Establishing a Culture of Excellence: How to Build and Sustain High-Performing Teams
- Jonathan H. Westover, PhD
- 3 hours ago
- 6 min read
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Abstract: This article examines the key elements necessary for developing and sustaining excellence at the team level through a review of relevant academic literature and practical examples. It begins by defining what constitutes a true "high-performing team" based on measurable outcomes. Foundational characteristics commonly seen in top-performing teams are then explored, including trust, accountability, communication, and collaborative problem-solving. Practical strategies are outlined for establishing these attributes when forming new teams or strengthening existing strengths. Case studies of exemplar organizations like Google, SAS, and Toyota demonstrate how intentionally fostering the right team culture has powered extraordinary results. The brief concludes by reinforcing how leveraging best practices in selection, role clarity, feedback, and growth can optimize human potential at work.
As a management consultant and leadership educator, nothing is more rewarding than seeing an organizational team perform at its full potential. However, cultivating a high-performing culture takes intention, effort, and ongoing nurturing. Having studied this topic extensively through both academic research and hands-on experience in the field, I have seen firsthand what differentiates the most effective teams.
Today we will explore the key elements of developing and maintaining excellence at the team level.
What Is a High-Performing Team?
Before diving into building team excellence, it is important to have a working definition of precisely what constitutes a "high-performing team." While researchers define the criteria somewhat differently, most agree that true high-performing teams consistently achieve superior results far beyond expectations (Katzenbach & Smith, 1993; Larson & LaFasto, 1989). Specifically, they tend to:
Exceed financial and operational goals year over year
Demonstrate much higher productivity, quality, and throughput than average teams
Sustain high morale and engagement among team members
Enjoy significantly lower turnover than average teams
Solve problems innovatively and learn from failures
Seamlessly adapt to changing priorities and market conditions
In essence, high-performing teams achieve extraordinary outcomes through the collective strengths of their diverse members working cohesively and interdependently together. It is this combination of results-driven excellence and unity of purpose that sets them apart.
Foundational Characteristics of Elite Teams
Four core attributes consistently emerge in research on the most successful teams: trust, accountability, communication, and collaborative problem-solving (Larson & LaFasto, 1989; Katzenbach & Smith, 1993). Let us examine each of these characteristics in turn:
Trust
High levels of trust are foundational to all high-functioning teams. When team members genuinely trust one another - in their abilities, intentions, and work ethic - it enables risk-taking, candor in discussions, and flexibility, all of which are vital to elite performance (Goman, 2016). Trust is built over time through integrity, reliability, and making others' needs a priority.
Accountability
Closely related to trust is a strong sense of accountability, where team members feel responsible not just for their individual contributions but for the team's success as a whole. Accountability includes setting expectations clearly, checking progress frequently, and addressing shortcomings directly but supportively (Larson & LaFasto, 1989). It drives continuous improvement.
Communication
Transparent, frequent, and effective communication lies at the heart of top-tier teams. They share information openly and actively listen to diverse perspectives. By communicating clearly and soliciting frequent feedback, assumptions can be challenged, blind spots addressed, and Alignment maintained (Goman, 2016; West, 2012).
Collaborative Problem-Solving
Rather than competing as silos with unique agendas, elite teams welcome controversy and leverage their collective intelligence to resolve issues objectively. By combining diverse expertise, insights, and ideas, they consistently develop innovative solutions far superior to any single solution. They try, learn from failures, and keep advancing together (Tuckman, 1965; Page, 2007).
With a grasp of the foundational attributes, we turn next to practical strategies any leader or team can adopt to develop these characteristics de novo or take existing strengths to the next level.
Cultivating Excellence at the Team Level
Stage 1: Selection and Onboarding
Careful selection processes that consider both hard and soft skills help ensure new hires are compatible and share the team's core values from the outset (Belbin, 2010). Comprehensive onboarding orienting new members to goals, norms, and teammates builds comfort and investment early on.
Stage 2: Define Roles and Responsibilities
Clearly establishing who is accountable for what lifts uncertainty and enables focus. Regular check-ins keep tasks and expectations appropriately calibrated over time (Hackman, 1987). Role flexibility also bolsters adaptability and strengthens shared commitment to overall success.
Stage 3: Foster Psychological Safety
Leaders who solicit input without judgment, admit mistakes, and give credit freely cultivate an unthreatened climate where candor and creativity can thrive (Edmondson, 2018). Psychologically safe cultures where it is safe to take smart risks and learn from failures are hallmarks of elite teams.
Stage 4: Recognize Accomplishments
Meaningful recognition of both big wins and small wins daily reinforces desired behaviors and builds camaraderie (Gostick & Elton, 2012). Recognition comes from peers as well as leaders to strengthen internal motivation and pride in the team's reputation.
Stage 5: Solicit Continuous Feedback
Ongoing formal and informal feedback bolsters self-awareness, keeps cultural strengths aligned to strategy, and surfaces issues for timely course corrections (West, 2012). Surveys, focus groups, and one-on-ones enable all members to contribute insights regularly.
Stage 6: Foster Learning and Development
Promoting lifelong learning and exposing team members to new challenges maintains engagement and fuels innovation (Hoerr, 2017). Rotating roles periodically builds broader perspectives. Outside training, conferences and networking broaden insights in a supportive environment.
Proper resourcing, focus, and institutionalization of best practices at each stage culminates in team dynamics primed for superior performance. Next, we explore examples of organizations excelling through intentional development of a culture of excellence.
Case Studies: Thriving Cultures of Teamwork
Google is renowned for its collaborative, flexible workstyle and fun, community-centric culture often cited as the driver of its legendary success. Key elements like voluntary job shifting, self-managing teams with shared goals and transparency, sabbaticals, on-campus perks and community building have boosted innovation through diversity of thought while sustaining elation among employees (Duhigg, 2016).
At SAS Institute, multidisciplinary Agile teams are empowered through psychological safety, learning agility, shared rewards and no internal politics. By leveraging one another's strengths, teams consistently achieve the impossible - often resolving massive, complex challenges in days that formerly took months or years. Shared purpose and trust pervade a culture where failure leads to growth (Patterson, Grenny, Maxfield, McMillan and Switzler, 2013).
At Toyota, team-based problem-solving (Kaizen) underpins a relentless culture of continuous improvement evident worldwide. Cross-functional Gemba walks, daily huddles and respect for all opinions irrespective of role develop shared understanding and collective intelligence to constantly raise the bar. Diversity and inclusion thrive through psychological safety and mutual respect (Liker, 2004).
Each of these firms achieved and sustained pinnacles of performance through deftly cultivating collaborative excellence across all levels and functions. Their success reinforces how intentionally fostering the right team culture powered by trust, innovation and personal growth is among the most impactful investments any organization can make.
Conclusion
In today's VUCA world, organizational agility depends completely on the nimbleness of integrated, autonomous teams. Those able to optimize diverse human potential will dominate industries for decades to come. This brief provided frameworks proven through extensive research for purposefully developing the characteristics dividing ordinary from extraordinary teams.
By leveraging tools for selection, clarifying roles, surfacing issues respectfully, strengthening bonds, and continuously progressing both technical and soft skills, any group can achieve unprecedented results. Examples from paragons like Google, SAS and Toyota reinforce these insights are applicable at any level, from frontline operations to executive leadership. With care, perseverance and focus on human growth, organizations able to actualize a culture of collaborative excellence will thrive, adapt and solve the dilemmas others dismiss as unsolvable. I hope leaders find these guidance actionable in cultivating their own championship teams.
References
Belbin, R. M. (2010). Team roles at work (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Duhigg, C. (2016, February 25). What Google learned from its quest to build the perfect team. The New York Times.
Edmondson, A. (2018). The fearless organization: Creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth. John Wiley & Sons.
Goman, C. K. (2016). The truth about trust in business. RealTime Publishing.
Gostick, A., & Elton, C. (2012). All in: How the best managers create a culture of belief and drive big results. Free Press.
Hackman, J. R. (1987). The design of work teams. In J. W. Lorsch (Ed.), Handbook of organizational behavior (pp. 315–342). Prentice Hall.
Hoerr, T. R. (2017). The form focused leader. Jossey-Bass.
Katzenbach, J. R., & Smith, D. K. (1993). The wisdom of teams: Creating the high-performance organization. Harvard Business Review Press.
Larson, C. E., & LaFasto, F. M. J. (1989). Teamwork: What must go right/what can go wrong. Sage.
Liker, J. K. (2004). The Toyota way: 14 management principles from the world's greatest manufacturer. McGraw-Hill Education.
Page, S. E. (2007). The difference: How the power of diversity creates better groups, firms, schools, and societies. Princeton University Press.
Patterson, K., Grenny, J., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2013). Influencer: The new science of leading change (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Tuckman, B. W. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), 384–399.
West, M. A. (2012). Effective teamwork: Practical lessons from organizational research (3rd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.
Jonathan H. Westover, PhD is Chief Academic & Learning Officer (HCI Academy); Associate Dean and Director of HR Programs (WGU); Professor, Organizational Leadership (UVU); OD/HR/Leadership Consultant (Human Capital Innovations). Read Jonathan Westover's executive profile here.
Suggested Citation: Westover, J. H. (2025). Establishing a Culture of Excellence: How to Build and Sustain High-Performing Teams. Human Capital Leadership Review, 31(1). doi.org/10.70175/hclreview.2020.31.1.2
