Performance Based Teams

Performance Based Teams

We know that performance in “performance management” means repeatedly achieving required results effectively and efficiently. But how can smaller companies establish a culture that achieves this?

Modern corporate culture seems to value individual performance. As an example, we are frequently encouraged to engage in “self” improvement. Similarly, companies often rank employees annually against appropriate benchmarks and against each other, encouraging us to improve our individual performance in the workplace. Many employees do strive to be highly ranked and their performance is consequently high, bringing benefits to both employee and employer.

Is promoting competition between employees the best way to manage your teams, though? This competitive approach can sometimes be toxic for the company and frustrating for the employee, destroying collaboration as employees focus on currying favour with the boss in efforts to win promotions, pay raises, bonuses for themselves, rather than achieving great outcomes for the team/department/company.

So, whilst competition between employees can be healthy, it isn’t always. How then can managers best channel their team members’ competitive juices to produce excellent outcomes for the organisation, satisfy the employee and not trample on colleagues?

One way to do this is to internalise competition. We can be competitive with ourselves, challenging ourselves and our team members to be the best we can be at our jobs.

We can be encouraged (and rewarded) to be the best version of ourselves, to achieve the best outcomes we can, and help others to achieve their best, in order to produce quality outcomes for everyone. In this way we can develop collaborative teams that consistently achieve results that are first class.

But we’re not all the same, of course. In our experience, teams commonly comprise vocal and forthright high-flyers, steady, reliable introverts, and others somewhere in between. How do we promote effective and enjoyable collaboration between different personalities within an organisation?

We believe the best outcome is achieved when managers focus on the attitude of team members not on their personality type. We don’t want to curb enthusiasm or make staff think they need to be extroverts to get ahead. We do want to encourage everyone to use the skills they have. Team members tend to perform best when they are recognised for their individual and team results.

Careful management can promote the right behaviours and recognise everyone who is contributing. A fully functioning collaborative team will always, always, always, be better than its star member.

A disruptive team member, even an over-achieving team member, has no place in your best teams. The toxicity of this person will eventually cause the team to fail. Such people may not be the right fit for your organisation and, as a performance-oriented manager, you need to take the appropriate action for the sake of the whole. It’s a difficult decision in the short term but produces excellent longer-term results.

If you have everyone engaged, believing in the mission of the organisation, trusting its leaders, and all pulling together, you will build a performance-based culture and have a high performing organisation.

Contact us for a complimentary conversation about your performance management challenges.