4 research-based activities for building a high-performance team

How do you create a high-performance team? Here’s what Simon Sinek, who’s studied top-performers, has to say:

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(Can’t watch? In a nutshell, Sinek says top performers help others even when they’re completely exhausted).

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While Sinek’s advice is inspiring, we wanted to base our recommendations on research. So we reverse-engineered one of the top-performing companies out there: Google.

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Related reading: Team building for startups

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Let’s reverse engineer the top-performing Google teams

Even at its enormous size of over 100,000 employees, Google is still delivering growth of over 20%.

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A recent Inc article shared what Google found when studying their own teams: Five ingredients are present in most top-performing teams.

1. Psychological safety
   The team feels confident that “no one on the team will embarrass or punish anyone else for admitting a mistake, asking a question, or offering a new idea.”
   
   
2. Dependability
   Team members can trust others to “reliably complete quality work on time”
   
   
3. Structure and clarity
   Each team member’s expectations, the process for fulfilling these expectations, and the consequences of their performance are clearly defined. "Goals can be set at the individual or group level, and must be specific, challenging, and attainable."
   
   
4. Meaning
   Team members find a sense of purpose in the work itself or their output. “It can include factors such as financial security or self-expression.”
   
   
5. Impact
   Your team members see that their work contributes to the organization's goals.

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Create a simple survey to understand where you might be lacking in each of these areas. Just copy-paste the questions below into any survey tool (we like to use Typeform). Allow team members to rate each on a scale of 1 to 10, and ask everyone for feedback.

1. I feel confident that no one on the team will embarrass or punish me for admitting a mistake, asking a question, or offering a new idea
2. I can rely on every team member to deliver quality work on time
3. I have specific, challenging, and attainable goals in my role
4. I feel a sense of purpose in my work or the output I create
5. My work contributes to the organization’s goals

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Start building your high-performance team with these 4 activities

Now that you know where you might be lacking, it’s time to pick the right activities. 

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It’s always better to make strides in one area instead of little improvements in all five. So try to stick with improving one of these areas at a time before moving on to the next.

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#1 Run a psychological safety workshop

At the top of Google’s list of ingredients for high-performing teams was psychological safety. In a nutshell, you want your team to feel like they can take risks and that it’s ok for them to screw up.

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We found three providers for virtual workshops and one self-paced course that help you improve psychological safety.

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1. Industrial Logic’s Psychological Safety Workshop
   Price: n/a
   
   From the organizers: The virtual version of this workshop is over four weeks. Each week there are two sessions, one 2-hour session in which new concepts are introduced and a 90-minute applied learning session to close the week. Between sessions, participants complete assignments to apply new skills to improve their workplace. Participants have access to an Industrial Logic forum where coaches help participants apply the skills. Expect to spend 2-5 hours per week learning and applying, including the class time.
   
   
2. Blue EQ - Leading with Psychological Safety
   Price: Starts at $499 for individual sessions, with pricing available for larger groups.
   
   From the organizers: This 4-hr workshop is not a lecture or a passive experience. Adults learn best through execution while receiving real-time feedback. At this workshop you will work with a Live Facilitator to learn actionable concepts that have been developed through years of research across all industries and with leaders around the world — But that’s not enough. You will take those actionable insights and work with others in Breakout Sessions to practice and experience Psychological Safety. This is a Discovery Learning Process where you take away the skills and habits that will make the biggest difference for you and your organization.
   
   

3. Lead by Impact - Psychological Safety Workshop
   Price: n/a
   
   From the organizers: You want your team to be at their best but they need to feel a sense of safety so they can be open and honest with one another, so they can challenge and grow together.  For over the past 10 years, I have helped leaders and teams to create small behavioral and environmental changes through psychological safety training that can lead to a happier and more productive team. Together I will help you learn how to have a safe and strong foundation in your culture so that everyone thrives - yes, you and your entire team. 
   
   
4. GitLab - Psychological Safety Short Course
   Price: Free
   
   From the organizers: This is a short course designed to help with your understanding of psychological safety, provide pragmatic steps to cultivate a culture of psychological safety within in your team, and reflect on some of your behaviours that may appear psychologically safe or unsafe.
   
   

#2 Dependability: Radical candor

A great way to create dependability in your team is to openly discuss who is not dependable, and how it can be addressed.

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This approach can easily backfire, but the folks at Radical Candor have some great tips for implementing a culture of honest feedback.

To get started, read this Radical Candor blog post or watch the video below. If you think this is for you, order the book for your team and start having candid conversations.

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#3 Structure and clarity + Impact: OKRs

You can tackle many structure, clarity, and impact issues by working on how you set goals as an organization.

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The result of bad structure, clarity, and impact might look something like this:

• There are conflicting priorities between employees and departments
• It’s unclear how your work fits into the bigger picture of the business
• You don’t know where your job begins, and where it ends

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What has helped us fix a lot of these issues is a popular goal-setting approach: Objectives and key results (OKRs).

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Simply put, OKRs force company leaders to focus on the most important business objectives and ask each department to align their OKRs with the company OKRs.

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Typically, individuals are assigned OKRs, which makes it very clear who’s responsible and their impact on the business.

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#4 Meaning: 1-1s or feedback surveys

As we described above, “meaning” is not as clear-cut as some of the other dimensions of high-performance teams.

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Your first step to giving your team more meaning is understanding what is meaningful to them.

• Is it your company’s vision?
• Is it purely financial?
• Do they want to create something they’re proud of?
• Do they find meaning in challenges?

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How do you find out? 1-on-1s or weekly meetings with your team members. Set up weekly recurring meetings (start with 30 minutes) and ask your team straight-up: What gives you meaning at work?

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Collect your answers in a document, print it out, and put it on your desk so you keep their “sources of meaning” top of mind.

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High-performance teams weren’t created overnight

Even the most successful companies had humble beginnings and sometimes years of struggle-bussing before making it big (check out Nike’s story).

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Yes, a high-performance team is what most leaders strive for. But it takes hard work, patience, and lots of trial and error to get there.

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What matters most: Listen to your team and create an environment they can thrive in. That’s the responsibility of the leader, not the team.

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If you're looking for more ideas around team building, dive deeper into detailed articles from our experts:

• Activity ideas for in-office teams / virtual teams / free ideas
• Team building for leaders
• Communication team building
• Problem-solving as a team

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