7 top tips for building high-performance teams

Talented personnel improve organizational success — but when working as a team, their impact multiplies. Strengthening every member ensures the collective thrives and promotes growth beyond individual achievement.

By investing in your team’s development, you equip them to handle project challenges head-on, leading to faster problem resolution, increased efficiency, and improved business outcomes. Read on to learn what a high-performing team is and how to build one.

Here’s what high-performance teams do differently

High-performance teams consistently hit benchmarks and adjust to evolving requirements. Here are a few more common characteristics of high-performing teams.

Speed and efficiency

Great teams deliver projects on time, within budget, and without wasted resources. They do so by mapping out and following high-efficiency workflows and using tools that empower teamwork as well as autonomy.

For example, a web development team might use prototyping and wireframing tools to work collaboratively on website design concepts. But each person has the responsibility of updating tasks and timelines in a centralized project management platform.

Effective communication

High-performing teams avoid time-consuming re-work and miscommunications by checking in early and often. They welcome each other’s opinions and diverse perspectives.

Great communication also means easy access to information and transparency regarding project outcomes, issues, and individual responsibilities. You must encourage this kind of culture to avoid organizational information silos. Establish open communication channels like Slack or Microsoft Teams to empower each member to voice their ideas and concerns. And schedule regular check-ins — both between managers and direct reports and with teams as a whole — to ensure everyone’s always looped in.

Cohesion 

Effective teamwork requires prioritizing team goals over individual achievements. It’s these shared goals that create cohesion among disparate parts by aligning everyone’s effort with project expectations.

To create this cohesion, make sure your team clearly understands the “why” behind shared goals. This well-defined purpose motivates everyone to contribute meaningfully.

Here’s a high-performing team example of cohesion. A web development team is working on a Webflow site. The user experience (UX) designer sketches the website navigation journey, the user interface (UI) designer creates a user-friendly interface, and the marketing team provides input throughout to make sure the site is on-brand. Tasks differ, but because everyone’s aligned on the website’s end goals, they create a cohesive, visually captivating site.

Agility

Changes in consumer behavior, market trends, and competitor offerings require teams to pivot — thoughtfully. This means enmeshing adaptability into company culture so you’re not working from a sink-or-swim mentality. And that involves preparing contingency plans, crafting risk registers, and conducting trend analyses.

This agility also applies to the tools you choose. For instance, you might host your website with Webflow because our platform offers quick customization options. As your target audience’s preferences shift, you can adjust landing pages with ease to pivot effectively.

Autonomy

Autonomy can increase workflow efficiency — and ease the workload for managers and help them avoid micromanagement.

Carly Pallis, the chief of staff (and former VP of marketing) at Pavilion, says, “When you’re a lean team, it’s really important that you feel that whoever you’re hiring can come in and work relatively autonomously. You can have your initial setup meeting and say, ‘This is what I’m looking for. These are the goals. This is where I need you to focus.’ And they can take that and run with it.”

Cross-functional collaboration

Cross-functional teamwork is often required to tackle complex challenges and produce high-quality deliverables. For example, UI/UX designers, marketing professionals, and search engine optimization (SEO) experts will collaborate to create a holistic user experience when building websites.

This diverse expertise isn’t always available. Smaller teams might adopt Lean UX methodologies and iterative design techniques to minimize wasted resources and maximize available talent.

Another way to gain diverse skill sets on a budget is to outsource tasks like graphic design and editing to a contractor or agency. A Webflow Expert can also help if your team lacks expertise for specific projects.

7 tips for building high-performance teams

Meet teamwork challenges head-on with these seven essential tips for creating and nurturing a team that consistently goes above and beyond.

1. Create a shared sense of purpose

Foster cohesion and alignment by giving your team a mission statement. Express a vision that speaks to the group as a whole but also respects individual values. To do this, you might chat one-on-one with each employee and then bring everyone together to further discuss shared values among the group. Then, craft a concise message that articulates what they’re all working toward.

Consider recording this mission statement and purpose in a team charter that team members can reference when needed to ensure continuous alignment.

2. Set clear goals and expectations

Clarity is key to boosting team performance. Set SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) to ensure everyone understands what they’re working on and why. This transparency and level of detail keeps employees on task and reduces wasted time and miscommunications.

Enterprise-level applications can boost this clarity by centralizing communication, project plans, and updates to keep everyone on the same page.

3. Invest in continuous learning and skill development

Encourage team members to jump on the chance to improve their skills. Offer training resources, workshops, and mentorship programs. And speak with managers to identify problem areas and encourage individuals to take courses that suit their needs and career aspirations. You might establish a quarterly training program where experienced employees mentor junior colleagues in similar roles, allowing them to develop skills and share knowledge.

4. Celebrate success and learn from setbacks

Highlighting milestones boosts morale and motivation, and reflecting on shortcomings builds resilience. Acknowledge and reward achievements in public communication channels, like your intranet or Slack, to reinforce positive behavior and encourage others to follow. And conduct post-project reviews to identify what went well, what went wrong, and where you can improve.

5. Encourage diversity and inclusion

True diversity extends beyond hiring practices. As Webflow’s CEO states, you must ensure every employee “feels valued and empowered to do fulfilling and impactful work.” At Webflow, this means:

• Measuring what matters (using data to aim toward equality and hold ourselves accountable)
• Providing opportunities to encourage employee awareness, allyship, and advocacy
• Centering the most marginalized
• Being actively anti-racist

Work with company leaders to develop a thoughtful and thorough diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policy. Audit your approach regularly. And continuously provide employees with the opportunity to voice concerns regarding your DEI practices.

6. Prioritize work-life balance

An overwhelmed employee who can’t fit in soul-nourishing activities like time with loved ones, exercise, and travel can’t effectively contribute to your team. You must help employees create a work-life balance so they feel happy, productive, and motivated.

If possible, offer alternative working arrangements like remote work or flexible hours to accommodate diverse lifestyles and personal commitments. And provide wellness programs, mental health days, and workshops on fostering the right work-life balance for various personal priorities. Encourage team members to set boundaries and disconnect from work during non-business hours to prevent burnout and promote mental health.

7. Equip your team with the right tools

The “right tools” vary for every team, so this step starts with an audit of your current toolkit and unmet needs. Try to simplify your tech stack. Choose streamlined platforms that cover various purposes, like a design collaboration tool that helps web design, UI, and UX professionals work within the same platform. And if you don’t have one already, ensure your team has a robust design system to speed up and improve the web design process. 

Then, equip your team with a resource library that offers best practices for using your toolkit. You might also conduct software-specific training workshops to reduce the learning curve.

Dealing with team roadblocks

High-performance teams still come across challenges — how they handle them sets them apart. Here are a few common issues and how to effectively address them.

Burnout

Burnout resulting from prolonged stress or overwhelming workloads hinders productivity and increases dissatisfaction. Combat this by actively monitoring and adjusting workloads, redistributing resources when necessary, and setting realistic deadlines. This ensures employees aren’t overburdened and promotes a workplace culture that values mental health and work-life balance.

Internal conflict

Whether arising from clashing opinions or simple misunderstandings, internal conflict can lower morale and hamper effective collaboration. Address these issues head-on by implementing conflict resolution techniques like facilitated dialogues, problem-solving workshops, and team-building exercises. Encourage a culture of empathy and active listening to prevent issues from escalating.

You might also emphasize that internal conflict isn’t always a problem — it’s healthy to disagree, and sometimes this conflict can even result in more innovative ideation.

Lack of leader engagement

When leaders appear disengaged or distant, this attitude can be contagious and demotivate the team. As a leader, it’s essential to stay actively involved, provide guidance, and show genuine interest in your team’s work. And if you directly report to anyone, consider managing up to align your boss with team goals.

Maximize team collaboration with Webflow

Building and maintaining high-performance teams requires ongoing effort and adaptation, as well as equipping your team with the right tools to improve communication and productivity. With Webflow’s visual-first design and development tools, your team can move faster and collaborate together in the same workspace. Our visual web development platform is designed for tech-savvy engineers and nontechnical types alike.

Learn more about Webflow Enterprise and how it can boost your team’s performance.