High-performance teams
Working productively and remaining adaptable
For us, high performance doesn’t mean constantly increasing pressure or always trying to squeeze more out of a team.
High-performance teams achieve their goals and reliably implement plans. At the same time, they learn from experiences and failures and can react quickly to new demands. Productivity and adaptability go hand in hand for us.
Our guiding model combines key findings from team research and shows which conditions support sustainable team performance.
Where does your team have the greatest leverage?
Do you want to better understand what is currently strengthening or hindering your team? In a no-obligation consultation, we will look at your specific situation and where a sensible starting point might lie.
of high-performing teams
Shared mental maps
Shared understanding of goals, roles and the world of work
Productive team climate
Trust, psychological safety, and mutual commitment
Success-critical team processes
Design collaboration attentively and in a structured manner
What lies behind the three success factors
These three characteristics influence each other. Which of them your team needs special attention for depends on its current situation.
Shared mental maps,
The team members share a common understanding of their work environment. This so-called shared mental model comprises three areas:
- Focus: meaning and purpose, customer expectations, goals, and priorities.
- Coordination: roles, responsibilities, processes, and relevant rules.
- Adaptability: recognizing changes in the environment and knowing what expertise and support the team can draw upon when facing new challenges.
Shared mental maps facilitate coordinated action without the need to clarify each step anew.
productive team climate,
A productive team climate connects the relational and performance aspects of collaboration. Four aspects are particularly relevant:
- Trust: Confidence in the reliability and integrity of others.
- Psychological safety: Being able to openly address questions, criticism, ideas, and uncertainties.
- Collective effectiveness: The shared conviction of being able to master upcoming tasks.
- Goal commitment: Identification with the team’s purpose and goals.
success-critical team processes
Our guiding model distinguishes three groups of team processes:
- Transition processes: reflecting on experiences, prioritizing goals, and planning the next steps.
- Implementation processes: monitoring progress, exchanging information, coordinating activities, and supporting one another.
- Interpersonal processes: giving recognition, dealing constructively with stress, and addressing tensions.
These processes create and change shared mental maps and team climate. Both, in turn, influence collaboration.
Therefore, the interplay in daily work is crucial, not the sum of individual measures. In the cidPodcast “What Makes Teams Successful,” Marc Solga explains this interaction as the core of our guiding model.
Where exactly can your team start?
Do you want to better understand what is currently strengthening or hindering your team? In a no-obligation consultation, we will look at your specific situation and where a sensible starting point might lie.
to delve deeper into the guiding model or apply it directly?
Team development at a glance
Frequently Asked Questions
Does high performance mean constant peak performance?
No. For us, high performance doesn’t mean working at maximum capacity all the time. The crucial factor is enabling sustainable performance without sacrificing the ability to learn and adapt.
What distinguishes high-performance teams from general team development?
Team development is the overarching framework for the further development of collaboration.
For high-performance teams, the focus is specifically on identifying the conditions that support productivity and adaptability, and how these can be systematically developed.
Is team assessment a personality test?
No. The assessment does not examine individual personality types or preferences. It focuses on the team’s collaborative work methods and collective experience.
The goal is to reflect on the team’s performance as a whole and to jointly identify areas for development.