How To Improve Team Performance - 7 Must-Know Design Thinking Tips

As a leader, it’s your responsibility to ensure that your team is performing at its best. A high-performing team not only delivers better results but also has a positive impact on team morale and job satisfaction. However, achieving and maintaining high team performance is easier said than done. In this article, we’ll discuss 7 must-know design thinking tips to improve team performance.

How to improve team performance by understanding the typical performance issues

There are many common team performance issues that companies face. And learning how to improve team performance begins with understanding and recognizing these issues. Here are a few examples:

1. Lack of communication: When team members don’t communicate effectively with each other, it can lead to misunderstandings, errors, and missed deadlines.
2. Poor leadership: When leaders fail to provide clear direction, support, and guidance, it can result in low morale, confusion, and a lack of motivation.
3. Limited resources: When teams don’t have the resources they need to do their jobs effectively, it can lead to frustration, burnout, and subpar results.
4. Conflicting priorities: When team members have different priorities or conflicting goals, it can lead to tension, confusion, and an inability to work together effectively.
5. Resistance to change: When team members are resistant to change, it can lead to a lack of innovation and progress.
6. Lack of accountability: When team members aren’t held accountable for their actions, it can lead to a lack of motivation, low morale, and subpar results.
7. Skill gaps: When team members lack the necessary skills or knowledge to do their jobs effectively, it can lead to errors, missed deadlines, and low-quality work.

These are just a few examples of team performance issues that companies may face. By identifying and addressing these issues, companies can improve their team’s performance and achieve better results.

7 tips that address the question – How to improve team performance

1. Embrace Diversity

Diversity is a key factor in improving team performance. Teams with diverse backgrounds and skill sets are better equipped to handle complex problems and come up with innovative solutions. When building your team, aim for diversity in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, education, and experience. Embrace diversity, and create an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and respected.

Diversity brings a wide range of perspectives and experiences to the table, which can help teams generate new ideas and come up with innovative solutions to problems. It also helps to reduce groupthink, where team members may unconsciously conform to the views of the majority. When team members are exposed to diverse perspectives, they’re more likely to challenge assumptions and think critically.

2. Foster Collaboration

Collaboration is essential for team success. When team members work together, they can leverage each other’s strengths and compensate for weaknesses. As a leader, you need to foster collaboration by creating opportunities for team members to work together. Encourage team members to share ideas, provide feedback, and collaborate on projects. Use tools and technology to facilitate communication and collaboration.

Effective collaboration requires clear communication and a shared understanding of goals and expectations. As a leader, you need to ensure that your team has the resources they need to collaborate effectively. This may include technology tools for remote collaboration, a shared workspace, or guidelines for communication and feedback.

3. Establish Clear Goals

Clear goals are essential for team performance. When team members know what they’re working towards, they can focus their efforts and work towards a common objective. As a leader, you need to establish clear goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Communicate these goals to your team, and ensure that everyone understands their role in achieving them.

Clear goals help team members prioritize their work and stay focused on the most important tasks. They also provide a benchmark for measuring progress and success. When goals are clearly defined and communicated, team members are more likely to feel motivated and invested in their work.

4. Empower Your Team

Empowering your team is essential for improving team performance. When team members feel empowered, they’re more likely to take ownership of their work and go above and beyond to achieve results. As a leader, you need to provide your team with the resources, tools, and support they need to succeed. Encourage them to take ownership of their work, make decisions, and take calculated risks.

Empowering your team means trusting them to make decisions and take ownership of their work. It also means providing them with the resources they need to succeed, such as training and development opportunities, technology tools, and support from other team members. When team members feel empowered, they’re more likely to take risks and innovate, which can lead to improved team performance.

5. Encourage Innovation

Innovation is essential for improving team performance. When teams are encouraged to innovate, they can come up with new and better ways of doing things. As a leader, you need to create an environment that fosters innovation. Encourage your team to think outside the box, experiment with new ideas, and take calculated risks. Provide them with the resources, tools, and support they need to innovate.

Innovation requires a culture of experimentation and creativity. As a leader, you need to encourage your team to take risks, try new things, and learn from failure. Celebrate successes and failures equally, and use them as opportunities for learning and growth.

6. Foster Continuous Learning

Continuous learning is essential for improving team performance. When team members are constantly learning, they can stay up-to-date with the latest trends, technologies, and best practices. As a leader, you need to foster a culture of continuous learning by providing your team with training and development opportunities. Encourage them to attend conferences, workshops, and training sessions.

Continuous learning can also help to improve team morale and job satisfaction. When team members feel that they’re growing and developing in their roles, they’re more likely to feel motivated and invested in their work. They’re also more likely to stay with your organization long-term.

7. Use Feedback To Improve – A Key Tip On How to Improve Team Performance

Feedback is essential for improving team performance. When team members receive feedback, they can learn from their mistakes and improve their performance. As a leader, you need to provide your team with regular feedback on their performance. This may include praise for good work, constructive criticism for areas that need improvement, and guidance on how to improve.

Feedback should be specific, actionable, and timely. It should focus on behaviors and actions that team members can control, rather than personal attributes. It should also be delivered in a way that is respectful and supportive. When team members receive feedback that is delivered in a constructive and supportive way, they’re more likely to be motivated to improve.

​​Read more: Improving Human Resource Training And Development With Design-Driven Hackathons

Read more: How To Be An Effective Manager

What is the connection between design thinking and each of the 7 tips on how to improve team performance?

Design thinking (DT) is a problem-solving approach that involves empathizing with users, defining the problem, ideating potential solutions, prototyping, and testing. The 7 tips on how to improve team performance can be mapped to the following design thinking principles:

1. Thinking out-of-the-box: DT encourages imaginative thinking to arrive at the best possible solutions. Diversity in a team helps to achieve out-of-the-box thinking. By having a diverse team, you can leverage different perspectives and experiences to solve problems more effectively.
2. Promote rapid ideation: Promoting rapid ideation is a key principle of design thinking, which involves generating a large number of ideas in a short amount of time to foster innovation and creativity. When applied to team performance, this principle can be highly effective in improving collaboration and problem-solving. By promoting rapid ideation, teams are encouraged to generate new ideas quickly, which can lead to more creative solutions and better outcomes. The key word here is “quickly”.
   Additionally, the rapid ideation process can help to break down silos between team members and promote cross-functional collaboration, as individuals from different departments and backgrounds are brought together to generate ideas. By embracing rapid ideation as a design thinking principle, teams can improve their performance by fostering a more innovative and collaborative culture that prioritizes creativity and problem-solving.
3. Know the problem well: DT encourages living with the problem at hand for a while in order to arrive at an optimum solution. Clear goals are essential to the design thinking process, as they provide a clear direction and purpose for the team. By setting clear goals, team members can work together towards a shared vision.
4. Make people process owners: Process ownership refers to the idea of giving individuals or teams responsibility for a particular process or system. This ownership can help foster accountability, motivation, and innovation.
   In the context of design thinking, fostering process ownership can be a way to encourage individuals or teams to take ownership of the design process. This can involve empowering team members to make decisions, encouraging experimentation and risk-taking, and providing resources and support to facilitate innovation. By fostering process ownership, design thinking teams can work more effectively and efficiently, be more innovative, and create solutions that better meet user needs.
5. Foster innovation: Innovation is a core principle of design thinking, as it encourages experimentation and risk-taking. By fostering a culture of innovation, you can encourage your team to try new things and think outside the box. This is an excellent answer to how to improve team performance.
6. Embrace failure: DT promotes the idea of failing fast to learn more. Continuous learning is another key principle of design thinking. By providing your team with opportunities to learn and grow, you can keep them up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices.
7. Accepting feedback: Feedback is an essential principle of design thinking, as it allows team members to learn from their mistakes and improve their performance. By providing regular feedback, you can help your team members develop and grow in their roles.

Read more: Role Of Design Thinking & Cultural Transformation In Winning Over Complex Employee Relation Issues

Here are a few real-world examples of how design thinking has helped companies improve team performance:

1. IBM: IBM used design thinking to improve team performance by launching the IBM Design Thinking program. This program aimed to cultivate a culture of design thinking and collaboration across the organization. The program included a framework for problem-solving, training sessions, and workshops to help employees develop their design thinking skills. Through this program, IBM was able to improve team performance by encouraging cross-functional collaboration and innovation.
2. Airbnb: Airbnb used design thinking to improve the performance of its customer service team. The company used design thinking to create a more user-centered approach to customer service, which involved empathy for the customer and a focus on problem-solving. This approach helped the customer service team to better understand and address customer needs, resulting in improved customer satisfaction and team performance.
3. Ford: Ford used design thinking to improve the performance of its teams by creating a more collaborative and innovative culture. The company launched the Ford X program, which focused on bringing together employees from different departments to work on innovation projects. By applying design thinking principles, the teams were able to come up with creative solutions to business problems and improve collaboration across the organization.

Overall, design thinking can be a powerful answer on how to improve team performance. It achieves this by fostering collaboration, innovation, and a user-centered approach to problem-solving.

Conclusion

Improving team performance requires a combination of factors, including diversity, collaboration, clear goals, empowerment, innovation, continuous learning, and feedback. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to create an environment that fosters these factors and supports your team’s growth and development. By implementing these 7 must-know design thinking tips, you can improve your team’s performance and achieve better results.

About the author

Anuradha is a passionate Design Thinking practitioner with 10+ years of industry experience. She has dived into the field of Design and Design Thinking, where she is trained to design experiences. She is the Founding Partner and Design lead at Humane Design and Innovation (HDI) Consulting. Her professional career spans across various roles in Advisory, UX Design, Service Design, Engineering Design, Design integration and Training. She was the lead designer of the Design Thinking and Innovation practice at KPMG. She has designed multiple digital experiences by conducting strategic UX workshops and design experiences that add functional and emotional value. To her friends & peers, she is the Bonding Agent of the team and always a Go to person. She is an avid reader, blogger & a painting enthusiast.

We at Humane Design strongly believe in the human ethos and draw inspiration from humans and other elements of nature to design innovative solutions for organizations of all sizes. We will be glad to be your success partner. Email us your requirements at explore@humaned.in.