THREAD: Whats at the root of High Performing Teams? In my opinion, it's culture. Cultural differences are at the heart of miscommunication and disengagement that cause teams too under perform. Culture is much more than just hanging posters or quotes on the wall.

Culture is one of the biggest factors that determine a teams collective success or failure. Culture ensures that each team members arrows are aligned & pointed in the same direction. Culture establishes a process and a system based on a shared vision.

I like to think of the process as the zoomed out approach. This process is the formal and informal guidelines, or the roles and responsibilities, that a group makes to solve problems and get things done. These processes are like the groups standard operating procedures.

Most of the time it will help make decisions, but there will be times when you need to go outside of these guidelines bc of various circumstances. The process still helps guide us through these circumstances in order to keep the shared vision.

I like to think of the system as the zoomed in approach. The system is how decisions are put into action. Once decisions are made and roles and responsibilities are defined, action is required in order to achieve the desired outcome.

Systems are what enable each team member to be on the same page at all times, speak the same language, and have the same messaging. Systems give a template for implementing action.

A high performing teams culture can also change over time as the process and system is refined and improved upon. A culture can also change depending on the individuals that make up that team. Each individual brings a set of skills that are an asset to the culture.

A culture is a breathing and moving organism filled with individuals that are all aligned and share a common vision.

High Performing teams are explicit about their process and system because they know if they don’t actively shape their culture, one will form anyway.

If we are not actively thinking about how to create and shape the culture we want, we have to ask ourself, are we clear on our process and the system we have in place?