Simple foundations for high-performance teams

Towards one vision, one dream, one team!

Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of my current or previous employers.

Pitch

As social animals, we must approach everything as humanely as possible! While we’re individuals with our own aspirations; our mind, our emotions, and our physical body changes the way we take inputs, process them, and act. However, when in a setting of a team, group, organization, or community, we must act together as a strong unit, sometimes even sacrificing our needs over the teams. Thinking mission and team first is a great start!

The founding principles

Through software engineering at startups and fortune 500 companies, I’ve realized that a strong foundation is required to be intentional and purposeful, both as individuals and as a team.

The following model has worked in various teams I’ve lead

3P → People, Products, Practices

3I → Inspire, Innovate, Improve

4C → Customers, Coworkers, Communities, Country

In daily life and every undertaking, we must acknowledge that we are together to be on a mission to serve our customers, coworkers, organizations, communities, and the country.

In order to serve well, People are the epicenter, without people there is no beginning. Bringing together Inspired people sets up pathways to create Innovative Products and Practices. As people learn from their mistakes, quickly reorganize, and adapt, they Improve things for everyone!

Upon starting each day, the core motivation should be to make a positive difference in each other's lives.

When on a mission, we need to trust and count on the strengths of each other. By trusting, we can lean on each other's shoulders when going gets tough. Since we lean on each other, we tend to be forgiving and become better people together. With a shift like this, we often end up looking forward to a new day.

With the above premise, the foundation for a solid team can be phrased with 3P and 3I as follows:

Together, let’s uplift each other to be the Inspirational People who Innovate and Improve Products and Practices for everyone!

The Promise

For the unit to succeed, alignment from each and every one of the promises is a must. The team's promises usually manifest in the products and practices created.

• We promise to deliver on time with quality and no surprises.
• We promise to think “Mission and Team First”.
• We Promise to trust each other from day 1.
• We Promise to be respectful and empathetic to each other.
• We promise to start every day with a beginner's mindset.
• We Promise to begin with the outcome in mind.
• We Promise to be inspirational people.
• We Promise to make it easy for each other.
• We Promise to be transparent with each other.
• We Promise to create best practices.
• We Promise to follow the practices and processes we create.
• We Promise to be proactive in everything we do.
• We Promise to engage in healthy debates.
• We Promise to refuse arrogance.
• We Promise to communicate and keep everyone informed.
• We Promise to be accountable.
• We Promise to listen.

Summary

Strong foundations create and bond strong teams. Through strong teams, we can achieve the impossible!