Are you Secretly Worried about your Team's Performance?
Do you lie awake trying to figure out what is going wrong with your team and worry about how to fix it?
You are not alone!
Surely every single leader has been there at one point in time.. or perhaps several points in time!
Our aim as leaders is to create a high-performance culture but what is key to this aim is the wellbeing of our team as well as their results.
Building a High-Performance Culture
As leaders, we may believe that building a high-performance culture within our workplace is simply a matter of hiring the right people to do the job but what about the environment that we create to allow our team to reach their full potential?
In order to create a high-performance culture our team need to feel valued, engaged, have purpose and a shared vision. Our team need to feel their growth, remain engaged and confident that they can communicate their needs. Without the right environment, we cannot expect our team to flourish.
So how do you know when there are Problems within your Team?
Some evidence is tangible:
– The team is missing key deadlines
– Work progress is slow
– Mistakes are being made
– Other departments are providing negative feedback
– High team turnover
Some evidence is more subtle:
– The atmosphere feels ‘off’
– Conflict between team members
– Lots of sick days / absences
– Energy seems to shift in the room when you are present
– People seem generally unhappy and demotivated
– No one is helping each other out
– People who are normally positive and proactive turn quiet
Spotting the Signs
The truth is, if we spot the less tangible signs quickly, we may be able to prevent the more tangible results that eventually follow.
If spotting the signs is key step one, then what follows? How do we figure out what is actually going wrong?
One of the simple tools that often creates great “ah-ha” moments for our leadership clients when this topic arises, is the one in the diagram below:
Use this diagram as a tool for assessing your team:
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Start by identifying which box you think best describes where your team are right now?
If you were to put an X in a box somewhere, upper right, lower left etc… where would that X go? Perhaps your team members are in different boxes? Where are you?
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Next – Look at both axis… One side tells us that we need a high level of Accountability, the other, a high level of Psychological Safety to reach optimum levels of High Performance.
Could one/both be lacking in your team and therefore leading to the behaviour that you are experiencing?
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Finally, can you identify some actions that could increase Accountability / Psychological Safety / both?
Seeing more Clearly now?
It’s surprising how much impact we can begin to have, when we finally get clarity on the reality in our environment. Recognising an apathetic employee, an anxious member of your team, a team in their comfort zone, is the key to fixing the culture within your workplace.
The foundation of a high-performance culture is a shared vision with tangible goals to work toward in an environment that embraces:
Autonomy
Communication
Feedback
Accountability
Learning
Risk taking
Once you recognise where your team are going wrong, you, as their leader, can help them increase both their accountability and psychological safety and you, as their leader, can role model the way forward towards your shared goals.