The Communication Habits of High Performing Teams

High performing teams aren't just skilled, they communicate differently because they understand that the stakes are higher. Miscommunications cost time, morale and revenue, but luckily small changes in habits can lead to huge results.

Clear Purpose & Shared Understanding

A high performing team has a deep understanding of their purpose. They know why they exist, what their impact is and what success looks like.

This is achieved by setting and restating clear goals, priorities and expectations regularly. Tell your team what their overall goal is, make sure it's SMART and make sure you're talking about the goal as often as possible.

This reduces any ambiguity around what they should or shouldn't be doing. It aligns decision making within the team because they will naturally make decisions that bring them closer to their goal and it keeps everyone moving in the same direction, together.

Top Tip: before starting any project, get the team together to review the mission, the key outcomes and individual responsibilities.

Transparent, Timely & Open Communication

When information is freely shared amongst teams, it removes the ability to create hidden agendas. It stops the guess work and allows teams to focus rather than ruminate on what they should be doing.

Utilise shared communication channels in your work spaces or platforms, dashboards or even noticeboards to enable information to flow freely between the relevant people. This helps your team to make decisions faster, highlight risks more visibly and increase trust between one another.

Make sure that any digital channels you use have the correct data protection levels in place and wherever possible, avoid using personal communication channels to share work information.

Top Tip: Transparency doesn't mean oversharing, it's about sharing what matters to the outcomes.

Active Listening & Psychological Safety

High performing team members listen to understand, not just respond. The end goal is not individual success, but team success.

Encourage your team to ask questions and challenge things to gain a better understanding and value diversity of opinions. Creating a safe environment for employees to admit uncertainty or a lack of knowledge helps to build collaboration amongst teams.

When people listen and feel able to challenge or ask questions, they begin to speak up early which means that problems surface sooner and collaboration improves.

High performing teams debate ideas, not people.

Feedback as a Habit, not an Event

Feedback needs to be a continuous practice in order to build a high performing team, but if it's not a normal part of day to day working, it comes across like nitpicking.

Ensure that feedback is given regularly, constructively and make sure it's timely. Don't wait for the next 121 or team meeting to tell the team they did a good job, or to suggest improvements.

Great feedback pairs praise with suggestions for improvement. Instead of "you didn't do X" try saying "This is a great start. I think X is missing, are you happy to take a look at this or do you need some support from me/the team?". Quick course corrections like this should become the norm to enable the team to stay on track, prevent resentment from building and to grow trust in the team.

Top Tip: Feedback should focus on behaviour and outcomes, not personality.

Structured Communication Rituals

Create regular, predictable check ins and routines within your team so that they know when you're going to ask for updates and information and what you're going to want to know.

This can be in a daily catch-up, a weekly review or a quarterly reflection. Whatever works for you, make sure you do it consistently. This helps to build a rhythm to the work, helps bring blockers to progress to the surface and reinforces accountability in the team.

Top Tip: Rituals aren't micromanagement - they create shared awareness.

Celebrate and Reinforce Communication Wins

Recognise individuals who clarify, document or resolve misunderstandings to reinforce all the behaviours that help teams to communicate better. Thank individuals who raise queries or challenge points of view constructively to further reinforce that communication excellence is part of the team's identity.

High performing teams communicate as consistently as they work. Implementing small habits compound over time into better decisions, faster execution and stronger collaboration.

Take 10 minutes this week to evaluate your team's communication habits - are they helping or hindering performance?

Here's how Lilac HR can support you to build a high performing team:

• Work with our team on a culture overhaul project to identify and rebuild company values and ways of working.

• Work with our team on a HR retainer for ongoing support to handle under-performing team members.