High performance teams are teams that can produce more than the sum of their parts. They deliver value for the business and exceed their department goals. Teams are only as impactful as the people within them. Apart from their results, how do you recognise a high performance team?

High performance teams typically share a common goal and subordinate their own objectives to those of the team. They show mutual respect and trust, protect and support each other. The way they communicate is with open dialogue, they hold strong values and beliefs and they seem not to be too worried about hierarchy, losing face or internal competition.

High Performance teams have open dialogue, hold strong values and beliefs and are not worried about hierarchy

The one thing that these teams have in common is a supportive climate to thrive. In this climate there is just the optimum amount of tension and support to perform at a high level. According to what is known as "The Yerkes-Dodson model", there is a point where people perform at their best under the right levels of stress. Performance increases with physiological or mental arousal (stress) but only up to a point. When the level of stress becomes too high, performance decreases.

The Yerkes-Dodson model

At the left side of this curve, we have low engagement and low tension. In these environments leaders are unwilling or unable to hold team members accountable for actions, fail to rally team members around the collective results of the team and don't build an environment where standards are challenged. The result is a relatively happy but poorly engaged workforce. According to a 2017 Gallup research, only 15% of employees around the world feel that they are highly engaged; highlighting that this is a common problem. This lack of effort by companies to improve these conditions is the reason that many employees feel demotivated and disengaged and will not show up at work as their best possible self.

On the other end of the curve, we have performance impacted by too much stress and tension. Managers in these environments try to drive performance through high pressure, short deadlines and fear driven leadership. This negative environment leads to feelings of anxiety, uncertainty and pressure. The brain, sensing danger, triggers the fight-or-flight response. This "act first, think later" brain system shuts down the perspective and analytical reasoning part of the brain. Quite literally, just when we need it most, we lose our minds. While that fight-or-flight reaction may save us in life-or-death situations, it sabotages collaboration and the creative thinking needed in today's workplace.

The best place from which to nurture high performance is in a supportive climate in which the arousal levels are the optimum balance between support and pressure. Where this optimum point is, varies from one team to the next and is different for every case, and the impact of arousal on performance is dependent on skill level, personality, EQ and the complexity of the task. However, there are some clear pointers on how to create a supportive climate where the tension levels are optimal to ignite high performance in a team, and leaders can create a supportive climate by implementing strategies which focus on keeping employees happy, recognised and not overwhelmed.

Download the full guide on 'Building a Climate for Teams to Thrive' and discover the 5 essentials required for leaders to build a high-performance culture.