Teams, teams, teams. Theyre all the rage these days. Whether you love-em or loathe-em, youll have to learn to live, not only with them, but within them. You career will depend on it. Here are five strategies for building a high-performance team.

Manage by adultery.
Its a term coined by Chaparrel Steel to describe its management philosophy of treating workers like adults instead of children. People are hired, not to do mindless jobs, but to put their brains to work. Managements job is to give the team or work group a mission; see that they get the necessary resources, provide feedback and encouragement; and then turn them loose to be creative problem solvers.

Hire people who care.
When evaluating prospective employees, a major airline brings all job candidates together in a room and asks each person to make a presentation. Everybody thinks that the company officials are evaluating the person making the presentation. But in reality, the company is evaluating the candidates in the audience to see who are attentive and supportive as others are presenting. It is a strong signal that these people have the ability to care about others and are potential candidates to hire.

Make sure there is a scoreboard.
One critical difference between a group and a team is that a team knows what constitutes a win. Players in sports know instantly where their team stands and whether they are winning or losing. This information then affects how they are going to play the rest of the game. But in most organizations, employees may work for weeks and months and never know where their team stands and if they are winning, losing, or just hanging in there. Like sports teams, business teams should also have scoreboards. Then team members would have some idea how close they are to a win and what they need to do to make it happen.

Dont encourage employee dependence.
The Romans had an interesting practice regarding ownership. After building an arch, the engineer in change was expected to stand beneath it as the scaffolding was removed. If the arch didnt hold, he was the first to know. Effective leaders also keep ownership where it belongsin the team. If the leader keeps running in and lifting the weights for his team, they are never going to build any of their own muscle. The trap in becoming a hero leader is that every time you pull a rabbit out of a hat, you generate more dependency from your team. Important: Astute leaders welcome their employees to discuss problems and solutions, but never let them leave their problems with the leader.

Set up your team to win, not be slaughtered.
If your team is faced with multiple tasks or problems, dont always tackle the worst ones first. Conventional wisdom says prioritize your tasks and then begin tackling your most important problems, solve them and then move on to smaller ones. This approach ignores the fact that the biggest problem is usually the hardest to tackle. Therefore, if not prepared mentally, team members are more likely to fail, become demoralized, and give up. This is not permission for all of us procrastinators to put aside our tough assignment. Rather, it allows us to gain the confidence to first experience success on a smaller level before going for the big one.

If we dont know it, how can we do it? Paul Bear Bryant, the legendary football coach at the University of Alabama, said winning team members need to know the following:

1. Tell me what you expect of me.
2. Give me an opportunity to perform.L/li>
3. Let me know how Im doing.
4. Give me guidance where I need it.
5. Reward me according to my contributions.

I couldnt have said it better than Bear Bryant. Do you have a winning team?

Marcia Zidle

Marcia Zidle, M.S. N.C.C., the ‘people smarts’ coach, works with business, government and community leaders to quickly solve their people management headaches so they can concentrate on their #1 job – to grow and increase profits. Her services include:

• What Really Works Handbooks – resources for managers and supervisors on the front line
• Power-by-the-Hour Programs – fast, convenient, real life, affordable courses for leadership and staff development
• Your Strategic Partner – support to leaders who are in positions of high expectations, high visibility and high payoff.

Marcia is founder of Leadership Hooks, a business coaching company, which helps executive teams, operations managers, business owners and agency directors to move their organizations from seat-of-the-pants to feet-on-the-ground leadership.

She brings over 20 years experience from a wide variety of workplace settings, countries, and industries including: health care, financial services, professional practices, automotive and light manufacturing, energy, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, event management, education, non-profits, local and state government.

Finally, Marcia's ‘claim to fame’ is experiencing expatriate living with her family in Scandinavia and Australia. She has traveled in over 30 countries throughout Europe, the Middle East, Far East, and South Pacific. She welcomes invitations to speak internationally so that she can add to her growing list of interesting places to explore.