3 Ways to Build High-Performance Teams

In today’s customer experience landscape, culture isn’t just the backdrop; it’s the engine. It drives excellence, fuels engagement and anchors retention. Nowhere is this more critical than in contact centers, where high pace, high pressure and human dynamics collide and culture shapes how teams show up and what they make possible.

As cultural architects, CX leaders craft the values, behaviors and mindsets that transform team performance.

Let’s explore three strategies to cultivate a high-performance culture that performs powerfully, aligns around purpose and activates natural talent.

Strategy One: Onboard Through Culture, Not Just Training

Too often, onboarding is reduced to systems, policies and procedures. However, great leaders know that culture begins on Day One.

Don’t just introduce new hires to the “what” of the role; immerse them in the “who” of the team. Share the stories, rituals and values that define your team identity.

Reinforce how the organization's mission and values are reflected in the team’s daily behavior. How? During the first week, include a leadership overview that is rooted in tools like CliftonStrengths to demonstrate how you lead, work and how the team thrives.

To further support team development and drive performance, encourage every team member to take the CliftonStrengths assessment, which identifies their top five (or full 34) talent themes, natural patterns of thinking, feeling and doing that can be productively applied at work.

 Gallup's 34 CliftonStrengths are categorized into four domains:

• Executing – Themes help you make things happen.
• Influencing – Themes help you take charge, speak up and make sure others are heard.
• Relationship Building – Themes help you build strong relationships that hold a team together.
• Strategic Thinking – Themes help you absorb and analyze information that informs better decisions.

After the team has their results, facilitate a team strengths showcase where each person shares their top five strengths and how they apply them. This creates an instant connection, a shared language and a foundation for trust, which is instrumental when navigating conflict or change.

Strategy Two: Design Recognition and Growth Around Strengths

Recognition only fuels performance when it’s personal and purposeful. Use strengths as the lens for recognizing and developing your people.

For example, when two of my team members were recently promoted, their growth wasn’t luck. It was the result of a deliberate plan:

• Strategic project assignments that aligned with their strengths and career goals.
• Weekly time reserved for stretch assignments that challenged and expanded their capacity.
• Structured peer feedback loops that fueled self-awareness and team synergy.

Additionally, we fostered a culture of peer-to-peer recognition. Before the formal review of a project, team members sought feedback from colleagues on the impact of their work. This reinforces continuous improvement, mutual respect and a culture of shared excellence.

Strategy Three: Empower Employees to Lead Themselves

A high-performance culture isn’t built solely by top-down direction; it’s sustained when individuals are equipped and empowered to lead themselves.

Ownership is the foundation. When team members understand their strengths, articulate their needs, and take charge of their growth, accountability becomes a shared rhythm, not just a management directive.

From the start, invite new hires into this mindset. During onboarding, encourage them to reflect on and share their responses to questions like:

• How do you prefer to receive feedback, and how do you typically respond to challenges? Example: Do you thrive on encouragement, constructive critique, data-backed insights or stretch goals?
• Which of your strengths help you collaborate effectively, and where might you need support? Example: Am I naturally a connector, executor, strategist or relationship-builder? Where can others complement my gaps?
• What type of work environment or leadership style helps you perform at your best?
  Example: Do I thrive with autonomy, structure, collaboration or creative freedom?

These aren’t just icebreakers, they’re culture-setting moments. They signal to each employee: your self-awareness is an asset, and your voice shapes how we work.

The result? A team that doesn’t wait to be led. They lead themselves with clarity, purpose and pride.

The future of CX belongs to cultures that inspire; not just instruct. When culture shapes how people are welcomed, developed, and celebrated, you build a movement.