Maximizing your team’s performance
What is the number one characteristic of a great performing team? Is it their combined abilities? Is it their attitude or effort? Is it their experience in the job? I think all these are significant factors that contribute to a winning team, but I believe the most important characteristic would be that of “trust”. Trust is a must for a team to function at its best and trust needs to start with the leader. Stephen M.R. Covey’s book, “The Speed of Trust” says it best; “The number one job of any leader is to inspire trust”. When there is a high level of trust on a team it impacts every possible action of the team. It impacts how decisions are made, how problems are solved and how taking risk is viewed. When trust is present, team members stretch themselves to perform their best and to learn and grow.
Teams that have a high level of trust focus on helping each other out. The bottom line is they deliver results. In Covey’s book he gives a formula for trust that is basic yet very real and powerful. Increased trust leads to increased speed and a decrease in cost. The opposite is also true. A decrease in trust leads to a decrease in speed and in increase in cost. An excellent example of this would be the devastation our country experienced on 9/11. Trust was lost as people went through airports for travel which lead to heightened security, which took time to get to the gates and the cost of the security went up dramatically.
When a team has a high level of trust, decisions are made decisively without worry. Team members support each other for the good of the team. A good leader sets the stage for a trusting environment. So the question becomes, when it comes to trust how would you grade your team?