Teamwork is a word we hear often, but building a high-performance team requires more than just collaboration. What does it really take to go from average to exceptional?
In this episode, you’ll learn how to intentionally create teams that thrive. Our host and CEO, Porschia, is joined by Mike O’Neill, a seasoned executive coach, to explore what separates high-performing teams from the rest.
They discuss the most important elements for building strong teams, like psychological safety, clear communication, shared values, and authentic leadership. Mike also shares advice on how to manage team conflict, avoid hiring mistakes, and create alignment between team goals and company culture.
This conversation is filled with practical tips for professionals, executives, and team leaders who want to strengthen collaboration and drive performance within their organizations.
Mike O’Neill is the founder of Bench Builders, an executive coach, and leadership strategist helping C-suite leaders build high-performing teams and lead with clarity. A former Fortune 500 HR executive, he also hosts the Get Unstuck & On Target podcast, where he explores leadership and business growth.
What you’ll learn:
- What defines a high-performance team and why it matters in today’s workplace
- Key mistakes leaders make when building a high-performance team (and how to avoid them)
- How to increase psychological safety and trust among team members
- Why diversity of thought is essential—and how to foster it
- How to use team assessments the right way
- Simple but effective strategies for team building and strengthening communication
As a thank you for listening to this episode of the Career 101 Podcast, we are sharing our FREE master class – Career 911: Solving the Top 5 Challenges Executives and Professionals Have! It’s a training based on solving the common problems our clients have experienced to reach their goals. You can get access to the master class here!
Resources:
- Episode Transcript
Porschia: [00:00:00] Hello, I’m Portia Parker Griffin, and I wanna welcome you to the Career 1 0 1 Podcast, a place for ambitious professionals and seasoned executives who want an edge in their career. We’re talking about all of the things you were never taught or told when it comes to career growth, development, and change.
Now let’s get into it.
Today we are talking about building a high performance team and teamwork with Mike O’Neill. Mike O’Neill is the founder of Bench Builders, an executive coach and a leadership strategist who helps C-Suite leaders cut through the noise, lead with purpose and scale their businesses. A former Fortune 500 HR executive.
He now coaches, executives, and trains managers to build high performing teams with clarity, confidence, and [00:01:00] strategy. As the host of the Get Unstuck and On Target podcast, Mike explores leadership, innovation, and business growth, equipping leaders to break barriers and drive lasting success. Hi Mike. How are you today?
Mike: I’m great. I’m looking forward to our conversation today.
Porschia: So am I, and I am thrilled to have you with us to discuss building a high performance team. But first Mike, we wanna know a little more about you. So tell me about seven-year-old Mike.
Mike: 7-year-old? Yes. I am the oldest of three children. So I was the first to, had to do everything.
I’m trying to think what grade you are in seventh when you’re seven. I think that’s going into second grade. Yeah. And so I remember vividly getting up early, getting on a bus and going off to school. And I was the only one in school at that time. So what I [00:02:00] remember about seven year olds is a lot of new, everything was new and that was exciting.
Porschia: Yeah. So what did 7-year-old Mike wanna be when he grew up?
Mike: Probably the person that I immediately thought of was at that time is I wanted to be like Clyde, my bus driver, my school bus driver. I was the first one on the bus, and as a result, I just think he just took a special interest in me.
We developed a kinship, but because I was the first one on the bus, I was also the last one off the bus, and I felt, you know what? If I could do what Clyde does, I’d be happy. So I’d be a school bus driver.
Porschia: Yeah. Yeah, I could see that. I could see that. So Mike, tell us about some highlights or pivotal moments in your career before you started the business that you have now.
I
Mike: think probably the one that comes immediately to mind is right outta college. I wanted to go into hr, but there [00:03:00] were very few HR opportunities, and so I actually accepted a job. Not in hr, in hopes that I would meet the right people in hr, and I’m happy to say that’s exactly what happened. I started with a company as their first sales trainee, and within a year I was actually running their sales trainee program.
And so it was a great immersion into hr. But they gave me such opportunity as a. Person right outta college. My first job was as an employment center manager, which may sound like that’s dull. We were in fast growth and I had to learn how to select people quickly, bring ’em in, onboard them. And it was high volume, so it was immersion.
So I felt very fortunate. To be given the experience that I was given at an early point in my career and that fortune continued because I [00:04:00] was given more and more responsibility over time. So I would say in terms of a highlight, I was blessed with the opportunity to go work for companies that gave opportunities.
I was able to step up and learn and grow in the process. So I just jump into HR when I was given opportunity, and I haven’t looked back.
Porschia: That is a great lesson, Mike. We also talk a lot about career planning and career development and career change and how to make these transitions. We talk about that a lot on the podcast, and I think to your point, your story is a great example of that, how you were strategic and took a role with the kind of company that you wanted to work for, and then were able to transition into.
What you wanted to do. So in your case, hr. And that’s a great strategy that sometimes we instruct our clients on in terms of how to navigate that. So love that background that you have, [00:05:00] Mike. So we know that you had this career in HR for Fortune 500 companies, but what motivated you to become a coach?
Mike: You know what’s interesting about Mike? Progression is I went to work for small companies that kept growing. And so what that resulted in is I was in the right place at the right time, and as a result, I gained exposure to all aspects of the company because our HR team was there to support all aspects.
When I decided to. Help companies smaller than Fortune 500. That’s when I set out to be a business owner. I wanted to leverage that HR background, but the thing I kept coming up with is the thing that seemed to make the biggest difference in organizations, which training their supervisors on how to be more effective leaders.
So you asked [00:06:00] how did I get into coaching? I came into coaching almost on the back end of that. My business was providing supervisory training for organizations, and as a result, I developed rapport with key decision makers within the clients. And it was those key decision makers who approached me and said, Mike, you seem to understand us.
You understand our culture, and I think you’d understand me. Would you be willing to work one on one with me as a coach? And that’s how I got into coaching. It was not necessarily strategized, but it was a natural extension. And I really, in reflection, realized that I actually had been coaching my entire career.
I’ve been working with leaders up and down the organization chart, but most of the time I was working with C-suite leaders. They viewed me as their HR manager. As a result, I developed a trust [00:07:00] relationship and I came to realize that when you’re in leadership roles like that, you are under a microscope and you don’t know who to turn to, and there’s something magic about, as a coach to have a relationship with key decision makers will they, they trust you.
And they’ll confide in you. And my job is not as their therapist, but my job is to help them be more effective leaders. And I think that the ability to use my HR background, the opportunity to work with different types of industries, I think it’s served me well. And therefore our company does both leadership training.
But personally of the two leadership training and coaching, the coaching piece has really. Become something that I just have grown to really love.
Porschia: Yeah I can tell and it definitely seems like it was a natural progression just based on your background and what you went [00:08:00] through in terms of helping the organizations that you worked for.
So Mike, what is your definition of teamwork?
Mike: I don’t know if I’ve got a pat answer. But I think you would almost have to say a team would be more than one. How can more than one person come together and do better together than the two could do individually? I.
Porschia: I love it. I love it. I think that is a great definition. So back in episode five, we discussed being a team player. From your perspective, what does it mean to be a team player?
Mike: It’s one thing that’s interesting the pandemic radically change. I think how people view that. What I find I’m doing is I’m working alongside a lot of individual contributors.
The technology, like we’re doing right now, we are recording a podcast [00:09:00] using Zoom. I don’t mind admitting five years ago, I didn’t even know what a podcast was. Five years ago, zoom barely existed. But what that has done is foster a lot of people who individually are out there earning a livelihood a team.
It’s a total different animal. And I guess what I would say is that the shifting people don’t have. Quite the appreciation of the power of a team like they once did, and I am a strong advocate. You put the right people together with the right sense of purpose, with the right tools, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.
Porschia: So why do you think it is important to have a high performance team?
Mike: You know that term high performance is battered around. I don’t know to what extent my definition of high performance would match your listeners or even [00:10:00] yours. I think of high performance. The first thing I think of is the opportunity I had to build a team, and for lack of a better term, it became high performance because it just clicked.
Now, it may sound as if that was haphazard, but what I would say is what does it take to build a high performance team? It takes intentionality, and so I was very fortunate to be able to build a team to surround myself with people who understood the culture that we were trying to foster. If they had talent.
Needless to say, they also had the ability as self-starters to go do what needed to be done. So they had leadership capabilities. From a team standpoint, a team has to be able to communicate well, and that’s a key component of any high performing team, strong communication, and if a team really is [00:11:00] going to excel, it has to be.
Accountable to itself. Each member needs to be accountable to itself. So as I think of a high performance team, I think of those things, culture, talent, leadership, communication, and accountability.
Porschia: And so from your perspective, how. Would a high performance team perhaps look different than just an average team?
I’m thinking in terms of some of our listeners who might wanna know, Hey, which team do we have?
Mike: I don’t know if I can give a good definition. I’ll make a stab at it. I, the difference between a team and a high performance team probably is based on outcomes. And what I would also say is that.
When you’re on a team and the team is working very well as a team, that the things [00:12:00] that team was brought together to accomplish is getting accomplished. Odds are pretty good that you are on a high performance team, and what I would throw out to you is if you’re in the opportunity to either be on.
Or to build a high performance team. It’s that intentionality that I referred to earlier that has to take place. It’s highly unlikely that people just thrown together in of itself will result in being a high performance team. It needs to be intentional. And so what I would throw out, and I hope this is making sense, is that if you give an opportunity to join a team and the team is already known as getting things done, I.
Take full advantage of that experience that if as a result of that experience, you’re afforded the opportunity to go build your own team, learn what worked well, replicate it when you are [00:13:00] in a leadership role, trying to form and lead a high performing team.
Porschia: Yeah. I love Mike that you gave us what I consider to be some essentials when it comes to high performing teams.
So that intentionality that you mentioned, the culture the right talent that are self-starters, communication, all of that is extremely important. What are some additional tips that you could share to help leaders when building a team?
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Mike: I almost would go through this almost in turn. And that is when people use the term culture, what is that? And so what I would throw out, I can probably sometimes better describe it than define it. But what I find that’s is fundamental for any team, particularly a high performing team, is that there needs to be a sense of what’s oftentimes referred as psychological safety, and that is the people can come together and they are encouraged to be willing to take a risk, and if you don’t succeed, that’s okay. So what I would say is surround yourself with people who are willing to take risks, learn from it, and give them the safety to do that.
If I had to [00:15:00] pick one thing, it would probably start with. Establishing a team that the culture is clearly defined, we’re going to have each other’s back. We’re willing to push the envelope a little bit. We are, as a team, are going to share common values. Those common values need to be aligned with the organizations’ values and that as a team, we want to continue to learn and grow and adapt and.
When we make mistakes, learn from ’em. When we hit milestones, celebrate ’em.
Porschia: Yeah, I really agree with what you mentioned in terms of the team values aligning with the organizational values, and I think sometimes people forget that Mike. Because they’re very wrapped up in perhaps whatever their team is supposed to do.
The projects, the programs that their team is working on, and they [00:16:00] lose sight of the big picture. I’m really happy that you pointed that out. Do you recommend that executives use assessments when building a high performance team?
Mike: I do, but I also have to point out assessments can have limitations and so what I would throw out is that the intentionality that we’ve been discussing thus far needs to take place If there is a need to make sure the assessments can serve to validate.
Depends on what is it you’re assessing. But what I would throw out to you, some assessments are geared towards culture. Some assessments are more skill base. Find the assessments that best. Support your need. Yes, in short, I believe in assessments, but I’m also put the caution, don’t rely on assessment alone to be the determining factor, but use the assessments [00:17:00] to affirm, for lack of better term, and if you’re gonna be using assessments to build your team, let the team benefit by knowing.
Who’s joining the team and what is it they’re bringing to the team and why they’re a logical choice, and I hope that’s making sense. But the more that one understands themselves because the assessments they get their own version of the report and that the team members understand each other, what that does is it fosters an awareness that we are all capable, but we bring different skill sets.
We bring different things to the table, and it’s that difference. It’s the diversity of those different perspectives that makes this team a high performance team.
Porschia: I love everything that you said, Mike. You touched on a lot of nuance there. So some of our listeners know that I have a master’s [00:18:00] degree in industrial and organizational psychology and I love assessments and you made a great point that I have seen within organizations and they also.
Really drove home in my master’s program about using assessments effectively. And really to affirm, and for a lot of our clients, we use it as a last step with like their final candidates. And then we do an assessment because. A lot of times people misuse assessments and misinterpret them.
That’s super important. And then for anyone listening, it’s also important if you’re using assessments in selection, that you use an assessment that is legal, meaning it has reliability and validity. To be used for selection, meaning hiring people specifically. If not, you open yourself up to an employment lawsuit which I’m sure Mike knows all about from his hr executive days.
So [00:19:00] Mike, what are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve seen executives or professionals make when it comes to building a team?
Mike: I’m supposed to have an immediate answer to that question. I see all kinds of mistakes that are made, but the truth being known, I made those same mistakes. I think probably the first thing that comes to mind is resist the temptation to surround yourself with people who are like you. You need to have shared core values.
You need to have a shared sense of purpose, a shared sense of collectively. We can do more than we can do individually, but a team that is comprised of those different perspectives, not just skillsets, but different perspectives when they are appreciated. It can be very [00:20:00] powerful. So what I would say, the number one mistake I see happening, ’cause I’ve made the same mistake, is I surrounded myself with people like myself.
We got along until we didn’t. We got things done until we didn’t. What I realized is that we all were using the same thing. We are all kind of cookie cutter and that didn’t serve the team and did not serve the organization well. So that would be the first thing that comes to mind is to resist that temptation.
Be intentional. Be selective. We are appropriate use assessments for matching and diversifying Who’s on your team?
Porschia: Great point, Mike. I’ve heard someone put it this way that, they had an issue with just hiring a bunch of mini mes, right? People that were just like them are very similar and to your point that can appear great on the surface, but, also, you can [00:21:00] miss other perspectives too, right? So if everyone thinks the same way, there are some blind spots that can, occur and not even be found because everyone’s thinking the same way. So yeah, that can be a really big mistake when it comes to a team. Something else I see Mike and I would.
Love to hear your thoughts on this. In terms of, I think it, it’s a big mistake that some teams make is that they avoid any type of conflict because they just all want to, appear as though there’s just a lot of harmony and they don’t wanna step on any toes. And, so they just don’t say necessarily what needs to be said because they have some definition of conflict in their mind that’s negative.
But I think a lot of times in business settings where people are trying to be innovative are trying to grow and develop a business or business [00:22:00] unit having a difference of opinion, difference of thought, and sometimes conflict. Can be important. So what are your thoughts about that?
Mike: I agree wholeheartedly.
Conflict seems as if the attitude towards conflict starts at a very early age. If your family avoided conflict, you probably grew up not quite sure how to deal with conflict, and because you didn’t deal with it, you assumed there wasn’t any. And I think we all know it’s there. It just pops up in, in other areas.
It’s been my experience that when you have healthy conflict meanings, there’s a problem to overcome or a difference of opinion is that when you work through that together, you most often end up with a better outcome. But in doing so, working through conflict, the team. [00:23:00] Grows closer together because they have worked through what a lot of teams opt not to do.
And so what I would just throw out to you is the willingness and ability to work through conflict constructively can be very powerful. As a coach, I’ve seen some things that we’re talking about a team, but I was working with a client by which I. The whole organization avoided conflict.
This was a large organization, and as I got to know the leadership team, I realized it started at the top. It was a second generation. This is a multi, this was a billion dollar company, by the way, privately held, but it was the CEO’s father who founded the business and conflict. We just didn’t address it.[00:24:00]
And so the son didn’t address it, and the assumption was, there’s no conflict. We’re one big happy family. In reality, conflict was everywhere. It was masked. So what I would say is conflict. It’s inevitable when two or more are gathered, don’t run from it at the same time. Don’t encourage it. But when it does arise, be willing to roll up the sleeves and work through it.
Porschia: Yes. Just a lot of gyms in that, Mike. And to echo your thoughts, I have seen avoidance of conflict in some family owned businesses. Perhaps now that you mention it, I think a little more often than in other businesses as well. So in your opinion, what are some of the best tools or resources that people can use for team building?
Mike: [00:25:00] My thinking sometimes is keep it simple. Maybe I am. Not going to say what you would expect me to say. Are there team building exercises you can do? Yes. But if you decide to do something, make sure that it’s authentic. That is, it’s true to the team that you’re trying to strengthen. And what I would say is sometimes we overthink these things.
That is where I see teams come together in the workplace and outside. It’s not so much while at work. It’s the out of work settings that bonds are created and it’s hard to describe and it doesn’t really matter what it is, but when people kinda get away and they spend time together, lo and behold. They learn things that they did not know.[00:26:00]
They begin to appreciate things that people experience or have overcome that gives them a renewed appreciation for the their coworkers. So what I would say is from a team building standpoint, if listeners, if you’re a leader and you want to strengthen the team, keep it simple. It’s amazing the power of a meal.
Just a meal, come together, enjoy it, have fun. The combination of just getting away and letting your guard down have some fun. It doesn’t really matter what it is, but doing so bonds are made. Bonds result in closer teamwork. And so I guess my guidance is start simply and then go from there.
Porschia: Love that. So tell us more about your business bench builders.
Mike: I’ve shared already my [00:27:00] HR background. I made the assumption that right out of blocks when I formed this consulting business, that our focus would be primarily on helping small HR teams. We do that. We particularly help them with setting a strategy. But the things that we as a company are doing more of would be developing leaders.
And the particular niche that we focus on are first line supervisors. And the reason why is that we see companies of all sizes, they tend to promote from within and that’s great, but they promote good people who are good technically. They aren’t given the tools on how to manage others, it’s just assumed that they know how to manage people and the transition from being a peer to being a leader, it’s a hard transition.
And so that is the lane that we focus most of our energies on from a leadership development standpoint, [00:28:00] that first line supervisor who has responsibility for others and they need to have the confidence on how to do that. So we have developed over the years a curriculum, if you allow me to use that term, but commonly requested topics we put together to help address that.
And what we try to do for our clients is make it simple. We partner with them to come alongside their HR team and to work with their line supervisors in a very supportive way. Learn new skills, apply those skills. Do so in, in a kind of a nurturing environment, but then expect that they’re gonna go and improve their effectiveness as leaders in ways that can be measured.
That would be the second area. The third thing we have talked a little bit, and that is as a coach bench Builders is a sports reference, and that is your organization’s only as good as the strength of your [00:29:00] bench and coaching. Most of my coaching work is with the C-Suite. We do work with those, not in the C-Suite, but I work primarily with the C-suite because I have seen the profound impact when a key leader is performing better.
It has a ripple effect that can be profound. And the kinds of things that we work on together are, it be, could be a business owner. It could be a key leader. And usually these relationships start with something they want to improve in terms of their leadership effectiveness. Inevitably, as time goes on, other things come up.
There are other issues at home that they want to be a better spouse, a better parent and. It’s amazing how transferable the things that we talk about in a business setting [00:30:00] can apply in a personal setting. And I’ll just make this one last point, and I hope this is gonna resonate with our listeners.
And that is as people succeed in their careers and they have all the trappings of success, they have the title, they may have the income, they have the perks, if you will. It’s not uncommon that something’s missing. And I like working with leaders who have accomplished these things but are willing to acknowledge they want more.
And I’m not talking about more money, more title, more perks. They want more outta life. They realize that they’re in a position to influence, they want to leave a impact. And I just really personally enjoy working with these. These leaders and mapping out a way to get there. So I hope what that describes, bitch Builders we’re known primarily for leadership development and [00:31:00] executive coaching.
Porschia: Love it. So we’ll be providing a link to your website and social channels in our show notes so people can find you online. But what is the best way for someone to get in touch with you?
Mike: I find LinkedIn is my favorite platform. I joined LinkedIn early on, and so matter fact, that’s how you and I Yes originally met.
On LinkedIn and it’s just Mike O’Neal Bench Builders. Hopefully you’ll find me there. If you wanna learn more about our business, our website is bench builders.com.
Porschia: Love it. So Mike, now I wanna ask you our last question that I ask all of our guests. How do you think executives or professionals can get a positive edge in their career?
Mike: I think it really boils down to being willing to be a bit more vulnerable, a bit more transparent. [00:32:00] Though this term is overused, but strive for authenticity. Be truer to who you are. If you’re true to you, who you are as an executive or even as an applicant, but by being true to yourself, if you’re not the right fit, that’s not a loss because you’re not gonna be happy if you could be true to who you are.
People pick up on that and it’s that authenticity that. People are drawn to from a leadership standpoint, real, but at times vulnerable. You would also hope a leader would be inspiring and hold people to a higher standard. But if I had to pick one, be true to who you are.
Porschia: Mike, you have shared a lot of wisdom with us today, and I’m sure that our listeners can use it to be more confident in their careers and with their teamwork.
We appreciate you being with us.
Mike: [00:33:00] My pleasure.
Porschia: This episode was brought to you by the Brave Bird Career Alliance, the go-to membership designed for seasoned executives and ambitious professionals with everything you need for career planning, strategy, training, and support. Thank you again for listening to the Career 1 0 1 podcast. I hope you have at least one key takeaway that you.
Can use in your own career. If you enjoyed hanging out with us, please rate, subscribe, and share this podcast. Until next time, here’s to your success.
