High-Performance Teams

High-Performance teams are teams that go beyond the basics of just working together to complete a task. They have a shared vision and goal, and they work together to support each other so that they can achieve this goal.

Today, due to the globalization of the markets increasing the potential competitors, the need to outperform them is higher than ever, making this the right environment to create high-performance teams.

This is a serious problem for organizations that need good results for a highly demanding market. They end up having, not teams, but software developers with poor communication, lack of trust, low motivation and low tolerance environments. This is why creating a high-performance culture at work is difficult.

Why High-Performance Teams?

The characteristics of a team consolidated as a high-performance team are difficult to achieve, although they seem a priori that they should be in any work team. Let's see the most important:

They have a clear and shared goal.

All members of a high-performance team know what they are working towards and why it is important. This creates a sense of purpose and ensures that everyone is working towards the same goal

They have strong communication channels.

They know how to communicate with each other effectively. This means that information flows freely between members, and there is open dialogue about both successes and challenges.

They trust and respect each other.

The members of a high-performance team have faith in each other’s abilities and judgment. They also treat each other with respect, which creates a positive and supportive environment.

They are flexible and adaptable.

Adapting to change is vital in an iteration environment. An adaptation for a consolidated team is a challenge and not a problem

How do they work?

There are a number of effective work practices that can make all the difference. Here are just a few examples:

Define clear roles and responsibilities.

One of the keys to building a high-performance team is clarity around roles and responsibilities. Everyone on the team should know what their specific role is, as well as what is expected of them. This will help to ensure that everyone is pulling their weight and that the team is operating effectively.

Set clear goals.

Another important practice for high-performance teams is setting clear and understandable goals. This will help to keep the team focused and motivated, and ensure that everyone is working towards the same objectives. Without clear goals, it can be difficult to gauge progress and identify areas for improvement.

Encourage open communication.

Open communication is essential for high-performance teams. team members should feel comfortable raising concerns or offering suggestions, and there should be mechanisms in place for addressing conflict swiftly and effectively. When communication lines are open, it’s easier for teams to identify problems and find solutions together.

Foster a culture of collaboration.

A collaborative culture is one in which collaboration is habitual and deliberate. Collaboration doesn't just happen if someone initiates it. On the contrary, it is integrated into the daily work processes of staff and the attitudes they adopt about said work.

How to build a high-performance team

When creating a high-performance team, is important to pay attention to the employees’ life stories and their individual differences.

Creating a high performance goes beyond achieving technical skills or communication precepts. It has to do with the culture of the company and with understanding the needs of each piece of the system, it fits into the global system and all those aspects that eliminate friction and encourage trust between the different members.

The first step is to create a culture through trust. Being able to express doubts at any time or proactively help any colleague.

Once a community is created, the challenge is to keep it motivated making developers be responsible for their own decisions, constantly learning new tools and techniques and constantly bettering themselves. Above all, software developers are professionals who care about and respect their customers

On the other hand, these teams must be given autonomy, accompanying them and facilitating their work but fully trusting their decisions. Celebrating when they are good and learning from when they are bad.

Hard to build, easy to lose

A high-performance team is not a group of individuals working independently towards a common goal. Rather, it is a team of individuals who are working together collaboratively to achieve a common goal.

Building a high-performing team comes at a high cost to a business. It's not just about having good technical specialists, but about managing to create dynamics that make them an efficient team.

This is even more difficult in companies that do not have a software culture. Developers seek and have concerns that are difficult to satisfy and that creates friction with other departments.

Furthermore, if we think of a high-performance team as a system, a system is defined as an entity with limits and with interrelated and interdependent parts whose sum is greater than the sum of its parts. The change in one part of the system affects the others and, with this, the entire system, generating unpredictable patterns of behaviour.

Now more than ever it is necessary to focus companies on team culture. We strongly work on emphasizing that culture as one of the key values that make us a different software studio. We are and work as a high-performance team.

Due to the difficulty of companies to create teams in a short time and for specific needs, an extension of the main development team or projects that need to start quickly, now you can have a high-performance team working with you from minute 0 on demand.

We do not sell just hours of software development, but a high-performance team that works to achieve a specific goal. In this way, the companies that work with us have, from the first day, a high-performance team working exclusively for them, ready to start the transformation.