The 7 Key Traits of High-Performing Teams (with Lucy Widdowson & Paul Barbour)

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In this week’s Product Agility Podcast, we explore the true foundations of high-performing teams with Lucy Widdowson and Paul Barbour, executive team coaches, authors, and lead tutors at Henley Business School. With decades of experience coaching leadership teams, Lucy and Paul share their insights on what separates functional teams from truly exceptional ones—and how organisations can foster collaboration that drives real results.

Key Takeaways:

• What makes a ‘real’ team? Why many groups never reach their full potential.
• The 7 Key Traits of High-Performing Teams—and how to cultivate them.
• Breaking silos: The critical role of inter-team collaboration.
• Psychological courage over safety: Why real progress requires brave conversations.
• From scepticism to buy-in: How to engage teams resistant to change.

Practical Insights:

• Team Coaching vs. Facilitation: Understanding the difference and when to use each.
• Shifting ownership to the team so performance improvements last.
• Leading global teams effectively: Overcoming the challenges of remote collaboration.
• Cross-team interventions: How getting teams in the same room accelerates progress.

Quotable Moment:

"You don’t create high-performing teams—you create the conditions for them to emerge."

Links & Resources:

📖 Read Lucy & Paul’s book: "Building Top-Performing Teams"
👉 Amazon Link

🌐 Learn more about Lucy & Paul’s work at Performance Edge
👉 Performance-Edge.co.uk

Host Bio

Ben is a seasoned expert in product agility coaching, unleashing the potential of people and products. With over a decade of experience, his focus now is product-led growth & agility in organisations of all sizes.
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Ben Maynard

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Product Agility Podcast

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• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0lkwAYJzVSuk5zfJ1vIDZq?si=4c691fb12f124a56
• iTunes - https://apple.co/3YvTX8p

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