My simple definition of what a high-performing team looks like
The barClear goal, well executed.
Everyone knows and can explain the team mission and vision to people outside the team. They are hardworking, goal-oriented, self-driven, and not afraid of stretch goals. The manager is rarely needed to be involved in the execution after defining the goal.
Explicit way of working, optimised for learning and improving.
For example, open to trying new things, strong product mindset, engaged with customers. Frequent sharing of knowledge.
Strong team relationships.
Trust is established in the team, producing psychological safety. Junior members are not afraid of asking questions to senior people.
Shared collaborative value.
Instead of competing with each other, people think “we are great.” This is defined as Stage 4 in the book Tribal Leadership (shifting from “I'm great” to “We're great”).
My approach: a real-world example. I am going to use one example from a team that I led to explain my approach. When I took over the team, it was founded to support the unification of internal tools into one developer platform. Here is what we did.
Define a clear vision with the team
Step 1I found out the most effective way for people to buy into the vision is to involve them in the process instead of just presenting what the manager wants to achieve. We started by collecting challenges and user pain points, and I asked: “How can we turn them around?”
The counter case: in a few teams I led in the past, I tried giving them a list of OKRs and asking for feedback. In most cases, I either didn't get any feedback (no engagement) or strong pushback because the objective wasn't realistic.
When you move on to define the team mission and opportunity space, pay attention to the enlarged scope to avoid burnout. But again, encourage your team to speak out about any doubts about execution.
Address performance issues
Step 2I got a new team with two people who moved from other teams. They were exhausted and burned out because the company decided to shut down their projects. I saw almost 0 engagement, always late. I spent time with them, listening to their stories, what they've achieved in the past, what they like doing in life, and included them in the process when defining the team vision and mission.
Both of them turned into high performers after 1 year (it did take time!), but my patience paid off.
Of course, there were cases where my approaches didn't work out, and termination was the only solution.
Align on a way of working
Step 3After we aligned on the team vision, we moved on to define our way of working the next day: time of stand-up, retro and demo frequency, Scrum or not, pair programming or not, how to give feedback.
These discussions are time-consuming as everyone's preferences are different, but those processes hold the team together. I recommend involving an external facilitator instead of you doing it, so your team can see your preferences as well.
Once, my team couldn't agree with each other, and I had to separate them into sub-teams because a smaller group preferred working alone instead. I agreed, and that was the best decision ever because both sub-teams ended up very happy instead of fighting with each other.
Enforcing your own way of working won't work if employees are not involved in the process. The key is you want them to continue to function when you are not there (sickness, vacation...). However, any team will eventually struggle again, so make sure to pay attention to retro talking points and your 1:1s.
Be a champion of culture as the leader
Step 4Treat yourself as a member of the team. Follow your own rules and do exactly what you say. Be a cultural ambassador. For example, I organised a department-level forum to talk about engagement, where retention and recognition were discussed. It helped build trust when they saw their manager active in such a meeting. Meanwhile, be empathetic and authentic, and a human that your team loves hanging out with.
For EMs here, what's your approach to a high-performing team? Love to get your thoughts in the comments.
Questions from the thread, answered
From the commentsThe questions below are shortened from what readers asked in the thread. The answers are the author's replies, as written.
Do they get vacations?
Absolutely. I allowed my team to manage their own working time and plan their own vacation. From where I'm based, vacation and work-life balance are sacred.
What do you do in an organisation with no clear direction, top-down objectives and low motivation after layoffs?
It's an extremely difficult situation when the business is in a downturn, the culture is top down, and the motivation is low due to layoffs. Is there any room for you to define your own roadmap and objectives? If I were you, I would try to take good care of myself so I don't burn out, find lower-hanging fruit to deliver as quick wins to maintain trust with leadership, and define what your team can achieve together with your team and product people.
Did the goals and expectations you communicated come from your director, or did you set them yourself?
The expectations (why this team exists) came from higher leadership, but were very vague: make the internal platform a success. So we refined the goals ourselves on how to address developer pains after doing internal product discovery. Indeed, it sounds basic but is hard to execute. Reading books on product and business might help EMs do better work on product and team direction.
The higher you go, the more the day is political battles and fires. How do you keep your technical acumen?
I share the same feeling about increased political battle and putting out fires on my day to day. I use AI intensively to understand what's being discussed on public Slack channels and catch up on technical details. Actually trying to get some external interviews once per year helps to maintain the technical acumen.
How have your responsibilities shifted from EM to Director?
My responsibility has shifted towards overseeing a bigger organisation through my EMs, while maintaining connection with other departments. The internal challenge is the right split of responsibilities and scope to balance team motivation, capacity, and productivity, while the external challenge is to maintain my org's visibility and connection with higher company goals (when they change, we need to pivot too).
What happens when the VP changes direction mid-quarter, or a PM peer will not align because their promotion depends on driving product strategy?
It's hard to maintain a high-performing team when the org is unstable, with changing direction and politics or bureaucracy. But it could be a learning opportunity to train your skills in navigating ambiguity, managing your own frustration, and giving feedback.
If the VP changes business direction all the time, try to understand his motivation and share your feedback. You might need to change your team structure and way of working accordingly, switching from a product team to a project or workforce team. Be clear if your team can live with it and what you are capable of delivering. I don't know your company context, but trying to say no more often with clear arguments is a sign of seniority.
With your PM peers, if their direction is not achievable, share that feedback but maintain a good personal relationship. Again, be clear about the chaos the lack of direction brings to your team and share it with your leadership. About my own growth to director, see my previous post.
A small team of mid-level engineers dragging out tickets, 1:1s and training have changed nothing. Is the only move to start PIPs?
That's a tough situation for a new EM. If it's a small team and most people are low on motivation, it's a dangerous move to kick off any PIPs, which can backfire on you. If I were you, I would try to understand the reasons for low motivation and performance, build trust with some of your team members, document your diagnosis, and share it with your leadership and HR. If they all back you up, then you can move forward with PIPs or other measures.
All of this needs executive sponsorship. What if a VP kills every good idea the team brings up?
I totally agree that having executive sponsorship is necessary but rare in reality. If your VP kills all the good ideas from you and your team, talk to him to understand the reasons. If you are not empowered to drive the vision of your team, give feedback to your manager and their leadership. Align your role expectations with them too, so you know what you can and can't do.
A reader's view: the people who squeeze staff and keep the top happy are the ones who get promoted. True?
It might be true, but I will argue that such a promotion path is not sustainable. A bad leader will not survive in the longer term without support from the team.
Prep for a real EM or Director role
Now find out which of these stories this team will ask for
A team you turned around, a way of working you agreed, a performance problem you handled: an Engineering Manager loop asks for one or two of these, and which ones depends on the team. Paste the real job description and Calibrd predicts the questions that team asks at your level, then scores your answers against its bar.
Free to start · No card · Your resume stays yours, encrypted, remove it anytime
Common questions
The short answersDid the team's goals come from above, or did the manager set them?
The expectations (why this team exists) came from higher leadership, but were very vague: make the internal platform a success. So we refined the goals ourselves on how to address developer pains after doing internal product discovery. Indeed, it sounds basic but is hard to execute. Reading books on product and business might help EMs do better work on product/team direction.
What should a new engineering manager do with a small team of low-motivation engineers? Start PIPs?
That's a tough situation for a new EM. If it's a small team and most people are low on motivation, it's a dangerous move to kick off any PIPs, which can backfire on you. If I were you, I would try to understand the reasons for low motivation and performance, build trust with some of your team members, document your diagnosis, and share it with your leadership and HR. If they all back you up, then you can move forward with PIPs or other measures.
How does an engineering director keep technical acumen when the day is meetings and fires?
I share the same feeling about increased political battle and putting out fires on my day to day. I use AI intensively to understand what's being discussed on public Slack channels and catch up on technical details. Actually trying to get some external interviews once per year helps to maintain the technical acumen.
How do responsibilities change from engineering manager to director?
My responsibility has shifted towards overseeing a bigger organisation through my EMs, while maintaining connection with other departments. The internal challenge is the right split of responsibilities and scope to balance team motivation, capacity, and productivity, while the external challenge is to maintain my org's visibility and connection with higher company goals (when they change, we need to pivot too).