When change, uncertainty, and challenges strike, a high-performing agile team becomes the most reliable source of innovative ideas. Such teams are designed to deliver exceptional results repeatedly.

While their results may seem magical, lots of effort go into being such a team in the first place. For one thing, the right group of people with the potent mix of know-how, rapport, and freedom, can solve just about any problem.

What’s more, the best designs and products emerge from high-performing agile teams–the reason they are often admired and respected across organizations.

While investors and leaders of tech giants value them, building a high-performing team is quite a task, especially as technology is altering working environments rapidly.

If you want to drive your team to new heights and increase employee productivity A.K.A build a high-performing agile team, here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Create a working charter

A high-performing agile team has a clearly defined charter that instills a “one-team” attitude in team members. Endeavor to create a team working agreement as this can help define the expectations of each team member and educate them on how a team works together.

While team members will inevitably argue sometimes, the charter should emphasize the importance of reconciliation, shared vision and goals, trust and respect towards each other, and excellence through continuous improvement.

This ensures that team members radiate positive vibes that can be felt by the rest of the team and others in the organization.

2. Emphasize ownership & accountability

High-performing teams are always ready to take responsibility for their failures without giving excuses. When it comes to failures, such teams are always focused on continuous improvement in a bid to avoid making the same mistakes.

As a leader, ensure you instill a sense of ownership and accountability in your team. How? Give them enough autonomy to make their own decisions while staying within the boundaries of your organization’s values.

3. Focus on a small, stable team

High-performing teams need to be fairly small in size, ideally between 4 and 10 people. However, they should not be too small as that is likely to result in poorer decisions because of the lack of diversity.

While there are options for having larger team sizes, research shows that smaller teams get more done, innovate more often, and are much more stable. For one thing, the bigger the team gets, the more time you will spend communicating.

Wondering if your team is big or small? Let Jeff Bezos’ famous quote act as your guide:

“If you can’t feed your team with two pizzas, it’s too big.”

4. Set clear KPIs

Just as with team goals and objectives, setting clear KPIs (key performance indicators) is critical to building a high-performing team. These metrics tell you whether or not your team is effectively working towards their goal, giving them the freedom to refine their strategies and activities.

KPIs allow your team to amass expertise in a particular kind of activity and over time, they become experts in performing that activity.

5. Establish a single point of contact

No two captains can captain a ship. In the same way, when teams need to interact with one another, there should only be one person to talk to. In the agile framework, this person could be the product owner or team lead.

This person acts as the link between the team and its stakeholders, allowing individual contributors to focus on producing outstanding work. The team lead is responsible for maintaining the team’s backlog and ensuring that the team is tackling the right task at the right time.

Building a high-performing agile team: Bottomline

High-performing teams are critical in helping organizations thrive and survive in today’s intensely competitive business landscape. But building a high-performing agile team can be a painstaking process.

However, once you build such a team, you have a problem-solving and innovative engine for your organization.

Use these five tips as your guide, and you’ll have a team that’s ready to solve any problem they encounter.

If you’re still not sure you have what it takes to build a high-performing agile team, get in touch with us for a free consultation.

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