Anna Odumodu
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The need for high-performing teams is becoming increasingly critical for organizations today. These teams consistently demonstrate key features that enable them to excel, adapt, and drive sustained success.
For organizations, recognizing and understanding the shared mindsets and behaviors that set these teams apart will help you develop the conditions necessary for individuals to thrive together, contributing meaningfully to your organization’s goals.
Our research has shown that engagement is one of the highest factors in creating high-performing teams – but what other elements are just as important?
Learning from high-performing teams
Building effective teams should be a constant focus for organizations navigating ever-evolving market demands and internal complexities. High-performing teams are a vital asset, serving as the foundation for sustained progress and competitive advantage. They stand out for their capacity to seamlessly integrate diverse talents, respond effectively to unforeseen challenges, and consistently exceed expectations. Ultimately, these teams are pivotal for enabling innovation, enhancing employee engagement, nurturing talent and ensuring the organization's long-term resilience and growth.
If we examine what these teams closely – their mindsets, behaviors, skills, and capabilities – we can take what they do differently and apply it throughout the organization.
The characteristics of high-performing teams
Exploring the commonalities among high-performing teams reveals a rich network of interwoven practices and mindsets. At their core, these teams are built upon a bedrock of psychological safety and trust. This foundational element ensures that team members feel secure enough to take risks, , and admit mistakes without fear of retribution. It enables intellectual conflict – as members feel empowered to voice dissenting opinions and challenge ideas and perspectives openly, leading to more robust and comprehensive solutions. It fosters an environment where absence of judgment allows for vulnerability and authenticity, paving the way for solid and healthy collaboration.
Flowing directly from trust are high levels of engagement though effective communication and two-way feedback. High-performing teams cultivate open channels where insights, ideas, and constructive criticism are shared freely and regularly. Feedback is not perceived as a critique but as a gift, enabling continuous improvement and promoting a shared understanding of individual and collective performance. This transparency enhances strong relationships and empathy, deepening the bonds between colleagues and reinforcing a collective sense of purpose.
High-performing teams are united by shared values, alongside a clear and common understanding of their goals and mission. Joint agency and a clearly articulated purpose provide a powerful compass, ensuring everyone is pulling in the same direction. Within this framework, it’s important to identify defined roles and complementary skills, where each person’s unique strengths allow effective allocation of responsibilities and collaborative efforts that bridge knowledge and skill gaps. This clarity enables empowerment through delegation – a confidence in each team member that they know the part they play in the strategic direction.
Empathy, shared goals, and complementary skills all help to foster a powerful sense of belonging and team identity. Members feel deeply connected to their group, viewing themselves as part of a cohesive unit that supports and champions one another. This deep sense of belonging, combined with psychological safety, fuels curiosity, creativity, and innovation, as individuals feel empowered to explore new ideas, experiment, and push boundaries without inhibition.
This spirit of exploration naturally leads to a culture of continuous learning. High-performing teams view every experience, including experimentation and even failure, as an opportunity for growth. Within a trusting environment, mistakes are not hidden but considered to be valuable learning moments. This commitment to learning equips teams with the capability to grow from their experiences and, critically, the capability to navigate organizational change by applying new insights and adapting swiftly.
"High-performing teams don’t happen by accident – organizations create them through design and culture. That means aligning teams with a clear purpose, breaking down silos, and putting in place the structures, resources, and tools that make collaboration effective."
Finally, and we believe at the crux of it all, high-performing team leaders and team members alike demonstrate strong self-awareness, understand their own strengths, weaknesses, and impact on others. This extends to contextual awareness, where individuals can understand and consider the broader organizational and external landscape while also remaining engaged in immediate tasks, allowing for more strategic and informed decision-making.
Cultivating truly high-performing teams requires a deliberate, ongoing commitment from your organization. It's about strategically investing in the conditions that enable deep trust, open dialogue, and shared purpose to thrive. By championing psychological safety and continuous growth, you empower individuals to connect, innovate, and contribute at their fullest potential. This foundational work transforms team dynamics, ensuring your organization is not just adapting to the future, but actively shaping it.
Behind all of these characteristics of individuals’ and leaders’ mindset and skills there is, of course, an organization that sets the tone. High-performing teams don’t happen by accident – organizations create them through design and culture. That means aligning teams with a clear purpose, breaking down silos, and putting in place the structures, resources, and tools that make collaboration effective.
It also means building policies that empower groups with real autonomy and decision-making authority, and measuring and rewarding success as such – at the team level. Organizations must create an environment where people can learn, grow, and innovate together – is it from this that psychological safety and trust emerge. When these foundations are in place, team performance doesn’t just improve – it transforms, enabling organizations to actively shape the future rather than simply respond to it.
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Anna Odumodu
Vice President Custom Solutions at Hult Ashridge Executive Education
As Head of Custom Solutions at Hult Ashridge, Anna brings over two decades of expertise in creating custom learning and development solutions that drive change and sustainable growth for organizations. Passionate about understanding and meeting client needs, her current focus is on measuring the impact of learning interventions. Drawing on 10 years as a civil engineer managing multi-million pound projects, Anna brings this rigor and structure to her L&D work. She holds an Executive MBA with Distinction from Bayes Business School.
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