Introduction
Even talented teams can underperform when their strengths do not match their strategy. Without a clear understanding of how people prefer to work, and how those preferences align with team goals, misalignment quietly takes root.
This often shows up as unclear decision-making, overlapping responsibilities, siloed collaboration, or unmet expectations. When teams are not equipped to understand their own design and how it supports (or hinders) their goals, frustration increases and performance stalls.
Leaders often respond by changing the strategy or people, when what is really needed is a better understanding of the team’s current dynamic.
Solution
SOAR’s High Performance Team Series, using tools like PI Design, helps teams uncover how their collective behaviors impact execution. This approach brings awareness to how the team is naturally wired and how well that wiring supports current objectives.
In a guided, highly interactive format, teams explore:
- Their collective strengths and caution areas using behavioral data
- How their natural work style maps to their team goals
- Where tension, confusion, or inefficiency may be showing up
- How to shift team norms to better support collaboration and momentum
- Concrete steps for improving communication, trust, and accountability
This is not a one-time retreat. It is a structured process for designing teams intentionally and creating sustainable performance improvements.
Action
If your team is strong but not performing at its highest potential, here are steps to begin realigning how they work:
- Assess the Team Profile: Use tools like those available on our C3 Tools page to create a behavioral profile of your team. This shows how your team naturally approaches work, collaboration, decision-making, and problem-solving.
- Map the Team to Strategy: Identify your team’s primary objectives, then compare them to your behavioral profile. For example, if your goal requires agility and risk-taking but your team profile leans toward caution and process, this may explain gaps in progress.
- Host a Team Design Session: Bring your team together to discuss these insights in a safe, facilitated space. Use the session to create shared agreements on how to improve alignment, communication, and task execution.
- Identify Strengths to Amplify and Caution Areas to Manage: Highlight what the team does well and where support or adjustment is needed. Make these part of regular check-ins and planning sessions.
- Follow Up with a Performance Plan: Use insights from the session to create a plan with ownership, goals, and review checkpoints. Make sure the team has visibility into how they’re improving over time.
Conclusion
High-performing teams do not happen by accident. They are designed with intention and supported by clear insight, strong relationships, and shared purpose.
By using behavioral data and structured team sessions, organizations can unlock the full potential of their people. This reflects the deeper purpose of SOAR’s C3 Framework—to build compassionate, cohesive, and collaborative environments where teams are empowered to deliver their best work.
To explore how team design tools and performance sessions can support your group, visit our Talent Optimization page.