How to build a super achiever team?

You cannot build a super achiever team just by assembling a team of superstars. You will have to bring in the culture that fuels great performances. Here are ways we foster the kind of passion that pushes individuals to perform to their highest potential:

Let people show their emotions. We often use the term “emotional” like it’s a bad word, especially when it comes to the workplace. But inspiration, enthusiasm, motivation, and excitement are emotions too. If you ask your people to check their emotions (both the good and the bad) at the door, you can’t tap into their passion.

Hire passionate people. One way to get passionate people into your organization is to rely on the people who already work there to refer people they want to work with. Create a flexible incentive program that rewards people for bringing in candidates who are a perfect fit for your culture.

Fan the flames. Find ways to share and celebrate the passion of your team. Augment your company newsletter by shooting videos of your people in action or find opportunities to throw culture-inspired parties to celebrate your joint accomplishments.

Don’t sedate your rock stars. Give your people the autonomy to do the work that interests them. Then watch what happens when they put their energy and talent into whatever role they operate in.

Share context. Most companies have a stated corporate purpose or mission statement. Unfortunately, these are rarely-used words that do little to drive purpose or passion within the company. Our leaders’ job is to create context by connecting our associates’ job functions to the organization’s broader mission, why we do what we do. When you can make the connection between passion and mission, you can truly propel your organization to a new level of performance.

Get Involved. As a leader you should be in a position to mentor and guide your team members. In fact a manager should be the best individual contributor who has chosen to manage the team as he is the best person to do so. You will be able to make your team members self-sufficient by doing this.

Identify bottlenecks and remove them. As a leader you should look for bottleneck and reasons that are hampering team's progress. Deal with those bottlenecks and help team resolve them so that team doesn't waste too much of their valuable time on that.