One of the common mistakes made by teams is to start off with great ideas, create charters and ground rules, type them up and then never look at them again!

I encourage the teams I work with to continuously self-assess, and that includes tracking against their performance as a team, not just around their tasks and operational objectives.  One easy way to do this is to have a large printed version of the team’s ground rules made up and to have it posted on the wall at every team meeting, to ensure the rules are being followed.  In this way, the team develops a habit of self-checking and challenging when agreed rules are being broken.  This ability to make and welcome constructive challenge is one of the characteristics of high performing teams.

Think about what you can do to keep YOUR team alive…and keep striving for high performance!