If you are a manager or supervisor, this may be the single most important article you will ever read because it contains a proven, step-by-step method for creating a winning team—a method that has been used by many, from great sports legends like John Wooden and Vince Lombardi to successful corporate managers and supervisors.

Many successful people have created high-performing teams using a systematic process just like the one below.

1. Setting Expectations

The first step to create a winning team is to set expectations.  This sounds simple and basic, yet when you ask most people what is expected of them, they can’t tell you with any certainty. We often assume they know but that’s a dangerous trap many managers fall into.

Consider the following process when setting expectations:

Step One: Write down your expectations and go over them.  Then you have a document to refer to later when reviewing them or when new people join the team.  When you write them down it sends the message that these are important.

Step Two: List all your expectations.  There are major ones such as explaining to people what authority they have, what results you expect of them, and what they are responsible for.  But expectations can also include more benign things such as how to call in sick, when to come to work, how to be prepared for meetings, what is inappropriate clothing, and how to schedule vacations.  These may appear to be silly but if you have these expectations and you don’t share them, then you are setting up people to fail. It is essential they know all of your expectations.

Step Three: Give examples.  If you have a certain way you want people to be prepared for a meeting give them an example.  Also explain if your examples are the only way to do something or if they are just the recommended method.

Setting expectations is the single most important thing a manager can do to create a high-performing team.  It is not a one-time event. Expectations should be discussed on a regular basis and especially when new team members come on board.  It’s an investment of time that reaps big dividends.

2. Giving Performance Feedback

Setting expectations alone won’t produce a winning team, however. People need regular feedback whether their performance is meeting the expectations.  Again, this sounds like a basic management function but most of the time managers find themselves too busy to give feedback, or they don’t know how.  When managers fail to follow-up and provide feedback it sends the message that the expectations aren’t important.

There are two types of feedback: feedback for improvement and reinforcing feedback, often called positive feedback.  Which one do you think people get the most of?   Ninety-five percent of employees say the only feedback they get is feedback for improvement—when they’ve missed the mark.  Sadly, most assume if they don’t get any feedback then they must be performing well. Do you know anyone who gets too much positive feedback?

Study after study indicates that regular feedback, even if it is feedback for improvement, increases performance.  When people know that someone is paying attention they improve performance.

The now famous studies at Western Electric’s Hawthorne plant in the 1920’s proved that point.  Scientists conducted experiments to see how different light levels affected performance.  Their theory was that low levels of light would decrease performance and high levels would increase performance.  The scientists discovered that no matter what they did to the light levels, performance improved.

This phenomenon has since come to be known as the Hawthorne Effect.  People increase performance when they believe someone cares—when they believe someone is paying attention to how they perform their jobs.  Interestingly, when the scientists concluded their research the productivity fell back to its normal level before the experiments.

Feedback, whether its feedback for improvement or positive feedback, will increase most people’s performance.

3. Provide Resources

The final step in creating a high-performing team is to provide people all resources they need.  Resources can include easy access to policies and procedures, the proper tools and equipment, ensuring they have all the information they need, the right training, and access to the right people.  The manager is also a resource and the first person many employees turn to for guidance.

The Bottom Line

One research study discovered that seventy-two percent of performance problems would be eliminated if managers set expectations and then provided performance feedback.   You cannot have a winning team unless people know what is expected of them and how they are doing.

Winning teams don't just happen, they are created using a proven, time-tested process.