High Performing Teams Resources

Step 3 of 3: Explore

High Performing Teams — Resources

You’ve completed the assessment. Now use these resources to develop the areas where your team needs it most. Browse the reading recommendations, frameworks and first action steps for each of the 12 characteristics. Start with your lowest-scoring areas.

What does your score mean?

High Performing Team

153 - 180 (85%+)

Your team is performing exceptionally well. Focus on sustaining this and explore how you can stretch further. Consider sharing what works with others across your organisation.

Strong & Developing Team

126 - 152 (70%+)

Real strength across most areas. Target 2-3 characteristics for focused development. Your foundations are solid - use the resources below to deepen them systematically.

Progressing Team

99 - 125 (55%+)

Solid foundations, with clear areas to develop. Some characteristics need deliberate practice to embed. Use the resources below to build focused development plans.

Emerging Team

0 - 98 (below 55%)

A valuable starting point. Begin with the 2-3 characteristics with the lowest scores. Small, consistent steps create real momentum - team awareness itself is the first step.

Core Reading for Team Leaders

Five books that directly address the characteristics in this framework.

The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team

Patrick Lencioni

The Culture Code

Daniel Coyle

Crucial Conversations

Patterson, Grenny, McMillan & Switzler

Traction

Gino Wickman

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Stephen R. Covey

Resources by Characteristic

Each card shows a key book, a useful framework, and one action to take this week. Start with your lowest-scoring characteristics from the assessment.

1. Trust

Key Read

The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team - Patrick Lencioni

Framework

Lencioni’s Trust Pyramid - vulnerability-based trust as the foundation of team performance

🎯 Facilitate a conversation using Lencioni’s five dysfunctions model. Identify where trust is strongest and where it needs deliberate investment.

2. Common Purpose

Key Read

Start With Why - Simon Sinek

Framework

The Golden Circle - Why, How, What as the structure for communicating and embedding team purpose

🎯 Run a facilitated session to co-create or refresh your team purpose statement. Ensure it is genuinely shared, not just leader-led.

3. Managed Conflict

Key Read

Crucial Conversations - Patterson, Grenny, McMillan & Switzler

Framework

De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats - structured method for exploring multiple perspectives without damaging relationships

🎯 Agree team conflict norms in your next team charter session. Name healthy challenge explicitly and separate the person from the position.

4. Accepted Leadership

Key Read

The 5 Levels of Leadership - John C. Maxwell

Framework

Maxwell’s Leadership Levels - from Positional (Level 1) to Pinnacle (Level 5), showing how leadership acceptance is earned through trust and behaviour

🎯 Reflect honestly on which level of Maxwell’s model describes how your team follows you today. Identify the one behaviour shift that would move you forward.

5. Proactive Not Reactive

Key Read

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey

Framework

The Urgent/Important Matrix - prioritising strategic, forward-looking work over reactive firefighting

🎯 Audit how your team currently spends its time using the Urgent/Important Matrix. Protect at least 30 minutes per week for proactive, forward-looking work.

6. Learning & Reflection

Key Read

The Fifth Discipline - Peter Senge

Framework

Kolb Learning Cycle - Experience, Reflect, Conceptualise, Experiment as the engine of continuous team learning

🎯 Introduce a monthly team retrospective. Use three questions: What went well? What would we do differently? What will we do next? Protect this time.

7. Positive Atmosphere

Key Read

The Culture Code - Daniel Coyle

Framework

Amy Edmondson’s Psychological Safety Model - the conditions that allow people to speak up and take risks without fear

🎯 Run a brief team climate check using Edmondson’s psychological safety questions. Culture is set by what leaders tolerate as much as what they encourage.

8. Clear Goals

Key Read

Traction - Gino Wickman / Measure What Matters - John Doerr

Framework

OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) or 90-Day Rocks - connecting individual targets to team and organisational strategy

🎯 Set 90-day team rocks with input from the whole team. Every person should be able to draw a clear line from their work to the team’s direction.

9. Excellent Communication

Key Read

Crucial Conversations - Patterson, Grenny, McMillan & Switzler

Framework

Covey’s Habit 5 - Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood; active listening as a structured team discipline

🎯 Create a team communication charter in your next meeting. Agree norms for listening, information sharing, and how decisions are communicated.

10. Defined Roles

Key Read

Rocket Fuel - Gino Wickman & Mark C. Winter

Framework

RACI Matrix (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) - clarifying ownership and interdependence across roles

🎯 Create a simple team roles map showing what each person contributes and how roles connect. Use it to surface gaps and areas of overlap.

11. Consensus Focused

Key Read

Getting to Yes - Roger Fisher & William Ury

Framework

Fist-to-Five voting - a simple, visual tool for gauging consensus and surfacing disagreement constructively

🎯 Practice Fist-to-Five in your next team meeting. Build a feedback culture where honest input is a routine part of team life, not an annual event.

12. Balanced Participation

Key Read

Rebel Ideas - Matthew Syed

Framework

Round-robin facilitation and structured pre-meeting idea submission - ensuring all voices contribute, not just the loudest

🎯 Audit who speaks in your meetings and whose ideas get acted on. Introduce one structured participation tool - round-robins, breakout groups, or anonymous pre-work.

Want to go deeper with your team?

Mind-Gap works with teams and leaders to turn assessment insight into real, lasting change. From facilitated team development sessions to longer programmes - we can help you take the next step.

Get in Touch with Mind-Gap →

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