Building Resilient Teams That Outperform the Competition

Why Resilient Teams Matter More Than Ever

Building resilient teams has become one of the most important skills for leaders in remote and hybrid work environments. When you get it right, the results can be remarkable. 

Consider this: a seven-person engineering team recently attended a conference where other companies assumed they had 50 engineers based on their output and the tools they had built. That's the power of building resilient teams with A-plus players.

TLDR: Building Resilient Teams

• Resilient ≠ High-performing: Resilient teams adapt and thrive long-term, while high-performing teams may falter under pressure or change.

• Start with structure: Use tools like DISC or Hogan, team agreements, regular check-ins, and retreats to build a system of resilience.

• Avoid common pitfalls: Ego, unrealistic workloads, poor communication, and keeping low performers weaken resilience.

• Invest in A-players: Pay competitively and build a strong culture to attract and retain top talent.

• Trust is essential: Address trust issues directly with open communication and behavioral clarity.

• Mixed teams need alignment: Align incentives and create shared goals across different generations and experience levels.

• Culture > tools: Project management platforms support resilience, but culture and relationships are the foundation.

• Leadership is key: Resilient teams start with leaders who prioritize well-being, transparency, and relationship-building.

The Foundation: Process Over Personality

Many leaders think building resilient teams is just about hiring great people. But what really drives performance is the process you put in place. It doesn't happen by accident.

When building resilient teams, follow this systematic approach:

1. Start with assessments - Use personality tools like DISC or Hogan to create common language around communication styles

2. Develop team agreements - Create clear rules about communication, collaboration, and decision-making

3. Schedule regular check-ins - Set up consistent meetings to discuss what's working and what isn't

4. Plan team experiences - Organize retreats and activities that build relationships beyond work tasks

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This process becomes even more important with distributed teams. Whether your team members are in Washington D.C., Europe, India, or Argentina, you need structures beyond just project management tools. 

While tools like Jira or Asana help with accountability and visibility, they support the characteristics of resilient teams rather than create them.

What Destroys Team Resilience

Several factors can undermine your efforts in building resilient teams:

• Ego problems - Show up at every age level, though research shows people become humbler approaching retirement

• Unrealistic demands - High performers get overloaded because they're "good soldiers," leading to burnout

• Keeping low performers - B players hire C players, destroying team morale and driving away A players

• Poor communication - Side conversations after meetings and lack of transparency erode trust

• Individual goals - Personal bonuses instead of team rewards create competition rather than collaboration

Perhaps most damaging is keeping low performers on the team. When you bring in B players, they hire C players, and this destroys everything. 

Team members wait for management to address the problem while morale and productivity suffer. You'll lose your A players if you keep consistently underperforming people who miss deadlines, show up unprepared, or create confusion.

The A-Player Advantage in Building Resilient Teams

The engineering team story illustrates why building resilient teams with top talent matters so much. That seven-person team outperformed what others assumed required 50 people. The secret wasn't just hiring A players - it was paying 25% above market rates to keep them. But salary alone doesn't retain talent. 

As Kaplan notes: "The premium salary gets them in the door, but the environment keeps them there." Building resilient teams requires intentional culture development alongside competitive compensation.

One digital marketing company leader understood this principle. She spent tens of thousands of dollars on annual retreats to places like Cuba, knowing that experiences matter deeply to millennial and Gen Z employees. When you consider the cost of replacing someone, investing in culture pays dividends.

Jack Welch famously spent 60-70% of his time on what he called "HR stuff" - the relationship-building work that many leaders dismiss. He joked that probably wasn't enough time. Other CEOs who built billion-dollar companies report similar patterns, spending roughly half their time on recruiting, motivation, and team development.

High Performing vs. Resilient Teams

Handling Mixed Teams When Building Resilient Teams

Real-world team building often means working with a mix of long-time employees and new hires, different generations, and varying skill levels. Building resilient teams in these situations requires careful attention to incentive alignment.

Start by ensuring everyone has aligned goals and objectives with clear metrics. Individual goals destroy team cohesion. Give people shared bonuses based on team performance rather than individual achievement.

Get the mixed group together for activities that build relationships while focusing on collective goals. Address generational differences head-on through open discussion about communication preferences and work styles. Reward good collaborative behavior and address problems quickly.

Trust Issues That Undermine Resilient Teams

Trust problems frequently sabotage efforts at building resilient teams. The biggest complaints leaders have include infighting and side conversations after meetings. These destroy companies faster than almost any other issue.

One leader Kaplan worked with exemplified trust problems. The leader believed everyone had hidden agendas and wasn't sharing complete information. His personality assessment showed zero trust as a strength. Interviews with his peers revealed he only thought about his own department.

Kaplan warns leaders about the consequences of withholding information: "You might achieve short-term wins, but in the long run, this approach fails and harms the entire organization."

Building resilient teams requires addressing trust issues directly. When conflicts arise, use this communication approach:

1. State observations, not judgments - Stick to facts you can see

2. Ask questions instead of making accusations - Seek to understand the situation

3. Make specific requests - Be clear about what you need to move forward

   
   

For example: "I noticed you cancelled our last three meetings around this project. That's making it difficult for me to deliver results. What's getting in the way and what can I do to make sure we continue our communication?"

Start Building Your Resilient Team Now

Building resilient teams requires intentional effort and consistent investment. You can't delegate this responsibility or hope it happens naturally. The leaders who succeed spend significant time on relationship building, culture development, and process creation.

Begin by assessing your current team's communication styles and trust levels. Create clear agreements about collaboration and decision-making. Invest in experiences that build relationships. Most importantly, model the behavior you want to see by taking care of yourself and being transparent with your team.

The payoff is worth the effort. When you succeed at building resilient teams, you'll have a group that can weather any storm while consistently outperforming much larger competitors.