Is Your Team “High Performing?”

Great teams don’t “just happen”. The nurturing role of the leader is critical in the evolution of a team to a high-performing level. As explained below the key leadership enablers include: conversation, direction setting, listening, trust, and empathy. A leader’s role varies from intervener, to coach, to questioner, and lastly, the all-essential role of being vulnerable.

• Conversation

  The workhorse of a leader is conversation. Leaders look for moments to insert future-oriented themes into every conversations. Don’t dwell in the past or present – bring others into the domain of possibilities. Words matter, but so does body language. Non-verbal behavior among members and during team conversations can be a detriment to progress because members spend time trying to sort out the messages from the noise. Facial expressions, for example, often can be misinterpreted, particularly when a person is listening intensely. If a member’s non-verbal behavior is holding the team back, the leader should intervene by pulling him or her aside and making them aware of the issue.

• Shaping Direction

  Direction-setting is key to transforming a group of people into a team, and it is initially the leader’s primary focus. The more effectively the direction is defined, the faster a team will embrace it. The style of a leader is critical, especially in making proposals versus declarations. The former invites challenge while the latter discourages it. A leader recognizes that they can be blinded by their mental models and language – to the point that they can miss a shifting reality and fail to adapt. As a result, the leader’s job is not to make all of the decisions, but to ensure that the right decisions are made, therefore they need the input of people around them.

• Intervening & Coaching

  Conflict is normal within any group of people. The key to making it constructive is active listening. Many teams fail due to destructive conflict. It is typically a strong and competitive member that blocks progress. Leaders need to pull aside aggressive or toxic members as early as possible to coach them on effective listening. Two coaching techniques to improve listening are (1) illustrate through your own behavior how a person can shift the focus of their listening off themselves and onto the other person, and (2) help others discover insights about themselves through questioning and not “telling”. It is also important that the leader recognizes his or her role as facilitator and not the aggressor.

• Asking Questions

  The emergence of trust is an important enabler for high team performance, and it starts with the leader. Leaders can be most effective by asking constructive questions and being tolerant of the group members’ widely varying abilities and preferences. The leader must be seen as trusting the group to achieve its maximum potential. This trust is a catalyst and becomes shared among the members. The leader should strive to blend in, watch ill-placed humor, and be cautious with overly rewarding or reprimanding members in front of the group.

• Being Vulnerable

  Achieving the highest level of team performance is driven by the emergence of empathy among the members. In my seminars, I advise leaders to be the first to be vulnerable, or be the first to self-disclose. Emotional exposure is experienced when we ask for help, admit fear, or ask for forgiveness. For example, a simple statement from a leader like, “That’s way beyond me, please help me understand” can be the catalyst for a new insight for the team. Vulnerability in leaders is contagious and is emulated by other team members. It is perceived as courageous by team members and inspires others to follow. Moreover, it removes the fear of being wrong, and encourages the risk taking required to sustain a viable team at high-performance levels.

• Foundation Learning for Leaders

  High-performing teams don’t “just happen”. Leaders nurture high-performing teams into existence through conversations, shaping direction, intervening, coaching, questioning, and the all-essential role of vulnerability.