A featured contribution from Leadership Perspectives, a curated forum for enterprise technology leaders, nominated by our subscribers and vetted by the CIOApplications Editorial Board.
Exeter Finance
Building and Maintaining High-Performing Teams
Through this article, David Robertson shares actionable strategies for building high-performing engineering teams. He emphasizes the importance of hiring with intent, fostering clear and timely communication, automating repetitive tasks, and enabling decentralized decision-making. His approach unlocks human potential to drive long-term value, efficiency, and innovation across technology organizations.
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The real advantage isn’t just in having the right technology— it’s in building teams that communicate well, automate wisely and are trusted to make smart decisions every day
Ask any technical manager or business executive if they want to do more with less, and they will tell you, “Yes.” Most of us want to maximize the products and services we deliver. But how do we do that without compromising quality or increasing cost above a profitable threshold? Read on to find out how you can make it happen.
Unlocking The Potential in People
Outside of time, people are the company’s best resource. Good ones are what make high-performing teams work better than the rest. Does this mean you have to hire all senior, experienced people with the best résumés and credentials? No, but you do need a good balance of those people who are proven to deliver with excellence and have excelled on teams previously. The hiring process should be thorough enough to
eliminate those who cannot perform and those not interested in the position as a career beyond just being a job. At the same time, many people will respond well when the expectations are communicated appropriately; tell them why their contributions are essential. And reward them well when they deliver, using words of affirmation and increased autonomy. Provide necessary training for hard and soft skills. Challenge them to speak and present to internal groups. You will soon discover who can perform at a high level. Given the right mix of skilled and willing people, the team will increase its chances of success.
Optimize for Clear Communication
Have you ever received word (email, chat, text, etc.) about a situation that was nothing like what was communicated? Poor or inefficient communication wastes company money and resources. Increased business expense due to habitual bad practices or wrong information can make a good team marginal, and an average team chaotic. A good practice to counter these things is the “bursty” communication methodology, which I have used successfully for years. Most people think constant communication is a best practice, but high-performing teams are contributors, and that requires periods of “quiet” time to solve problems and produce content. If the team consists of engineers or knowledge workers, double your estimate. In the bursty communication method, communication happens among the team, multiple teams, or individuals. Regardless of the group, a quick response—if needed—happens, be it providing feedback to the source, or perhaps simply dispositioning the message for later follow-up. This messaging might result in several messages back and forth for some time, but usually not more than 10-15 minutes. If it requires more time than that, it’s usually best to set up an intentional working session or meeting.
This behavior results in rapid feedback, which allows progress to flow forward. The alternative—do not respond naively with a request for a meeting to discuss—is a delay for something that could have been resolved in a few minutes. Time is money, and while this method requires a few interruptions and some context switching, good people know how to manage it and the team benefits from it.
Automate the Mundane
Repetitive, manual tasks are a waste of the employer’s money. Find the top 5 most expensive things—usually measured in time/effort—that a team does each week and automate those tasks. Next, find the top 5 things a team does each month and automate those as well. Look for the value in automating repetitive tasks. Doing so frees people up to do what they do best, making smart, custom decisions for the business. It also tends to reduce unnecessary communication and collaboration. Free up your people to focus on what makes your company special.
Enable Distributed Decision-Making
The teams that perform well are given the autonomy to deliver. Being unable to control the work required for them to produce introduces unnecessary delays. Rather than centralizing all decisions, delegate as many of them as possible to the team responsible for the job, and then automate the approval process for the rest. Critical items such as risk management, security, and governance are still essential, but fulfilling those does not mandate a manual process; get the minimum required approvals and then use automation to give the team what it needs to proceed.
Creating the environment for high-performing teams is challenging, but I would argue that not doing so is harder and costlier. Bad and mediocre people require more time and effort from the team, both driving up the cost of doing business. They also tend to innovate and improve less. A team with good people works well together as efficient communicators who automate repetitive tasks so they can focus on the business value: the smart decisions they make every day, which is a competitive advantage in any market.
Optimize for Clear Communication
Have you ever received word (email, chat, text, etc.) about a situation that was nothing like what was communicated? Poor or inefficient communication wastes company money and resources. Increased business expense due to habitual bad practices or wrong information can make a good team marginal, and an average team chaotic. A good practice to counter these things is the “bursty” communication methodology, which I have used successfully for years. Most people think constant communication is a best practice, but high-performing teams are contributors, and that requires periods of “quiet” time to solve problems and produce content. If the team consists of engineers or knowledge workers, double your estimate. In the bursty communication method, communication happens among the team, multiple teams, or individuals. Regardless of the group, a quick response—if needed—happens, be it providing feedback to the source, or perhaps simply dispositioning the message for later follow-up. This messaging might result in several messages back and forth for some time, but usually not more than 10-15 minutes. If it requires more time than that, it’s usually best to set up an intentional working session or meeting.
This behavior results in rapid feedback, which allows progress to flow forward. The alternative—do not respond naively with a request for a meeting to discuss—is a delay for something that could have been resolved in a few minutes. Time is money, and while this method requires a few interruptions and some context switching, good people know how to manage it and the team benefits from it.
Automate the Mundane
Repetitive, manual tasks are a waste of the employer’s money. Find the top 5 most expensive things—usually measured in time/effort—that a team does each week and automate those tasks. Next, find the top 5 things a team does each month and automate those as well. Look for the value in automating repetitive tasks. Doing so frees people up to do what they do best, making smart, custom decisions for the business. It also tends to reduce unnecessary communication and collaboration. Free up your people to focus on what makes your company special.
Enable Distributed Decision-Making
The teams that perform well are given the autonomy to deliver. Being unable to control the work required for them to produce introduces unnecessary delays. Rather than centralizing all decisions, delegate as many of them as possible to the team responsible for the job, and then automate the approval process for the rest. Critical items such as risk management, security, and governance are still essential, but fulfilling those does not mandate a manual process; get the minimum required approvals and then use automation to give the team what it needs to proceed.
Creating the environment for high-performing teams is challenging, but I would argue that not doing so is harder and costlier. Bad and mediocre people require more time and effort from the team, both driving up the cost of doing business. They also tend to innovate and improve less. A team with good people works well together as efficient communicators who automate repetitive tasks so they can focus on the business value: the smart decisions they make every day, which is a competitive advantage in any market.
The articles from these contributors are based on their personal expertise and viewpoints, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of their employers or affiliated organizations.
