“If you don’t know where you are going, how do you expect to get there.” is one of my favorite quotes of all time. We all want to lead or be part of an elite team. But what does good look like?

What do elite teams have in common? How can a leader develop an elite team? The first step is knowing where you are going.

Elite Teams Know the Destination

Elite Teams Know the Destination

Four Traits Elite Teams Have

Integrity

Elite teams maintain high standards of Integrity. Teams with Integrity:

  • Do the right thing no matter the personal or professional consequences.
  • Believe you cannot be considered a person of Integrity and collect a full paycheck while doing only parts of your job well.
  • Believe that keeping promises to each other is equally as important as keeping promises to customers.

To read more about teams of Integrity, click on the following blog title:  Culture is the Leader’s Job

Courage

Elite teams exercise moral Courage. Teams with Courage:

  • Own their actions and eliminate excuses from their vocabulary.
  • Always choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong.
  • Challenge the status quo thinking and processes.
  • Try new things even if it makes them uncomfortable.

To read more about teams of Courage, click on the following blog title:  Buzzword Defined (Part 3):  Courage

Selflessness

Elite Teams put aside personal desires for the good of the team. Teams with Selflessness:

  • Serve others without expecting anything in return.
  • Treat others like they want to be treated in the same situation.
  • Place there individual or department needs behind the needs of others.

To read more about selfless teams, click on the following blog title:  Teamwork:  What Good Looks Like

Communication

Elite teams over-communicate. Teams who communicate well:

  • Error on the side of too much communication instead of too little.
  • Give each other the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise.
  • Seek solutions during a conflict instead of seeking victory.
  • Create opportunities for people to speak openly and challenge each other.

To read more about communication on teams, click on the following blog title:  A Team That Values Communication

How Do You Get There?

Leaders must lead! If my team does not operate like the elite teams described above, who is to blame? The people? I hired them.

I’m responsible for coaching them. I am also responsible for upgrading the team if necessary.   I am responsible for everything happening on my team.

I must take action to intentionally and consistently shape my team into an elite team that everyone wants to work for or do business with. I must build a culture on my team that will create an elite team.

I have laid out the steps in The Overwhelmed Manager’s Guide to a Winning Culture that you can explore by clicking the following title:  The Overwhelmed Manager’s Guide

When you use the link above, you can download free PDF guides that will help you begin to build that elite team by hiring the right people (interview guide), defining your values, and creating Vision and Mission statements that people might actually remember!  Download the OMG Power Pack.

The Bottom Line:

There are a lot of things elite teams do exceeding well. They do not become elite teams just because they have talented people. Every NBA team and every one of our competitors have talented people.  So what separates an elite team from the talented but average teams?

It comes back to the leader intentionally developing the team from a loose group of talent, into a well-oiled elite team with Integrity, Courage, Selflessness and Communication.

This does not happen by accident. It takes a leader at the helm to steer the ship to the destination (elite status) desired.  Who is steering your ship?  One more blog:  Corporate Culture Left Adrift

Question:

What other traits do elite teams have in common?

Dave Anderson is coauthor of the Amazon Best-Seller Becoming a Leader of Character – Six Habits that Make or Break a Leader at Work and at Home with his father General James L. Anderson (USA Retired).
You can order Becoming a Leader of Character on Amazon by clicking here:
bit.ly/LOCBook.
You can also find Becoming a Leader of Character at Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million and other retailers.