Isn’t every high performing team high functioning?
I always thought that’s the case. But recently, I worked with a high performing tech team that was struggling to function at the highest level.
It means they were hitting all their goals but getting there was becoming increasingly difficult. This is a group of high-achieving, high-caliber individuals driven by the desire for success and excellence.
Yet, the leader as well as every team member was struggling to:
- Get others’ to take action
- Make fast decisions
- Execute a change
- Remove redundancies in processes
- Break silos and get information
Finally, the leader realized that this is going to perform yet never reach it’s full potential which was a very big worry for the leader considering the shifts in the market and organizational demand.
If you have a team full of high performers or even a reasonable number of high performers, they can keep the boat afloat till they can. This will create all signs of high performance. But unless you solve for high function, you will always run the risk of low performance int he face of change or disruption. Change like a high performer leaving, or another one joining, or shift in strategy or demand.
So here is the difference between a high performing and high functioning team:
High-performing teams know how to get results.(Alignment)
High-functioning teams know how to get results together (Alignment + Shared Understanding)
When you only have alignment, you have a team that focusses on results and gets there without much care for how they get there. The price?
- Uneven distribution of responsibility
- Silos of performance
- Unpredictability and lack of stability
- Conflicts (Explicit and implicit)
- Over reliance on the leader
The solution? Get alignment with shared understanding. How? Invest in Dialogue.
Dialogue is the fastest way to get any group to align on objectives and create a new shared reality. To reach there, dialogue provides for ways to surface conflict, challenge assumptions, identify interpersonal issues and allow for diverse perspectives. The destination is new shared reality. Shared is the highlight. They get there together and stay together because they know how to dialogue again.
Not sure where to start? Read other blog posts on my website (www.thirdlooplearning.com) or schedule a consult here:
https://third-loop-learning.moxieapp.com/public/consultation-call-with-bhakti-karkare
Happy Dialoguing,
Bhakti Karkare
