This is necessary if the aspiration is high performance. The goal is meant to change the way people think and act. If it doesn’t it’s not big enough. If it’s too small no new behaviour or way of thinking is required.

The goal must require team members to stretch, grow and work together differently.

When the teams purpose explains what this challenge is and people buy into it, the high-performance team is well on its way to being formed. That’s because talented people relish solving big, worthy problems with people they respect and admire.

They must ensure that the right people are in the right seats. They must ensure that people submerge their egos and co-ordinate seamlessly. They must create safety and ensure that the team has high standards, and they must constantly strengthen the mix and depth of skills.

It’s also important that they manage relationships with outsiders in the wider ecosystem of the organisation. This includes getting access to resources, removing obstacles and dismantling bottlenecks.

The Team Leader must keep themselves in check too.

In a team I worked with recently the Team Leader unwittingly took on the role of Chief Controller and Problem Solver.

She was over involved in team members work and interfered continuously. The team found this incredibly disempowering. It drove them crazy.

No longer able to think for themselves they stopped taking risks, trying new things and making decisions. Consequently, the velocity of the team slowed down while the workload of the leader went up.

Neither result was helpful in putting the team onto the path of performance.

So, when asked; “Can you help us build a high-performance team?” my answer is always YES, followed by; “Let’s begin with the leader of the team.” They have an oversized influence on the outcome.

It also goes without saying that a reluctant, absent, incompetent or unaware team leader is harmful to team performance.

In summary then …

The leader of the team must set the pace, establish the tone and inspire the standards. It’s work that nobody else can do. If they don’t do these things nobody else can.

Their willingness and ability to foster cohesion, create clarity, resolve and mine for conflict, delegate authority, provide support and practice accountability are all essential ingredients in creating the conditions for the team to perform.

With the right conditions in place team members are then free to work together, make decisions, solve problems and relate to one another in ways that were never possible before.

This is what unlocks team performance.

Now the team has a very real chance of becoming what so many aspire to but so seldom become … a high-performance team.

Related Reading: Lessons from Lions. What lion prides teach us about business performance.