The Ten Commandments of High Performing Teams.

1. Thou shall understand the nature of teams, their strengths, weaknesses, processes and structures.

2. Thou shall not wander in the desert for 40-years without knowing where the team is going; thou shall develop performance goals, and team operating rules and stay focused on them.

3. Thou shall communicate openly and have no hidden agendas.

4. Thou shall be patient, but thou better do something that quickly delivers meaningful results.

5. Keep thy meetings meaningful; make sure people have a reason to show up.

6. Let thy meetings be fruitful and multiply, but use sub-committees when appropriate.

7. Thou shall make sure all members share a common sense of accountability and responsibility for achieving the desired outcomes.

8. Thou shall strive to know each other and understand each other's point of view.

9. Thou shall know thyself and periodically ask other team members, "How am I doing?"

10. Thou shall love thy team with all thy heart, since commitment is the most critical element in a successful team. Forget the first nine commandments if the members’ commitment is missing.

High performing teams have been shown to produce much higher levels of quality, productivity, innovation and creativity while at the same time lowering costs, reducing levels of supervision, and encouraging flexibility.

However, perhaps the most important thing teams can do is attract and retain quality employees. Once a real sense of teamwork is in place, people will fight to work for the company because it capitalizes on a fundamental human need to be a part of something larger than themselves. This is why families, tribes and communities are so important to us. We can draw on that need in a work setting as well, thus providing great benefit to ourselves and to the company.