Although our culture tends to venerate the singular hero or heroine, the truth is: 

Rarely can one person achieve something all on his or her own; teamwork is the way things happen. 

But cultivating a successful team that operates as a cohesive unit is not that simple. For a team to be achieve its full potential, members must be collaborative and operate within established interpersonal codes of conduct. Although a team’s code may vary depending on its work or industry, high-performing teams have a lot in common. Here are the five key tenets to creating and managing a highly effective team. 

The ability to say “I don’t know”   

Complex situations rarely have easy answers, yet we’ve been taught that we are supposed to show up to a discussion or conversation with solutions. This is not realistic in a world with so many moving parts and variables. Articulating the truth of the matter –that one person doesn’t have all the answers – unburdens the individual and makes team members more powerful in their ability to collaborate and brainstorm. These teams show up to meetings ready to contribute, saying things like, “I don’t know the answer to this, but here are some of my thoughts.” Or, “I’m not sure I know, and here is what this makes me think.”  

Sentences like these create space for others to chime in with their thoughts, especially when a team is responsible for a high-value business outcome. The best ideas are born from collaborative work, not the Herculean heroic efforts of one person.   

 

Authenticity  

High-performing teams recognize that each member is human, and everyone is different. These teams know that each person has strengths and weaknesses. When teams acknowledge this — and enable one another to show up authentically, without posturing or posing — it enhances the communication between the team members. When no one pretends to be something they’re not, a level of authenticity is formed that encourages people to lean in and help.   

 

Transparency 

The best teams and leaders know that everyone has priorities outside of work as well. Businesses have often discouraged transparency and encouraged the mentality of putting work first at all costs, but high-performing teams allow for individuals to communicate up-front about responsibilities outside of work.   

For example, giving team members the space to comfortably request taking time to bring a family member to a medical appointment or handle a business-hours-sensitive errand allows the rest of the team to cover and engenders good-will from the individual who needs to step out.  

When teams have this kind of transparency, they can coordinate coverage and set expectations for clients and colleagues up front, rather than scrambling right before a deadline when someone suddenly is out and can’t be found. Transparency breeds proactive planning and discourages secret-keeping.  

 

The ability to ask for help  

Especially in today’s increasingly complex world, teams must be able to ask each other for help. A rule of thumb to consider when stuck: don’t spend more than fifteen to thirty minutes thinking about something before reaching out to a teammate and saying, “I’m stuck, can you talk through this with me?”  

Even the small act of verbalizing a problem usually results in an individual figuring out a way forward in far less time than if that person had been operating alone. It can feel intimidating, but it works.   

  

The ability to say “Yes, and...” 

These high-performing teams also foster a culture of improvisation through the use of “yes, and...” instead of “yes, but…” when they are dealing with differences in opinion. The human brain hears “but” as a negation of everything said before it, as opposed to “and,” which implies a willingness to collaborate without putting listeners on the defensive. 

When teams work well together, they know that it takes everyone to pull off their achievements. Teams are stronger together when they and their leaders are committed to collaborating and adhering to a code of conduct and these five key tenets.