The research has been done. Especially as of late, extraordinary deliverables and performance are no longer pleasant side effects but rather necessary components for holding market share. With collaboration and innovation becoming crucial to business, high performance is now the standard for remaining competitive. But excellence does not lie with individuals. High performance lies cross-functionally in a collective atmosphere. Teams are the natural modality for extraordinary thinking, especially as it relates to innovation, but merely good teams will no longer suffice.

What is the distinction between “good” teams and high performing teams? Good teams perform “well,” and can deal with conflict in a way that it does not derail their work. High performance teams are able to reach goals and confront conflict in a way that they are able to convert it to energy to drive their objectives forward. Good teams can communicate in a way that is crisp and suffices in making sure all are on the same page; anything that blocks high performance teams from having a high exchange interferes with their ability to get results, and therefore they strive to communicate in such a way as to facilitate a high level of thinking. Good teams are limited to competing with good competitors. High performance teams can compete against the top tier organizations in their industry.

A multinational manufacturer of major home appliances wanted to begin to compete on a grander scale. As it were, they noted that their teams operated as “friendly silos”: they were sufficient in communicating and meeting objectives with a minimum of conflict. To outperform, however, they needed to operate more holistically. After evaluating their teams’ capabilities they began to understand what it was they needed to make their teams perform at a higher level. As one employee noted, “The bar is now so high that the barriers between us are collapsing.” No longer was it acceptable to operate at a level of “good” performance; to reach high performance, it was necessary that they collaborated at a higher level.

The question you must ask yourself before undertaking an analysis and revamp of your team dynamics is, “Is good sufficient for my business?” If the answer is yes, then you can continue performing at the same level for the same results. If you evaluate it to be no, however, then it is necessary to understand where the opportunity for improvement lies.

Vantage has created an assessment tool designed specifically for evaluating and advising high performance teams. The High Performance Team Solutions provides a laser-focused assessment of teams’ strengths and gaps to create practical, actionable steps to improve team performance and provide your organization a sustainable competitive advantage. Using five critical dimensions of team high performance, the HPT extends its reach to an in-depth look at team members, the team leader, and the team as a whole to ascertain the necessary components for the team’s high performance.

Do your teams perform at a good level, or at a level of high performance? What would it take to have them perform at a higher standard?