We define a High Impact Team (HIT) as an energetic group of people that produces high quality, planned results in a defined period of time despite difficulties. HIT members are committed to achieving common goals. They have diverse skills, personalities and talents and assume both individual and collective accountability for the success of the team. They work well together and enjoy doing so. They assume responsibility for the output of the team, and support one another in clearing away obstacles.

By contrast, a nominal team is a group of people having both mutual and individual accountability to produce stated results. You might infer then, that a classical sales team is not really a team, since they predominantly have individual accountability and individual reward. How might you classify a group of people from several departments of two companies who come together to merge the two companies from a functional, financial and market perspective? Is it a team? If so, is it a High Impact Team? Maybe -- you would have to assess it to find out.

When you become familiar with what a High Impact Team truly is, what's missing on your team becomes apparent. The gap is clear and your work to close the gap can begin. Yvonne, a VP of a high tech company, realized that there were battlegrounds dividing her development group and the quality assurance (QA) group. Conversations led to internal arguments and blame. Problems reported from customers were met with "they should have" statements and finger pointing. Clearly this behavior did not promote the enjoyment of work or an innovative resolution for the customer.

With coaching, Yvonne learned that her behavior greatly impacted her team, and she was completely willing to take responsibility for it. Furthermore, Yvonne recognized that she and Bill, the QA leader, had a pattern of blaming each other's teams. With this insight and commitment to resolve issues "from the top down," she scheduled a conversation with her peer to address their collective impact on the teams.

Both Yvonne and Bill agreed to collaborate toward solutions and stop blaming the other team. Once they had this agreement in place, they independently communicated it to their teams. Reflecting on the process, Yvonne says, "It amazes me how simple it was to turn this around, and how much energy and frustration had been expended maneuvering around this conflict."

Implementing High Impact Team Practices

When the team leader and team members intentionally commit themselves to strive for excellence as they define it, they make a crucial investment in their team's long-term success. Team leaders and team members need to first assess how they believe they are doing as a team and what they perceive as working well or not working.

There is no predefined formula for developing High Impact Teams. Teams must set their own target standards for success, based on the team's charter and values, and then implement an appropriate action plan.