A Talent Leader Perspective: What Makes a High Performing Team?
Insights / Blog

A Talent Leader Perspective: What Makes a High Performing Team?

A Talent Leader Perspective: What Makes a High Performing Team?

At Arc Aspicio, we build exceptional teams that deliver high quality and bold solutions for both our clients and our company. As a talent leader, I have spent the past nine years building consulting teams that achieve results. Before this, I was a college athlete on a successful sports team.

To me, the characteristics that make up a high-performing team in the workplace are the same for a winning sports team. I get excited when we get a team right – it’s one of my favorite things about my role.

What does it mean to get a team right? Among other things, I personally think a great team:

  • Has the right mix of strengths and talents – Teams need to have the appropriate technical and analytical skills to perform their work, but once we cover these, we select the best fit with our culture. We find that soft skills such as learning ability, flexibility, honesty, creativity, and work ethic are equally as important. The ability to cross-train is also critical. On a great team, you can take a vacation and your team is ready to provide full coverage!

  • Is self-aware and strives for excellence and continuously improves – Team members recognize accomplishments often, give each other honest feedback, and know their collective strengths and weaknesses. They create bold and innovative ideas, bring their collective expertise to every problem, and take action. Teams need a safe environment where team members can try and fail, and not be afraid to try again

  • Demonstrates empathy and open communication – Real friendships on a great team are not uncommon. Teams that see situations through others’ perspectives and remember to celebrate personal and professional successes usually have tremendous trust among teammates. These teams are also able to discuss difficult issues and resolve conflict quickly – the team doesn’t let drama and underperformance disrupt their ultimate goals

  • Has strong leadership and accountability – A great team needs a great leader(s) who sets a clear direction, communicates persuasively, inspires, and truly cares about the team’s mission, goals, and clients. They delegate interesting work to build skills within their team, but they are also a good role model when it comes to being accountable for work that needs to be done. A great leader helps their people develop skills to be future leaders, and addresses underperformance quickly. They create an environment where individuals own and take responsibility for their work and learn from mistakes. I wrote a prior blog on this topic, ‘Leading Teams in Consulting’. Check it out!

I love seeing great teams at Arc Aspicio. The energy and positive momentum towards achieving results on a team begins the cycle of even greater results. When a great team comes together, anything is possible.

About Arc Aspicio
Arc Aspicio enhances the future of our nation by creating bold ideas and bringing them to life. A consulting and solutions company, Arc Aspicio solves problems by applying our integrated capabilities in strategy, design, data, human capital, behavioral science, and technology. The company passionately pursues our vision to be the hub of creativity where people take action to change the world. To do this, employees collaborate with clients and partners to create solutions using a human-centered approach. Innovation is not possible without action. The company focuses on strategy first, then takes a hands-on approach implementing ideas to achieve results. Join Arc Aspicio and our Strategy Innovation Lab (SILab) by creating and sharing ideas to inspire people to change the world. Follow us on Twitter @ArcAspicio @SILabDC and learn more at www.arcaspicio.com.

Blog High Performing Team

Contributors

Jackie Meredith | Jackie is our Senior Talent and Operations Manager. Jackie works directly with our CEO supporting human resources, recruiting, general business operations, contract management, and special projects including the website redesign. Jackie supports the end-to-end employee experience including recruiting, orientation, and continuous career development. She is passionate about homeland security and human resources.

Meet Jackie  |  View all Insights by Jackie

△
Behavioral Science – Using Behavioral Science to Affect Action

Behavioral Science – Using Behavioral Science to Affect Action

How do organizations encourage behavior change in their customers? Increasingly, they focus on customer experience, and as a consequence employ behavioral science methodologies. At the heart of behavioral science is the consideration of how an organization can make small investments that generate incremental savings/returns while considering both customers and organizational benefits. One example is Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Pre✓® and U.C. Customs and Border Protection’s Global Entry programs.

→
Karin Jones
,
Launching into #Action Through Strategy

Launching into #Action Through Strategy

As a new employee, your first company-wide meeting can make you nervous. This was how I felt.

Arc Aspicio’s recent Strategy Launch Day was so well planned and it involved participants so that I learned that I had nothing to worry about! The company treats each employee equally and equips even the newest joiners with the information and skills they need to have a meaningful experience

→
Alexis Hollon
, ,
What Being a Consultant Means to Me

What Being a Consultant Means to Me

As a Consulting Associate at Arc Aspicio, I provide expertise and insight to help clients solve difficult problems. To be successful, a consultant does not need only to be a subject matter expert on their client’s industry and needs - though this often ends up happening over time.

→
Katherine Delk
Captivate Your Audience Through Design+Data

Captivate Your Audience Through Design+Data

So often, senior leaders must communicate their strategic and simple vision in a world of growing complexity. They must make decisions – and frequently explain them – based on an enterprise view of their data. It’s getting easier to do this these days through data visualizations and infographics that speak to specific employee and stakeholder audiences. Design+Data is what we call it at Arc Aspicio.

→
Lynn Ann Casey
,
Chief Data Officers: Six Steps to Manage Data as an Enterprise Asset

Chief Data Officers: Six Steps to Manage Data as an Enterprise Asset

With an exponential increase in the types and quantities of data, organizations need defined strategies and techniques to manage data as an enterprise asset. To create enterprise-wide use of data, a Chief Data Officer (CDO) needs a clear data agenda for leadership and the whole organization to address current and future needs. CDOs should follow this six-part data plan to achieve short term capability gains and plot a path to greater enterprise data maturity.

→
Rob O'Keefe
,
Securing Cyberspace: Agile Strategy to Counter Changing Threats

Securing Cyberspace: Agile Strategy to Counter Changing Threats

Cybersecurity, managing and protecting computer systems from attacks, is evolving just as quickly as the techniques hackers use to cause damage. Historically, the public and private sectors believed that stronger technology and more advanced computer systems alone were enough to prevent attacks. As new trends emerge and the technologies used to both conduct and prevent hackings improve, cybersecurity strategies must remain agile, trying new tactics to counter changing threats.

→
Kelsey Lombard
,
Hacking Back – Do the Benefits Outweigh the Risks?

Hacking Back – Do the Benefits Outweigh the Risks?

With the increased frequency and sophistication of cyber-attacks worldwide, companies and executives are becoming frustrated with a traditional focus on defensive tactics. As a result, some private sector actors are taking a more active role in cybersecurity by “hacking back” – hacking against the very groups that are attacking their systems in retaliation or to retrieve stolen data. As hacking back rises in popularity, it is important to consider a number of political and legal issues and the risks to counter-terrorism efforts.

→
Katie Vaughan
LeadersNest Names Lynn Ann Casey a FedFem Award Honoree

LeadersNest Names Lynn Ann Casey a FedFem Award Honoree

Washington, DC, October 19, 2018 — LeadersNest named Arc Aspicio CEO Lynn Ann Casey a FedFem Award Honoree. The FedFem awards salute high-impact women executives and leaders of the government contracting community. FedFem Award Honorees blend their entrepreneurial courage and Federal government support that effectively impacts the industry, national economy, and the local marketplace. 

→
* Arc Aspicio
Boosting the Mission: Developing Acquisition Requirements Guidance

Boosting the Mission: Developing Acquisition Requirements Guidance

To keep up with the fast pace of change in the field of Government acquisitions, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) components are developing their own acquisition requirements (AR) policies. However, without specific timeframes to finalize these policies, DHS agencies often lack guidance on how to develop ARs. Among DHS agencies, the U.S. Coast Guard is leading the way with their own formal policy to describe this process. To compliment the U.S. Coast Guard’s policy, DHS created the Joint Requirements Integration and Management System (JRIMS) to offer direction for agencies—to review, validate, and suggest solutions for capability gaps and requirements.

→
Michael Hoffman
,