Becoming a High-Performing Team - Leadership Program - Mentora Institute
Performance

Becoming a High-Performing Team

Guide team members to pursue a common purpose, form deep bonds, tap into their collective wisdom, and learn and grow from every experience.

The Case for High-Performing Teams

Studies show that high-value work (including creativity, complex analysis, and/or scientific research, for example) happens more effectively with teams than with individuals.

When people feel a great level of cohesion with their teammates, they:

  • Perform better
  • Are more motivated by their desire for acceptance from their team than by their desire for money

Sources: Harvard Business Review, National Library of Medicine

In a global survey of 10,000+ workers, 65 percent viewed the shift to a team/network-based organization as impotant/very important. And yet, only:

7 percent said they were very ready to execute this shift.

6 percent thought they were very effective at managing cross-functional teams.

17 percent of CXOs regularly collaborate on “long-term interdependent work.”

A 2015 study of 95 teams in 25 leading corporations showed that nearly 75 percent of cross-functional teams are dysfunctional.

Sources: Deloitte 2019 Global Human Capital Trends, Harvard Business Review

Behaviors Learned

  • An eye vector icon. Establish an inspiring common purpose
  • open book vector icon. Build alignment, ownership, and accountability
  • An arrow-up vector icon in a circle frame. Develop strong connection and trust
  • A key vector icon Create a culture of respect and appreciation
  • A bullseye with a missing part vector icon. Manage conflict constructively
  • A sun vector icon. Tap the team’s collective intelligence
  • a light bulb vector icon Maintain a positive emotional climate
  • An eye vector icon. Practice a growth mindset
  • open book vector icon. Learn from every failure and experience
  • An arrow-up vector icon in a circle frame. Give and receive effective feedback

Core Ideas

On a high-performing team, people are aligned not just on the outside — in the goal they are pursuing, the approach they are taking to get there, and the role each person is playing — but also on the inside — in the thoughts, feelings, values, and intentions they bring to the team. Members of such teams are:

Committed to a shared purpose and set of values

Calm and receptive to the truth in all matters

Curious and open to new learnings

Connected with one another through bonds of empathy, trust, and caring

Centered in their peaceful and joyful spirit within

Case Study

How Top Leaders Can Work Together in a High-Performing Team

Context

Texan grocery chain H-E-B is the largest private company in Texas, and one of the fifteen largest privately-held organizations in the U.S. They have been recognized as one of America’s Best Employers for Diversity (Forbes 2020), Top Rated Workplaces: Best for Veterans (Indeed 2019), America’s Best Employers for Women (Forbes 2020), and Best Places to Work (Glassdoor 2021). These awards are a reflection of one of H-E-B’s core values — Drive — which they describe as a “shared spirit…to work together and build a company that doesn’t just meet the Customer’s needs, it exceeds them.

In 2018, H-E-B was in the midst of massive market changes and increasing competitive pressure, necessitating the need to make adaptive strategic moves, such as integrating a newly-hired team of technology leaders into their organization and fostering a new blended identity of digital and traditional leadership. In this context, H-E-B was looking for a cultural transformation program for their top leadership team to transform them for the digital age and help them work as part of one high-performing team.

Program

Mentora designed and delivered a six-part learning journey, based on the science of Inner Mastery, Outer Impact, to build a High-Performing Team by fostering collaboration, trust, and innovation.

Delivery

Mentora’s integrated and blended approach included:

  • Discovery and Design
  • An in-person workshop on Inner Mastery
  • An in-person workshop on Outer Impact
  • Executive Coaching, which started immediately after Discovery and Design began and took place concurrent with the workshops
  • The launch of cross-divisional Acceleration Teams, which worked to carry key leadership insights from the workshops and coaching conversations into the organization
  • A self-paced learning journey on Mentora Digital that allowed participants to deep dive into their individual professional and personal needs and interests

Impact

73 percent of top leaders agreed that the program increased their passion and motivation for the work they do at H-E-B.
100 percent of top leaders said they found their learnings from the training sessions to be valuable to them.

Participant Voices

“These coaching sessions have been a great resource for me — not only to talk through the things that I want to work through, but to force accountability from me to act on the areas that I set as goals or action-items after each call.”

Executive | H-E-B

“Mentora’s coaching has helped myself and several other leaders collaborate more effectively and communicate more honestly, leading to improved results and relationships. It has made me bolder, better equipped and able to contribute at a higher level.”

Executive | H-E-B

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