---
title: "5 Essential Elements of a High-Performance Team: Missing One Means Failure"
description: "A high-efficiency team has five essential elements (the 5Ps): Purpose, People, Position, Power, and Plan. Each team must have a common goal, select the right people, define roles and authority, and follow a clear plan to achieve high performance."
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published: "2014-10-06"
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# 5 Essential Elements of a High-Performance Team: Missing One Means Failure

> A high-efficiency team has five essential elements (the 5Ps): Purpose, People, Position, Power, and Plan. Each team must have a common goal, select the right people, define roles and authority, and follow a clear plan to achieve high performance.

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A high-efficiency team has five essential elements (the 5Ps): first, team purpose; second, people; third, positioning; fourth, authority; fifth, plan.

1. Team Purpose
Every team must have a common goal to guide its members, so that everyone knows where they are heading. Without a goal, the team loses its value. The team's goal must align with the organization's goals. Large goals should be broken down into smaller ones and assigned to team members, thereby pooling everyone's efforts to achieve the common objective.

2. People
People are the core strength of a team; two or more individuals can form a team. Goals are achieved through people, so selecting the right people is a crucial part of team building. In a team, you may need someone to generate ideas, someone to make plans, someone to implement, someone to coordinate different people, and someone to monitor progress and evaluate the team's final contribution. Different people work together through division of labor to accomplish team goals. When selecting people, consider their abilities, complementary skills, and experience. The following example of Qi Jiguang's "Mandarin Duck Formation" illustrates the approach to team building.

In 1555, a group of 70 Japanese pirates (wokou) landed and penetrated 600 kilometers inland, moving from eastern Zhejiang into Anhui and Jiangsu, looting and killing along the way, even circling around Nanjing. At that time, Nanjing had a garrison of 120,000 troops, yet they dared not engage. Although the pirates were eventually annihilated, the Ming army suffered 4,000 casualties. In this crisis, Qi Jiguang was appointed to defeat the pirates and eliminate them in large numbers.

In fact, the pirates who attacked Nanjing were not regular troops. Although they lacked unified command and operated in small bands, they demonstrated the solidarity and cooperation of Japan's lower social structure. Their leaders enforced strict discipline and unified command, and they used cunning tactics and advanced firearms (arquebuses), allowing them to defeat larger Ming forces. At the time, the pirates operated along the Zhejiang-Fujian coast, using heavy arrows, long spears, and Japanese swords. The coastal terrain was mountainous and swampy, with rugged roads, making it difficult for large Ming formations to maneuver, while the pirates excelled at ambushes and close combat.

To counter the pirates' tactics, Qi Jiguang devised a practical battle plan and created a new combat formation—the "Mandarin Duck Formation." This formation was a masterpiece of ancient military wisdom, with the sole purpose of maximizing the elimination of enemy forces. As a close-combat formation, it remained undefeated for a century. The 11-man formation became famous because it was both devastatingly effective and nearly flawless. It was a near-perfect combat array due to its impeccable positioning and weaponry. The 11 men included a leader who stood at the front center, with the other 10 forming two columns behind him. Although only 10 men, they wielded four different weapons and formed five coordinated attack lines. Behind the leader were two shield bearers armed with javelins, who used their shields to protect themselves and their comrades and launched the attack by throwing javelins.

After close combat began, the two columns split into units of five. The wolf-brush (langxian) handlers stepped forward alongside the shield bearers to form the first line of defense, followed by two long-spear men, with short-sword men at the rear, engaging independently. The wolf-brush was a specially made weapon: a long iron rod covered with iron branches and barbs, resembling a wire fence that blocked any advance. Initially, it was made from sturdy bamboo, with the end sharpened and side branches left sharp. Each wolf-brush was about 3 meters long. The handler used its sharp tip to stab enemies, protecting the shield bearers' advance and the long-spear men's attack.

Behind the wolf-brush handlers were four spearmen, the main attack force, who thrust their spears at enemies. At the rear were two short-sword men, who protected the spearmen's flanks and prevented outflanking. The Qi family saber was a modified weapon designed specifically to counter the Japanese sword. Ming army swords often broke in combat against Japanese swords. The Qi saber incorporated the strengths of the Japanese sword: a larger blade curve, a narrower blade, a slight curve at the tip, a ridge line in the middle, and a spine line on the back, all while maintaining thickness, greatly increasing blade strength.

This formation had no weaknesses. The 11 men cooperated and covered each other, forming a perfect killing array. In Ninghai, the pirates charged recklessly but were soon felled by javelins. Those lucky enough to continue were blocked by shields or hooked by wolf-brushes, suffering severe injuries. If they survived that, four spears awaited them. Even if they tried to counterattack, they were blocked by wolf-brushes and shields, leaving them frustrated and helpless. The battle ended quickly: most pirates were killed by javelins, wolf-brushes, and spears. The Ninghai skirmish ended with over 200 pirate casualties, while the Qi family army suffered only one minor injury. In May 1561, Qi Jiguang first deployed the "Mandarin Duck Formation" and killed over 30,000 enemies, with only a few hundred casualties among his own troops. That year, Qi Jiguang won nine consecutive victories, quelling the pirate menace in Zhejiang.

Qi Jiguang achieved his goals. From a management perspective, the shields, javelins, wolf-brushes, spears, and Qi sabers represent tools; the 11 soldiers represent the team; the order of weapon use represents the process; and killing pirates represents performance results. Qi Jiguang's management of his combat squads is very similar to how companies manage team members. The management process has three stages: first, recruit the right people; second, assign them suitable tasks; third, motivate and lead them to achieve results.

In the first stage, Qi Jiguang personally recruited 3,000 strong new soldiers who had deep grudges against the pirates, making them the most suitable soldiers. Due to their long-term physical labor, they were strong and enduring, ideal for roles as shield bearers, spearmen, wolf-brush handlers, and sword fighters. In 1557, after being ordered to fight the pirates, Qi Jiguang immediately reformed the military system. He personally went to Jinhua and Yiwu to recruit sturdy farmers and miners, selecting 3,000 to form a new anti-pirate force.

In the second stage, Qi Jiguang tailored combat skills and team tactics for these suitable soldiers. The recruits were simple, reliable young farmers, and the "Mandarin Duck Formation" was designed around their characteristics. He explicitly stated that two wolf-brush soldiers and four spearmen needed no special skills; physical strength was sufficient. The wolf-brush also served to conceal and boost the morale of shield and sword fighters.

In the third stage, Qi Jiguang channeled the soldiers' hatred into a shared value of "protecting the country and the people," making his army highly cohesive. He enforced strict discipline with a "collective punishment" system: if a unit retreated, the leader was beheaded; if a commander died in battle due to poor performance, all subordinate officers were beheaded; and so on down the ranks. Rewards for enemy heads were generous: 40 taels of silver per head (equivalent to about 12,000 RMB today), which explains the fierce fighting spirit of the Qi family army.

3. Positioning (Place)
Team positioning has two meanings: first, where the team sits in the organization, who selects and decides team members, to whom the team is ultimately accountable, and how the team motivates and leads subordinates. Second, the positioning of individual members—what role each plays in the task.

Based on their purpose, teams can be classified into three types: problem-solving teams, self-managed teams, and cross-functional teams.

▲ Problem-Solving Teams
These teams focus on improving product quality, increasing efficiency, and improving the work environment. Members exchange ideas on changing work procedures and methods and make suggestions, but they have little actual authority to implement changes. For example, a "quality circle" consists of 5-12 employees who meet a few hours a week to discuss quality improvements. They can question traditional procedures, but management ultimately decides which problems to address; members only offer opinions.

▲ Self-Managed Teams
Quality circles are effective for quality, but members' participation in decision-making is limited. Companies often want to establish autonomous, self-managed teams. These typically consist of 10-15 people who take on responsibilities formerly held by their supervisors. Their responsibilities include controlling work pace, assigning tasks, and scheduling breaks. Fully self-managed teams can even select their own members and conduct peer performance evaluations.

▲ Cross-Functional Teams
These teams are composed of employees from the same hierarchical level but different work areas, brought together to accomplish a task. For example, IBM's task force is a temporary cross-functional team. Cross-functional teams are an effective way to exchange information among employees from different fields, stimulate new ideas, solve problems, and coordinate complex projects.

For instance, an infantry squad is a multi-functional tactical unit in the army. An infantry fighting vehicle typically has a crew of three: commander, driver, and gunner. The hull is welded from homogeneous steel or aluminum armor, with firing ports for infantry to shoot from inside. A standard army squad consists of six people, divided into fire teams, anti-air/anti-tank/demolition teams, and sniper/information teams. Modern infantry fighting vehicles have more powerful and sustained firepower, with significant improvements in anti-personnel, anti-tank, anti-air, and individual information capabilities.

4. Authority (Power)
The leader's authority in a team is related to the team's development stage. Generally, the more mature the team, the less authority the leader has. In the early stages, leadership is relatively centralized. There are two aspects of team authority:

First, what decision-making authority does the team have within the organization? For example, financial, personnel, and information decisions.

Second, the organization's basic characteristics, such as its size, the number of teams, the degree of empowerment, and the type of business.

Inspired by military reforms, Huawei's founder Ren Zhengfei said: "To make the customer interface thicker, we must form several customer-facing 'iron triangle' combat units, i.e., work teams composed of 'customer managers,' 'solution experts,' and 'delivery experts.'" Regarding resource allocation, he said: "Our advanced equipment and quality resources in the rear should be able to play a role as soon as targets and opportunities are found on the front line, providing effective support. Instead of having those who own resources command the war, we should let those who hear the gunfire make decisions. Grassroots combat units have the authority to call for fire support within their authorization. Frontline operations should shift from individual customer managers to small-team operations, and customer managers must enhance their comprehensive capabilities in the four marketing elements (customer relationships, solutions, financing and payment terms, and delivery). The purpose of our organizational structure is to fight, and the purpose of fighting is to make a profit. The platform's customers are the frontline combat units; what they don't need is redundant."

Ren Zhengfei gave an example: "In the past, a company commander in Afghanistan couldn't command artillery; he had to report to the division for support, and the division ordered the artillery to fire. Now, with strong system support and clear authorization, a special forces soldier can call in an airstrike or artillery with a single communication. A frontline team of three includes an intelligence expert, a firepower/bomb expert, and a combat expert. They have some cross-training in each other's fields, including emergency rescue and bandaging. When they find a target, the intelligence expert uses advanced satellite tools to determine the enemy's cluster, target, direction, equipment, etc. The bomb expert configures bombs and firepower, calculates the necessary combat method, and calls for fire support within authorization, completely eliminating the enemy. The authorization for US military combat teams is based on the scale of operations, e.g., $50 million. Within that authorization, the rear provides timely artillery support based on frontline orders. Huawei will authorize grassroots combat units based on gross profit and cash flow; within authorization, they can execute without approval from the representative office. The military's goal is to eliminate enemies; the enterprise's goal is to make a profit. The iron triangle is aimed at customers, with the purpose of profit. The purpose of the iron triangle is to achieve profit; otherwise, all these management activities lack a backbone and soul. Of course, authorization needs regular maintenance at different times and places, but the procedures and rules for authorization management should not change easily."

The essence of the iron triangle is to break down functional barriers for the sake of goals, forming a project-centered team operation model. Iron triangles will exist in all areas and links of the company's business. The triangle is just a figurative term; it could be a quadrilateral, pentagon, or more. This provides good ideas and references for the next stage of organizational restructuring. The company's main resources should be used to find targets and opportunities and convert them into results.

5. Plan
A plan has two meanings: First, achieving the final goal requires a series of specific action plans; the plan can be understood as the specific work procedures for the goal. Second, planning ahead ensures the team's smooth progress. Only with a plan can the team gradually approach the goal and ultimately achieve it.

6. Characteristics of High Performance
Team structures do not automatically increase productivity, but teams with the following characteristics are sure to produce high performance.

▲ Clear Goals
High-performance teams have a clear understanding of the goals to be achieved and believe they have significant meaning and value. Moreover, the importance of these goals motivates members to elevate personal goals to group goals. In effective teams, members are willing to commit to team goals, clearly know what work is expected of them, and how they will work together to complete the task.

▲ Relevant Skills
High-performance teams are composed of capable members. They possess the technical and interpersonal skills necessary to achieve ideal goals and cooperate well with each other, enabling them to complete tasks excellently. The latter is especially important but often overlooked. People with strong technical skills may not necessarily have high-level interpersonal skills, but members of high-performance teams often have both.

▲ Mutual Trust
Mutual trust among members is a hallmark of effective teams; each member is confident in the character and abilities of others. In daily interpersonal relationships, we all experience that trust is fragile; it takes time to build and is easily destroyed. Moreover, only by trusting others can you gain their trust; distrust only breeds distrust. Therefore, maintaining mutual trust within a group requires management's attention. Organizational culture and management behavior greatly influence the formation of a trusting environment. If the organization values openness, honesty, and collaboration, and encourages employee participation and autonomy, it is easier to create a trusting environment.

▲ Unified Commitment
Members of high-performance teams show high loyalty and commitment to the team, willing to do anything to ensure the group's success. We call this loyalty and dedication unified commitment. Research on successful teams finds that members identify with their group and see their membership as an important part of their self-identity. Therefore, unified commitment is characterized by dedication to group goals and a willingness to mobilize and utilize one's full potential to achieve them.

▲ Good Communication
This is an essential feature of high-performance teams. Members exchange information through open channels, including verbal and non-verbal messages. Additionally, healthy feedback between management and team members is an important aspect of good communication, helping managers guide actions and eliminate misunderstandings. Like long-married couples with deep affection, members of high-performance teams can quickly and accurately understand each other's thoughts and feelings.

▲ Negotiation Skills
When work is designed on an individual basis, roles are defined by job descriptions, rules, procedures, and other formal documents. But in high-performance teams, roles are flexible and constantly adjusted. This requires members to have strong negotiation skills. Since problems and relationships within the team often change, members must be able to face and handle these situations.

▲ Appropriate Leadership
Effective leaders can guide the team through the most difficult times because they can show the team the way forward. They clarify possibilities for change, boost team members' confidence, and help them understand their potential. Good leaders don't necessarily have to direct or control; leaders of high-performance teams often act as coaches and supporters, providing guidance and support without trying to control. This applies not only to self-managed teams but also to task forces and cross-functional teams when authority is delegated. For managers accustomed to traditional methods, this shift from boss to supporter—from giving orders to serving the team—is a difficult transition. Many managers are beginning to see the benefits of this new power-sharing approach, either through experience or leadership training, but some rigid, autocratic managers still cannot accept this new concept. They should quickly change their old ways or be replaced.

▲ Internal and External Support
The final requirement for a high-performance team is a "supportive environment." Internally, the team should have a sound infrastructure, including appropriate training, an easy-to-understand measurement system for evaluating overall performance, and a supportive human resources system. A proper infrastructure should support and reinforce member behaviors to achieve high performance. Externally, management should provide the team with the necessary resources to complete the work.

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