High performance team refers to a group of goal-focused individuals with specialized expertise and complementary skills who collaborate, innovate and produce consistently superior results. The group relentlessly pursues performance excellence through shared goals, shared leadership, collaboration, open communication, clear role expectations and group operating rules, early conflict resolution, and a strong sense of accountability and trust among its members (Katzenbach, & Smith, 2016). These characteristics are the driving force for the high-performance teams. Shared goals give the team a clear vision for what they are working towards and allows the teams to stay glued to the same goals to which yield maximum output. Collaborations and open communication are the driving forces for any successful team.
One of the biggest factors that contribute to the success of any business is whether or not its employees are able to perform together a team. With increasing competition, it has become extremely important to encourage creativity in the office, in order to improve productivity and promote healthy employee relationships. Working in teams enables employees to be quicker and more effective in their work, as compared to people who work on projects on their own. Collaborating also makes employees more responsible, which goes a long way in raising their motivation levels, especially when teams work virtually.
There is no doubt that motivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals. Motivation can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the actions required to achieve a goal, without relying on external rewards or pressures. Extrinsic motivation on the other hand is the opposite and requires external rewards such as money or external consequences such as demotion (Vallerand, 2017). Extrinsic motivation by itself (without intrinsic motivation) forces a person to measure outputs and pay little attention to the input such as hard work and collaboration. Therefore, to extrinsically motivate a group I would set group and individual goals and measure outcomes. Also, rewarding those individuals who achieved their goals to motivate those who did not meet their goals is a way of inspiring individuals who are extrinsically motivated. However, to motivate an individual who is intrinsically motivated would begin by creating working environments which provoke competence, and enthusiasm to achieve both personal and organizational goals.