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You are here: Home / Volunteer Management / 6 Characteristics of High Performance Teams

6 Characteristics of High Performance Teams

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high performance teams - pedrocarrion.com

Are you looking to take things to the next level? You must start with your team, you need a high performance team! What characteristics do high performance teams display? These 6 Characteristics of High Performance Teams will guide you in taking your teams to the next level!

1. A strong sense of shared ownership

Ownership is the first fundamental characteristic of high performance teams. If the team members view themselves as hired hands, they’ll never go that extra step that’s necessary for excellence. It’s easy for executives or top managers of an organization to feel ownership and move into high performance, that’s not a big deal. However, consider it a big win when your hourly employees feel ownership of the organization. And if your volunteers feel a sense of ownership, that’s a huge step toward developing high performance teams. That’s what we have to convey at all levels of the organization, ownership.

2. Empowering leadership

Empowering seems to be the word of the day, for a reason. Empowering means that you give someone the responsibility to carry out certain tasks, and most importantly, the authority to carry out those tasks, and you hold them accountable for their actions. Empowerment is absolutely necessary for leaders of volunteer run organizations like Churches to learn, especially in Student, Youth, or Children’s Ministries. If a Children’s Ministry Pastor/Director doesn’t practice empowerment, his/her teams will not be high performance, at all. If you try to lead a low performance team week in and week in, you’ll die. You should read this.

3. High degree of open and fearless communication

This is the highest level of managerial communication and the most difficult to attain. It takes trust and a lot of time to reach this level. No wonder only high performance teams make it here. However, once you reach a level of open and fearless communication, it’s easy to stay. For years, across several different organizations, I’ve enjoyed this level of communication with my supervisors. I try my hardest to ensure that I have this level of communication with everyone I work with. This is essential in order to keep fresh ideas flowing and to get honest feedback.

4. Trust among team members

Trust means that you’ll believe someone when they tell you something, It means that you can be completely honest with people, and they can be completely honest with you. It means apologizing, and accepting apologies. Many teams don’t have trust running through them, but when they do, they can push themselves to the max and become high performance.

5. Emphasis on developing, using, and evaluating new approaches

Today, constant innovation is common. Those teams that can’t innovate will fall behind and their organizations will die a slow death. This is less true for churches than it is for non-profits or for profit organizations, but it still applies. At Samaritan’s Purse, we’re always seeking the latest technology, the newest platform, and always open to changing the way we work. Jesus and change are the only two constants.

6. High Performance Teams are focused on time, task, and quality

You can have the first five characteristics and still lose if you don’t have the sixth. A focus on properly completing the task is essential for success. I call this efficient and effective project management. Focusing on execution will set you apart from the rest. When a football or basketball player is asked why they won or lost, execution is usually named. Excellent execution, or poor execution, will determine who wins and who loses.


Make sure your 2018 starts off with High Performance

January 2018 we’re launching an email course that will walk you through first 15 days of the year and put you in a position to strategically lead your team.

In this 15 day course, you’ll receive an email every morning with a Leadership Tip and an action item. At the end of the course, you’ll receive a free eBook on Building Teams.
If you’re interested, sign up here.

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September 5, 2015Filed Under: Children's Ministry, Church Lessons, Leadership, Productivity, Volunteer Management

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