CREATING HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS

1. Be a ‘pracademic’ in all you do – link models, theory, frameworks to real world dynamics.

Trust, safety, vulnerability and challenge should sit on the bottom of every high performing team. These traits also have links to motivation, performance and knowledge exchange amongst many other things.

2. High performing teams require equally high performing leadership

Remember that to create high performing teams, you need high performing leadership. Invest in both. As a leader we want to stay close to the mindset feeds and avoid the mindset traps – do you know them?

3. If I’m Not Around, Would My Team Have Performed to the Same Level as I would have hoped?

If I was the leader of a team, and I was not to be around tomorrow, or next week, or next month,
would my team perform to the same level of performance that I would have hoped if I’m not around as the leader. Leaders set pace but subtly shift the ownership to that pace to others within a flat organisational structure.

COMMON TRAITS OF THE WORLD’S TOP LEADERS

4. Accountability and Presence.

They connect with themselves first through being accountable and present.

5. The best of the best are accustomed to Chaos, Reflection, Curiosity, Care and Energy

6. Chaos – You Take Over Carnegie Hall or Carnegie Hall Takes Over You

What is your chaos and how as a leader are you navigating chaos? “The best I have seen not only manage chaos, they sit in chaos, thrive in chaos and grow in chaos.”

7. The Best of the Best Reflect on their Performance

Write down a list of what you need to do practically, proactively, what you need help with and what you need a coach to help you with. Leaders use a group to get feedback and to hold themselves accountable.

8. The Top Leaders are Relentless

Leaders have the balance in connecting the Birds Eye view (where the organisation wants to go, the threats, risks and opportunities) with the Worms Eye view (finding opportunities and going after them, executing). Are you getting the balance between the two?

9. Leaders are master facilitators

Seeing sparks and creating flames every single day

10. Care is Extremely Important to Leaders

A lot of leaders spend their time at the surface level, very quickly getting past emotions and feelings and on to work-related tasks. A lot of other leaders spend their time in the bottom part, speaking to team members more about their personal lives to gauge their emotions and provide support. Leaders care for all their team members deeply and they don’t disregard that one rogue monkey.

11. They Celebrate the Small Wins

When playing snakes and ladders, we try our best to avoid the snakes and get more ladders. However, we all know as leaders that we will hit a snake along the way. It is important to celebrate the small wins. We know some days there will be some shade. How are you in that space in terms of managing your time, your energy but also looking out for potential opportunities?

12. They set pace

They set pace but subtly shift the ownership to that pace to others within a flat organisational structure.

PRACTICAL TOOLS YOU CAN TAKE AWAY TO MANAGE YOUR TEAMS

13. Effective Energy is Linked to Team Cohesiveness

Leaders understand their people and team innately to drive understanding and trust at all layers. For example, Tommy Tiernan rolls the conversation with the energy in the room, what they want to say to a place of laughter and authenticity. How is your energy? What does it look like?

14. What Would Your Team Say About Your Leadership?

Ask yourself, what would your staff say your leadership looks like right now? Specifically, where will you get growth from? Who will help you and when?

15. Maintaining Strong Culture Within Your Organisation

Think about the people and the processes. Who are the people that are with you? What do they look like, how are the dynamics and the cohesiveness? How do the processes link together within an organisation and what does performance look like? Follow that process and bring order to the chaos. How are you assisting people to do that? Culture is the air that we breathe.

16. Navigating Your Teams Through COVID-19

There is a powerful driver in equipping the leader or the people around you with coaching skills so emotional intelligence, awareness, the ability to manage situations, to build and bring clarity to chaos, etc. Coaching and coaching skills are the vehicles to equipping that or empowering people or leaders or teams with the ability to navigate themselves.

HOW THE BEST OF THE BEST ARE ABLE TO MANAGE AND SUSTAIN PERFORMANCE

17. Achieving Success or Maintaining Success

Ask yourself what success means for you. Your definition of success may not mirror or follow the pattern of some of your team. Do some work around the definition of success to you. Secondly, it is probably easier to get to the top of the mountain because in some ways you can navigate your way or keep your legs pumping but when you get to the top, the space is so small that there’s people coming behind you and the whole time, their pushing you off – sustaining success is most challenging.

18. Encouraging Improvement as Opposed to Getting a Negative Reaction

All members of the team should present themselves in terms of what works for them and what does not work for them. Sharing everything with each other opens that transparency. Presenting all members of the team allows the team to play most optimally. When teams have disappointments, they should go behind each other

19. Leadership Maturity – Analyse People’s Traits and See How Can We Move Them Up Over the Years and Keep the Cycle Going

There is a certain level of maturity that experience brings, working with people and general team dynamics and behaviors, knowing where people are coming from. There is so much out there that will allow you to get better, add on inches and that. Be open-minded to new ideas and suggestions.

20. Approaching Feedback From the Team

Approaching feedback from the team depends on the personality, the leader and the style at which they will be open to the feedback. Ask yourself, what is the culture of the organisation? Is it very feedback orientated in terms of what everyone else does?

21. Leading From the Front and Behind

From the team point of view, it can be better to lead from behind to allow team members the opportunity to learn. This will help improve the overall team performance also and as a result, learn to sustain success. It depends on the person though, there are benefits from both approaches but you have to be comfortable with the one you choose.

22. If You’re Out in the Warzone and You Have to Get to a Target, That Deep Rooted Connection Will Get You Around the Corner

Connection is important. Before going after the technical, physical and tactical elements, focus on the power of connection. This is very valuable in the review process, in figuring out how to meet that target.

23. How to Deal With Setbacks

Value time and value those who are closest to you and ensure that you are investing enough time into those relationships. Take out your notepad and write down the facts of the situation, the opportunities available and create a map of how you will get from A to B and who can help me get there. Be confident that those around you can help you get there.

24. Think About the Softer Sides of the Team as well as the Professional Elements

There are professional elements such as the way we communicate with clients, the best practices etc. but what about the softer side in terms of what you as a leader and the team are doing together? How do people connect and how do you get the most value for all of the team?

25. Tips on Developing the Level of Curiosity in the Group You Lead

There are tons of books and studies which show the power of introducing new ideas so if it was to be used, a business leader facilitating cognitive diversity on a monthly basis. For leaders that manage teams there is definitely a lot of work you can do straight away: get the right person in the right room, describe or frame the conversion and what you hope to get out of it. Hopefully, you will start to see the team spark and become a little more innovative.

26. Finding Your Voice and Remaining True to Your Values Along Your Journey

Don’t look to other people and wonder why you are not like them or as good as them, look at your own train tracks, which are solid and pull in other people as a guide and support to keep you on track to where you would like to go. Get more comfortable with backing yourself. Be authentic and remember, you are good enough.