams, is surprisingly rare. A lot of leaders mistake okay performance for high performance. But there is a big difference.

High performing teamwork doesn’t just emerge with time. It takes deliberate effort. Many leaders don’t know enough about how to create it, and they’re not intentional enough in creating the right conditions.

In this article we share insights on 6 building blocks, and offer a self score questionnaire to help you assess your team against these key conditions.

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It’s October 2024, and out on the seas of Barcelona, Ben Ainslie has spent the last two months leading a British challenge for the America’s Cup - the oldest international sporting trophy in any sport, and the only sailing event the British have never won.

Sailing the boat on foils at speeds of up to 100 kms, it is often described as Formula 1 on water. Just like in F1, the sailing crew and designers work closely together to drive continuous improvement. The British team stand out in this regard because they have progressed from 2^nd slowest out of 6 boats, to be in the top two in less than 5 weeks.

Unlike F1, they have the added complexity of 8 people working together to drive the boat. How they’ve learned to balance this 7-ton boat on a tiny foil, whilst throwing it about in rough seas, is a fascinating study in team cohesion at the highest level. (If you haven’t already, I highly recommend watching a race and listening into the comms on YouTube).

I listened in on an interview with Giles Scott, Head of Sailing for the British team, talking about how much of a priority they’ve put on building collaboration within the team. One of the reason’s they’ve focused on it so much is that Team New Zealand have repeatedly identified the quality of teamwork between sailors and designers as their greatest competitive advantage. (This goes back to 1995, when the Kiwi skipper, Peter Blake, refused to work with the world’s best designer because they were not collaborative. He selected his sailing crew by observing how people interacted in the group during a hiking weekend).

In the end the Kiwis triumphed again [spoiler alert], but the teamwork on display from both teams is amongst the best I have seen in any environment. The closest we’ve studied might be the Apollo programme at NASA in the 1960s.

So, let’s say, like Ben or Team NZ, you decide you want to make high performing teamwork a defining strength. What do you need to focus on? This is a question, we’ve given a lot of thought to at MF; reflecting on what we’ve seen make a difference, but also on what we’ve seen holds back teams who had lots of potential, but have struggled to achieve their goal.

Below we set out 6 building blocks. At the end of the article, we provide a link to download a self score pdf you can use to benchmark your team against each of these.

1. Clarity of focus

Great teamwork starts with a purpose or goal which is motivating, and where the need for teamwork to deliver on it is obvious to everyone. The best team goals feel exciting to be a part of, are challenging and measurable.

But clarity of focus needs to go deeper than purpose.

In addition to clarity on what we’re trying to achieve, people need to be aligned on how. A clear strategy that focuses peoples' energies on what we need to excel at in order to succeed. In sport, this is often called ‘what it takes to win.’ One feature that stands out from the highest performing teams we’ve worked with, is the discipline to be ruthless in prioritising only a few things they’re going to focus on in any one year.

Finally, we need to lay the foundations for an effective team culture, by agreeing a clear set of behaviours we will all lean into. This should not be a long list, and it should focus on the behaviours that will not come naturally and will make a big difference e.g. we focus our time on the most important things, we’re candid and open to challenge, and we support each other.

2. Energy

Clarity of focus is one thing, but energy for that focus is almost as important. What’s the level of hunger for it in the team, and how confident are people?

In our experience, a lack of belief in either the plan or the team, really affects people’s commitment.

As leaders we need to pay attention to the impact we are having on energy and confidence. Remind people frequently of the importance of the work, and talk up your belief in the team. If you don’t yet have a strategy equal to the challenge, build belief in the team’s ability to learn fast.

3. People and size

Who is on the team is a key contributor. We want the right mix of experience, and we also need to think about their attitude and collaboration skills. The extent to which they show up with a positive mindset, say what they think, and are curious about different perspectives. The feel of the team is affected by even just one person the rest of the team does not trust and respect. Where this is the case, it’s the leader’s role to work with individuals to address performance issues outside of the team.

The size of the team has a huge impact on team effectiveness. We highlight this, because a surprising number of clients ignore this. It’s a balance between diversity of experience (more brains) and group dynamics. The larger the group, the harder it is to get input from all and reach consensus. Once you go above 7-8, you’re making your job as a leader significantly more challenging. Not impossible, just harder. One way we’ve seen leaders deal with this is to acknowledge the importance of teams within the team. Using the wider team for some things such as agreeing strategy, whilst encouraging close teaming between a few key people on certain responsibilities.

4. Trust and cohesion

I want to highlight 3 aspects of trust and cohesion.

The first is the extent to which the team understand and automatically play to each other’s strengths. This is what we mean by cohesion.

The second is psychological safety. The extent to which people feel encouraged to share their ideas, challenge and ask for help.

Leaders often make the mistake of assuming these first two just require time. While they can grow over time, there are a lot of things you can do to accelerate them. One exercise we find particularly powerful is getting each individual to contract with each other person in the team around what great collaboration between the two of them looks like.

The third is the extent to which the team has the trust of key stakeholders. Too many teams ignore this. Without this trust, the team’s influence can be severely hampered. You can be the greatest team on the planet, but if your stakeholders don’t give you permission to act on your initiative, that talent is meaningless.

5. Effective meetings, including the quality of thinking within them

Figuring out how to make better use of your time together is likely to be one of the easiest quick wins for a lot of teams. Tim Cox, MF’s Managing Director has run a Learning Lab and written about this for our Future Focussed newsletter.

I’d like to highlight four things to pay attention to:

• Focus your time on the most important things. In particular, think about the extent to which you’re getting the balance right between adding value for today, and adding value for tomorrow.
• Encourage open, honest debate. Dial up challenge, and even more importantly, dial up people’s openness to this challenge.
• Equal contribution. We know that in a team of 8, 70% of the contribution will often come from 2-3 people. Without good chairing, contribution will be determined by personality and status more than by who has important insights.
• Diamond thinking. Use the image of diamond thinking to guide discussions. Building on the point above, you want to get as many differing views out on the table as possible. This is opening the diamond up. You then want to make sure you close the diamond. Agreeing on actions and responsibilities.

 6. Effective action

Good thinking in the team is critical, and it’s somewhat pointless if it’s not backed up by an ability to make things happen.

While some individuals are undoubtedly more disciplined in following through than others, this is fundamentally about accountability. This means holding people to account for agreed upon behaviours, including good collaboration outside of meetings, as well as creating a culture of accountability and learning around progress on actions.

Where the team isn’t performing, good leaders assume positive intent, and engage the team in an honest conversation around how we’re going to fix it.

Conclusion...

So, from the six factors discussed above, what do you feel you could do with paying more attention to as a leader?

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Assess your team against these six building blocks

If you’d like to assess your team against these 6 building blocks, click here to download a self score questionnaire.

Or if you’d like us to run a Team Effectiveness Survey, getting anonymous feedback from the full team, email us on highperformance@managementfutures.co.uk

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