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Teamwork has changed profoundly in recent years, particularly with the widespread adoption of hybrid and remote work models. Teams have not disappeared; they simply operate differently. In this new work landscape, modern team development has become essential for building high-performing teams.
This article explains what a team is, why interdependence lies at the heart of collective performance, and what the three major levers of team development are: team balance, team derailers, and team leadership.
For executives, HR leaders, and Talent Management professionals, the challenge is strategic: investing in team development improves engagement, retention, productivity, psychological safety, customer satisfaction, and sustainable organizational performance.
Teamwork has changed considerably in recent years, as many of us have shifted to hybrid or remote work models. But teams have not disappeared; they simply function differently today.
Modern team development is the key to building high-performing teams in this new work landscape.
Recently, on The Science of Personality, cohosts Ryne Sherman, PhD, and Blake Loepp spoke with Kyle Cermak, Director of Business Development at Hogan Assessments, about team development in the modern era.
Kyle Cermak explains that he has spent about half of his career leading high-performing sales teams. Team development is therefore a topic especially close to his heart.
This article presents the definition of a team, the main areas of team development, and the strategies organizations can use to build high-performing teams.
Short definition — Modern team development: Modern team development refers to all the practices that improve collaboration, communication, balance, leadership, and collective performance in hybrid, remote, or evolving work environments.
In Hogan terminology, a team is a group of people with cross-functional expertise working toward a shared goal.
According to Kyle Cermak, a team generally includes three or more people who share a common goal, common leadership, and perceive themselves as belonging to a team. This mental model of belonging influences how each person views their contribution to collective work.
Team members are intrinsically dependent on one another, as well as on their leader, to succeed. Teams within organizations are also interdependent.
Even though each team has its own specialty — for example, finance, human resources, or operations — every action it takes affects other dimensions of the business. Everyone must assume their individual responsibilities in a way that contributes to the common good.
Leaders are responsible for promoting a culture of shared purpose.
Short definition — Team: A team is a group of three or more interdependent people who share a common goal, common leadership, and a sense of belonging to the same work unit.
In concrete business terms, a team is not simply a group of people attached to the same organizational chart. It is an interdependent system in which each person’s behaviors, decisions, and priorities influence the performance of others.
Kyle Cermak’s expertise in team development began when he was promoted to manager in his late twenties. He describes his first leadership role as a complete disaster.
At the time, he had not yet developed the leadership capabilities needed to build and maintain a high-performing team.
He raises a central question: how can we talk about what matters to each team member and help them optimize what they are capable of?
According to Kyle Cermak, a leader’s responsibility is to ensure that the team gives its absolute best and to help develop the leaders of tomorrow.
Short definition — Team leadership: Team leadership is the ability to create the conditions in which team members can cooperate, take responsibility, use their strengths, and achieve shared goals.
For an executive, this idea is decisive: leadership is not measured only by a leader’s intention or style. It is measured by the quality of the team’s performance, engagement, and development.
Like Talent Management strategy, team development is constantly evolving.
Companies are under considerable pressure to improve team performance while facing high turnover. According to Kyle Cermak, strong talent acquisition and talent development practices are a major competitive advantage because they encourage people to collaborate, communicate effectively, and continue moving the business forward.
He identifies three key areas of team development:
Team balance
Team derailers
Team leadership
Team balance refers to the right combination of skills, experience, and personality needed to create a high-performing team and a satisfied employee population.
For example, if a basketball team were made up only of centers, its performance would probably be lower than that of a team in which all five positions are represented. Diversity of skills contributes to balance.
Kyle Cermak explains that a team needs a balance between high-performing individuals and people in support roles. Not everyone should function in exactly the same way.
Short definition — Team balance: Team balance refers to the optimal combination of skills, experiences, personalities, and roles that enables a group to function effectively.
In practice, a team made up only of similar profiles may be fast in some contexts but vulnerable in others. Sustainable performance requires a diversity of contributions: vision, execution, relationships, analysis, creativity, coordination, and support.
How do team members tend to react under stress? And what impact will those reactions have on team engagement?
Hogan calls these stress-related behaviors derailers because they can prevent people from succeeding. Derailers can be grouped into three categories:
Moving away from others
Moving against others
Moving toward others
In everyday language, these conflict responses are sometimes called flight, fight, and the need to be right.
Kyle Cermak gives an example of what can happen to a team in derailment. If a team brings together people who tend to move away from one another when difficulties arise — with each person retreating into their office — that will not move the conflict forward. Nor will it support effective communication.
Short definition — Derailer: A derailer is a behavioral tendency that can become counterproductive when it appears under stress, pressure, conflict, boredom, or reduced self-control.
Team members should recognize how each person contributes to success, as well as what could potentially happen when things go wrong.
In other words, they should understand their own derailers and those of their teammates. They should also be mutually invested in a team culture that enables them to optimize their capabilities and respond productively during challenging periods.
In concrete business terms, understanding team derailers helps prevent negative spirals. A team can learn to recognize when it withdraws, attacks, overconforms, or avoids difficult conversations.
The final key area of team development is the presence of effective leadership.
Team leaders must be accountable for the balance of their teams. They must also understand how members are likely to react when facing difficulty or conflict.
Finally, leaders must facilitate team cohesion and culture. This means helping members understand how their teammates operate and which values underpin the team culture.
The absence of shared purpose or common goals harms team performance. This is why alignment around objectives is an extremely important consideration for leaders.
Kyle Cermak formulates what an effective leader might say to their team: “This is who we are. This is what we are working toward. This is how we are going to do it.” He adds that he sees no more important concern for a leader.
Short definition — Team cohesion: Team cohesion refers to a group’s ability to share a purpose, goals, norms, and working relationships strong enough to act collectively.
For a leader, cohesion is not a relational extra. It is a condition for clarity, coordination, and performance.
Investing in people is useful and profitable. Organizations achieve a better return on investment when they develop the talent already in place rather than starting again with new talent.
Often, the right talent is already in the right places, but group dynamics do not yet support effective team performance.
Team development helps members learn to work together in positive and productive ways, taking their personalities into account.
According to Kyle Cermak, the starting point for understanding personality characteristics is personality assessment.
A personality assessment that can predict workplace performance can provide illuminating data about everyday personality characteristics, potential performance challenges, and the values that motivate professional and personal life.
Teams whose values are aligned — both with team leadership and organizational leadership — tend to find greater satisfaction in their work.
Short definition — Values alignment: Values alignment refers to the consistency between what team members value, what the leader values, and what the organization actually rewards.
In practice, modern team development must go beyond one-off workshops. It must be grounded in data, clarify values, identify strengths and risks, and help the team create better ways of collaborating.
According to Kyle Cermak, building high-performing teams brings important related benefits for organizations.
High-performing teams generally show high engagement. The more invested and engaged a person is in their work, the more likely they are to perform at a high level.
Higher engagement also improves retention, strengthens morale, and increases productivity. Downstream effects also include increased revenue, better customer satisfaction, stronger psychological safety, and more.
Short definition — High-performing team: A high-performing team is a collective capable of sustainably achieving its goals, collaborating effectively, maintaining a high level of engagement, and adapting to difficulties.
For executives and HR leaders, team development is therefore not simply a cohesion exercise. It is a direct investment in organizational performance.
At Hogan Assessments, reliable and scientifically validated personality inventories are used to understand how teams are likely to function, including their leader.
Certified Hogan practitioners then provide individual personality feedback, enabling people to develop the strategic self-awareness they need to succeed in their teams and careers.
Modern team development sessions cover team identity, team strengths, challenge management, and insights based on personality data to improve collective functioning.
In addition, team leaders gain a better understanding of how to lead their unique teams.
Short definition — Strategic self-awareness: Strategic self-awareness refers to the ability to understand one’s strengths, behavioral risks, values, reputation, and impact on others in order to adapt one’s behavior to the context.
Kyle Cermak emphasizes the importance of development at the individual, collective, and leadership levels.
According to him, the only true measure of leadership effectiveness is team performance. There is no better opportunity to improve organizational performance than investing in team performance.
Modern team development must take several new realities into account: hybrid work, distance, diversity of profiles, expectations of autonomy, the speed of change, and the need for sustainable engagement.
To succeed, organizations must clarify what defines a team, assess personality dynamics, identify derailers, align values, and develop leaders as facilitators of collective performance.
In concrete terms, this means creating a shared language. Team members must be able to talk about their strengths, stress reactions, work preferences, and collaboration needs without unnecessary judgment.
Team development then becomes an ongoing practice, not an isolated event.
Modern teams no longer function as they once did. Hybrid work, remote models, and organizational complexity have transformed how people collaborate. Yet one reality remains: organizational performance depends largely on team performance.
Modern team development makes it possible to understand the strengths, values, derailers, and dynamics that influence collaboration. Hogan Assessments personality inventories help teams develop a shared language, strengthen their strategic self-awareness, and manage challenges more effectively.
For executives, HR leaders, and Talent Management professionals, the issue is clear: individual talent is not enough. The conditions must be created for those talents to work together.
A high-performing team combines balance, cohesion, effective leadership, aligned values, and the ability to respond constructively to tension. In the modern world of work, investing in team development is not optional. It is one of the most powerful levers of sustainable performance.
