Being part of a high performing team is supposed to be great. Everyone’s working together, perfectly aligned and in tune with each other, delivering what the stakeholders want, in a company that appreciates them.

Except it’s not always like that.

This is a story about being part of a high performing team. It’s a view from the inside, about the highs and the lows and why being part of a high performing team is great, but it’s rarely the utopia that blog posts and books will have you believe.

I’ll focus on:

• Why being part of a high performing team can be fragile and something to be treasured
• How you can’t be good at everything, and being part of a high performing team is all about compromises
• Areas that can be challenging when leading or being a part of a high performing team; building a diverse team for example
• Ways in which I have dealt with culture clashes, strong personalities, and conflict
• Putting the wins of the team above your own personal wins, and why this can be harder in a high performing team
• Why other high performing teams may not be as good as they look from the outside, and why comparing yourself to that view of perfection may not be healthy
• Keeping things stimulating and engaging when you hit the big deadline that you’ve been working towards
• Why you should focus on your sponsors, and how to avoid your high performing team from being one person’s pet project
• What to look out for when scaling high performing teams, and how to keep everyone caring when teams grow
• How the team changes when leaders change, and what you can do to ensure a new leader continues to build a culture of great teamwork

In the end we all want to be part of a team where we have fun, feel supported and are able to do our best. Is it a high performing team that we’re looking for, or is it just good teamwork? Hopefully my experiences will help you to answer this question, and play your part in making your team great.