Creating High Performance Teams

When I was first promoted to a junior management position running a hotel sales department, I was given no training and no mentor so I made it up as I went along. The team was small and self motivated so between us we did a great job because we all wanted to do so. I had recruited well, purely from instinct. I found people who were educated, had their own ideas and were motivated but had limited experience.

I learnt that it was the innate skills that mattered.

Later I had more senior leadership roles and a much more demanding workload. Again I recruited some great people, but my lack of leadership skills as we grew to a team of 10 began to show. Luckily I had a great boss who agreed that I could go on some leadership training which was invaluable. You can only get so far on instinct.

When I cofounded my own business, we made some early mistakes in recruitment but went on to build an excellent team of 25 who were motivated and worked well together.

Employee Alignment

A good leader ensures that both heads and hearts are in the game. Positive employee experience is essential for engagement and this starts at the first interview and finishes on their last day. They need to be seen, heard and valued. It’s about creating a culture where people thrive, do meaningful work and feel like they belong..

Growth doesn’t fail because of a lack of strategy. It fails when people aren’t aligned. When a business is growing, leaders often feel pulled between results (numbers, targets, delivery) and relationships (morale, engagement, wellbeing). The reality is that sustainable growth requires both. Relationships and results are not opposites – they are deeply connected.

Employee Journey

Employee engagement doesn’t begin once someone has passed probation. It starts at the very first interview and continues right through to their last day. The employee experience is shaped by:

🔷How people feel about their leaders

🔷Whether their workload is realistic and fair

🔷Opportunities for learning and growth

🔷Feeling seen, heard and genuinely valued

When people feel they belong, they do more than just turn up – they contribute.

Research consistently shows that when employee experience is done well, performance and retention follow naturally. Not because people are forced to perform, but because they want to.

Company Culture

Culture isn’t your values written on a wall. It’s how decisions are made, how mistakes are handled, how success is shared and how people are treated under pressure. A healthy culture creates an environment where people:

🔷Thrive rather than survive

🔷Do meaningful work

🔷Feel connected to something bigger than their job description

This sense of belonging becomes even more important as teams grow and leaders become more removed from day-to-day delivery.

Get Onboarding Right

You never get a second chance to make a good first impression. This is so important and reminds me of a terrible experience I had on the first day of a job. I arrived 5 minutes early to find my boss was not there, no desk had been set up for me and I was sitting in the office listening to the rest of the team moaning about the company while waiting 20 minutes for my new boss to turn up.

This is such a wasted opportunity. Onboarding done right answers many of the unspoken questions that new employees have. Will I fit in? Will I enjoy the work? Is it safe to ask questions? Strong onboarding provides clarity, confidence and connection. Poor onboarding creates uncertainty that can take months to undo – if it ever is.

When I co-founded my first business I ensured this was done right. There was an induction programme which included meetings with relevant people in the team; ongoing training and meetings booked with relevant suppliers. As it was a travel company there was at least one overseas trip arranged within their first three months to ensure they knew the destination and could confidently sell it.

The Importance of Recognition

Have you ever felt invisible when you were an employee? I know I have. I have always worked hard and been diligent yet this often went unnoticed. While great sales results and new clients won may be more noticeable and shouted about, there will be members of the team working in the background to make that happen.

Recognition doesn’t have to be expensive or over-engineered. It simply needs to be genuine, timely and specific. Acknowledging effort as well as outcomes reinforces the behaviours you want repeated and reminds people that their work matters.

Give People Ownership, not just Tasks

This is one of the biggest mistakes I see business owners make as they grow. I totally get it. It is so hard to let go of the detail when you start by doing it all yourself and your clients or customers are expecting your personal service.

But giving employees ownership builds trust and accountability. When people are trusted to make decisions, solve problems and shape outcomes, engagement increases – and so does capability. Ownership turns employees into partners in growth; their motivation and commitment increases and they will stretch themselves.

Meaning and Purpose fuel Performance

People want to know why their work matters. Connecting individual roles to the bigger picture gives meaning to even the most operational tasks. Purpose creates resilience – especially during challenging periods because people understand what they are working towards.

Team Motivation

It is important to keep the team motivated as a whole so that they work well together.. In my first business we brought the team together at least once a year to recognise them for what they had achieved; as well as giving them the opportunity to have some fun while building team spirit. One year I organised a “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” quiz based on questions around the travel knowledge they should know in their daily work. .There was of course alcohol involved too!

Growth Is Messy (And That’s Normal)

Growth is rarely smooth. It comes with mistakes, setbacks and failures. These moments can feel uncomfortable, but they are often the very things that propel businesses forward. The key difference in strong cultures is how mistakes are handled:

🔷Blame shuts people down

🔷Learning moves people forward

There is often an awkward teenage phase. What worked when the team was small starts to creak. Communication becomes harder. Processes feel clunky. People test boundaries.

This phase isn’t a sign that something has gone wrong – it’s a signal that the business is evolving. Leaders who acknowledge this stage, rather than fight it, create the space for their teams to mature, align and grow stronger together.

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