Learning From the Best: Lessons to Construction From High-performing Teams Across Sectors

As high-performing teams (HPTs) are critical for the success of construction projects, more attention could be given to improving team formulation and performance. This study explores best practices from globally recognized HPTs outside the construction management domain, aiming to identify learnings and improvement opportunities for lean construction teams. Based on existing literature, we summarize traits of HPTs and provide seven examples – spanning from symphony orchestras to electronic sports teams – to demonstrate how HPTs operate in various domains.
The following learnings were identified: HPTs (i) are determined to provide outstanding results and rigorously adopt emerging best practices, (ii) mirror the larger paradigm shift towards shared leadership and decentralized decision-making, and (iii) understand and effectively utilize both explicit and tacit knowledge transfer in their physical and virtual environments. Moreover, (iv) looking from outside, LC practices have strengths but also possible blind spots. Respectively, these learnings could be put into action by (1) allocating more resources for learning, (2) increasingly advocating the use of collaborative delivery models in all types of projects, (3) fostering communities of practice and mentoring practices while advocating group flow, and (4) slightly steering the development focus from project and process structures towards the development of teams.