1) Identify a meaningful and shared common purpose. High-performing teams form from the inside out. They must have a shared/common purpose. The more aligned they are to that purpose, the stronger the team will be. To see how this works, think of your neighborhood. From time to time, you might help a neighbor with their yard work or childcare, and although those may be very positive and helpful interactions, you’re not a team because you likely don’t have a shared/common purpose. In organizations, there are groups of people that are no more aligned than friendly neighbors, and although that is by no means a toxic culture, it’s not a high-performing team, either. When working virtually, that purpose matters because it is easy to get distracted. To maximize performance, you want to engage their hearts and minds with real and meaningful purpose.

2) Set a BIG goal. The BIGGER the shared/common purpose or goal, the stronger the team performance will be. There’s a happy medium, however, between an utterly unrealistic goal, which will generally raise performance initially but drop off over time, and a powerful stretch goal. If you want a high-performing team that’s driven to achieve, then set a powerful stretch goal. Make it something bigger than they could have imagined and something that everyone has to bring their A+ game to achieve. And keep the focus focused — in other words, don’t have too many goals — one to three maximum. Research shows that the higher the number of goals, the lower the achievement of them. And when working virtually, the focus on goals matters. Keeping your eye on the ball will keep everyone in the game.