Earlier today I attended the Georgia Association of Healthcare Executives annual meeting luncheon. The topic of the luncheon was “Developing High-Performance Teams” where a panel of 3 female executives of 3 different hospital systems in the city shared their experience, wisdom, and insights. Even though I coach my physician leaders on this topic on a daily basis, it was good for me to hear the executive version and compare notes. Here is a quick summary of wat they shared but also what I added:

1. Healthcare is a team sport.

You can’t be successful without good team members. Considering that we have four generations working in the workforce coming from different backgrounds, cultures, and with different beliefs, it makes it more important to foster regular team building activities. Engaging the team in regular team building activities, including icebreaker exercises, and encouraging conversations at the meeting table builds trust, collaboration, and relationships.

2. Professional development of the team members is fundamental to team success.

Team success starts with individual growth. Working in a team is a good vehicle for the members to develop professionally. Knowing what your preferred learning style is or how you like to be communicated with will make a big difference on how people will learn to work together. Self-awareness and self-management are absolutely critical when it comes to working in a team. As long as people are open-minded, trusting, trustworthy and willing to grow, any conflict can be resolved and any goal can be accomplished.

3. Good teamwork leads to good team engagement

Making the work fun, keeping team members challenged, and being a good leader who is engaging, are very important when it comes to employee satisfaction and success. People spend the majority of their days at work. Therefore it is crucial to keep the work interesting and intellectually challenging if you want to keep employees engagement and satisfaction up.

4. A successful team leader coaches.

This point wasn’t mentioned in the presentation, but it was so obvious to me when I listened to the three healthcare executives. It came across to me that all 3 had an astute leadership approach and a natural (or acquired) way of communicating with people effectively and helping them grow. Not that I saw them in action but the philosophies and examples they shared gave me that impression. And that is really what it comes down to – the success of a high-performing team depends on the professional development and skills of its leader.

Nobody in this presentation talked about degrees or business knowledge – and maybe that is considered a given – but at the end, it is the behavior and team approach that glues business knowledge and goals together.

Please share in the comments section what your approach and tips are to create a high performing team.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]