The best teams have a big impact on organisational success

There’s good news and bad news about teams. Lots of research from the past few years shows that high performing teams have a huge impact on hard business outcomes:

    • High-achieving teams enjoy a 23% boost in performance compared with underachieving teams [“Accelerating performance in teams”, Heidrick & Struggles International, 2016]

    • 90 percent of investors think the quality of the management team is the single most important nonfinancial factor when evaluating an IPO [“High-performing teams: a timeless leadership topic”, McKinsey June 2017]

    • There is a 1.9 times increased likelihood of having above-median financial performance when the top team is working together toward a common vision [Scott Keller and Mary Meaney, Leading Organization: Ten Timeless Truths, New York, NY: Bloomsbury, 2017]

    • And great teamwork is one of the biggest drivers of engagement: those working in a team are twice as likely to be fully engaged those who do most of their work alone (important given that 83% of employees do the majority of their work in teams) [ADP Research Institute, The Global Study of Engagement, 2018] 

The bad news – and no doubt impacting on both poorer financial outcomes and lower engagement levels – is that the majority of teams are not rated as high performing. In fact,  research puts the number of high performing teams at around 12-13%, with more teams dragging than driving performance. [Ongoing research by TCI (Team Coaching International)]

Alongside the research that shines a light on the benefits high performing teams can bring, it should be recognised that the move towards flatter organisations, bigger roles and that fact that work is becoming increasingly complex means it is more difficult for individuals to make a difference. Team performance is becoming even more critical to organisational performance.

Traditional team-building approaches just don’t cut it


Given their importance, where is the ongoing focus to drive team performance? Why is so little time and considered effort spent developing teams to be exceptional?

There’s no lack of team development options – a Google search throws up over 100 million hits.  Many promise amazing, bespoke and fun team days, but these don’t go far 

enough, and often do more harm than good. In a recent YouGov survey (2021), 60% of people who have taken part in “teambuilding” found the experience embarrassing or cringeworthy. 

Other options talk of team theories, processes and models; interesting, but knowing what you need to do is just a start.

Many organisations approach team development as one-off events and wonder why the sense of teamwork experienced at the session doesn’t translate into the long-term behavioural change needed back in the workplace. Real sustained change happens over time, requiring practice and reinforcement to build the specific habits and routines each team needs to be successful. 

Developing team performance isn’t easy, even if 100 million Google hits try to tell us it is. Too many team initiatives fail to make changes that last. Traditional team development has failed to deliver the impact organisations need.

Teams need to develop over time, ensuring learning sticks

Organisations must be bold and choose a new way to drive team performance. There is no magic bullet to becoming exceptional. Teams must commit the time and effort if they want to improve.

Effective team coaching is an ongoing process that creates high performing, sustainable, and inspired teams. 

It’s an approach that helps teams improve performance through reflection, dialogue and then action.

It challenges teams to focus on what they specifically need to perform. Via a series of workshops, teams firstly diagnose and agree current team challenges before working on prioritised areas where improvement work, team and individual actions and commitments are defined. The process is based in the team’s real work, and fully engages the team in charting their own improvement course. Short, sharp input followed by practice back in the workplace accelerates learning. It brings an urgency and immediacy, so teams quickly experience the benefits of their improvement.

Benefits of team coaching are wide ranging – and are dependent on specific team’s need. These can include working on team fundamentals like; creating a new sense of unity for a team with a clarified purpose, re-energising a team by developing stronger team cohesion, or forming trusted relationships with stakeholders so it gets the long-term support it needs. Teams chose to focus on areas that need urgent attention – or those that will bring the biggest positive impact if addressed.

There are no short cuts. Teams must make their improvement one of their key priorities, not an add on or a nice to do.

ENGAGE and TEAMFIT establish strategic partnership to help organisations accelerate performance

ENGAGE and TEAMFIT are pleased to announce they have entered into a strategic partnership, combining ENGAGE’s industry leading data-driven approaches to building highly engaged and effectively led organisations with TEAMFIT’s unique approach of developing team fitness that drives performance and builds a genuine spirit of togetherness.

With employee experience playing an increasingly critical role in business success, the ENGAGE-TEAMFIT partnership is a powerful combination, recognising that teams are a vital – yet often overlooked – cog in ensuring employees are engaged and primed for success. This union brings together the best of individual senior executive coaching, powered by data, structured blueprints and a focus on driving performance at individual level, with the best of team coaching based on world class thinking about how teams work and what it takes to make them successful.

Ensure your teams are fit to maximise your chances of success in 2024

Here we talk to the importance of teams, and a better way of developing high performing, sustainable, and inspired teams through team coaching.

As 2024 begins, organisations are bracing themselves for continued uncertainty around the global economy and the lack of political stability. It will be another tough year for most. Given the challenges ahead, which teams will be instrumental in your success in 2024?

Is your Leadership Team ‘fit’ enough and ready to take on the seen and unseen challenges ahead? Are your teams that need to influence the market, develop and launch new innovative products, or manage change or transformation projects as prepared as they could, and should be? 

Contact us to find out how we can help your teams boost their fitness and performance so they have the best chance to drive your organisational success in 2024.