Building High Performance Teams Part 1

1. Assume that 99% of people are smart people!

There are many situations where someone can go from ‘smart to idiot’ in only 3 months! Yet, it’s not because they don’t have something valuable to offer. It could just be something external going on or a chemistry mis-match with another person. However helping them through it or redeploying them to enable them to return to better success, while still seeing them as smart and valuable, is a crucial mindset strategy.

When people make mistakes or under-perform, they seem to quickly move from being seen as ‘smart’ to being branded as an ‘idiot’. Yet almost all people want to succeed, achieve and do the right thing by the company. However, if they genuinely are a mis-match for the culture then don’t rotate or hide them…get rid of them.

If a team member has previously been delivering against objectives then as a leader you have all the evidence you need that your team member’s skills, abilities and ways of operating can produce results. As a smart leader you’re going to do whatever can be done to get those talents playing out again – whether that means within their current role or an alternative position.

Given their I.D.™ there a number of reasons why a good team member may start to lose their way. The common theme to these reasons will ultimately be unmet needs that relate to the individual’s particular set of drives. A focused one to one discussion, where you encourage them to explore the reasons for their current performance from their perspective, can reveal which of their I.D. needs are not being met and are therefore blocking effective performance. This can then lead to the generation of practical strategies to help them get back in stride and performing well again. For this to happen, you also need to ask them the specific question: What can I do to help you perform better?

The following gives some examples of what can be blocking performance within individuals:

Those driven by the Instinctive Drive to Verify™ :

Are they clear and have they bought into the purpose of their projects and tasks, or do they feel they’re stumbling around with no clear idea of what’s required or don’t agree it is the way forward?
Do they feel they’re treading water, and therefore not involved in anything that is developing their knowledge and skills and driving their need for continuous improvement?
Are they frustrated by the fact that they feel they are not working with others with similar quality standards?

Those driven to Avoid the Instinctive Drive to Verify™:

Do they feel the focus of the team, or you as a leader, is continually on what isn’t working rather than what is working and how to make the rest work too?
Are they frustrated by being constantly asked to provide detail, evidence and explanations justifying what they did and why?

Those driven by the Instinctive Drive to Authenticate™:

Have you made any ‘verbal contracts’ with them that have not played out and not looped back with them on the reasons why e.g. why their involvement in a particular project didn’t happen or why a move or a pay review wasn’t possible?
Are some of their key skills unused and therefore, they feel, being wasted?
Do they perceive that the projects they’re involved in are adding real value to the team, the client and the organisation?

Those driven to Avoid the Instinctive Drive to Authenticate™:

Do they feel their behind the scenes efforts are not being acknowledged, appreciated or rewarded?
Is their role requiring them to be so involved in the doing that there’s little opportunity for them to be creating new directions and projects and then leveraging the efforts of others to deliver on them?

Those driven by the Instinctive Drive to Complete™ :

Is the plan changing every 5 minutes? Are you keeping them in the loop about the reasons for the change and helping them adjust the existing plan?
Are others not following through and so they feel they are unable to deliver on their own objectives?
Does their need for harmony mean they’re saying yes to others too often and so are unable to deliver on their key result areas?

Those driven to Avoid the Instinctive Drive to Complete™:

Are you holding them accountable, not only to the end result, but to every step along the way to achieving it so that they feel there’s no room to creative in reaching the final goal their way?
Do they feel bogged down by repetitive and routine tasks to the point they feel they can’t pay enough attention to the new and more interesting stuff that would really motivate them?

Those driven by the Instinctive Drive to Improvise™ :

Do you provide them with enough deadlines to create the sense of urgency they need to work at their best?
Do they feel they’re doing the same thing, day-in day-out, or are continually stuck infront of the PC with little opportunity for interaction?
Are they working in a positive atmosphere with others who are keen to focus on making things better rather than being critical about what isn’t working?

Those driven to Avoid the Instinctive Drive to Improvise™:

Are they having to constantly fire-fight and are all the urgent things you pass to them genuinely last minute?
Do they feel they are always having to make decisions without time for the risks to be considered and with the desired outcome being far from certain?

You do also need to take into account the match between the knowledge, skills and abilities an individual brings to the role and the actual demands of their role – there may be times, for example, when even with additional training and support, a genuine disparity has occurred which may require moving them to a more suitable role or even their release from the company.

Similarly, each team member will have, along with their I.D., their unique personality and attitude to the situation they are in, which are also factors to take into account when deciding the best way to manage underperformance.

As an effective leader you should always take action to address poor performance and never underestimate the effect of your failure to do so on the rest of the team. However, the key message when addressing performance issues is to begin from the mindset of assuming that 99% of people are smart and do want to do a good job and, that it’s your job as a leader to work with them to get things on track for consistent performance.

2. Be genuinely interested in people…really! Get close to them. Know their world.

Understand what’s going on in their personal life. Although this becomes increasingly challenging as your organisation expands, you can still drive good communication channels to help them better understand you and your world and listen to their feedback.

It can also be as simple as asking them how they are, and wishing them a great weekend, rather than just diving straight into the issue or purpose of the call. Actually you could argue that the issue simply gives you a legitimate reason to connect with them and further develop that connection.

Making genuine personal connections can help strengthen relationships between a leader and a team but also help you to see what truly motivates individuals. The following will give you some insights into how their life outside work is significant to them or how it relates to work:

Those driven by the Instinctive Drive to Verify™ :

What are the areas outside work where a team member is hoping to improve and develop – being a better parent, achieving a lower golf handicap, learning a language?

Those driven to Avoid the Instinctive Drive to Verify™:

Just because your question of how was your weekend?” was met with the short response of: "good" does not mean you are being blown off. They just aren’t into the analysis of it (e.g.figuring out the best part). Still take the time to ask but, if you want better answers ask better questions e.g.What did you do on the weekend? followed up with: Oh really, how was that?

Those driven by the Instinctive Drive to Authenticate™:

What hobbies and activities allow your team member to get their sleeves rolled up and get hands-on outside the workplace?

Those driven to Avoid the Instinctive Drive to Authenticate™:

How does your team member’s life outside the workplace reflect their philosophy on life generally? If they are excited about something that happened ask them what it meant to them that it happened: it is this deeper meaning that they appreciate you understanding.

Those driven by the Instinctive Drive to Complete™ :

What’s your team member’s ‘bigger picture’? How does their work-life fit into their overall life plans including plans for the family?

Those driven to Avoid the Instinctive Drive to Complete™:

They will appreciate any distraction from what they are working on at that minute. They love variety even in conversation. Simply make the effort to ask them about something other than the topic you really need them for.

Those driven by the Instinctive Drive to Improvise™ :

Be genuinely excited about what they are excited about, even if it is simply you being excited that they are excited about it! They feed off positive energy and buzz so feed this even more where you can.

Those driven to Avoid the Instinctive Drive to Improvise™:

They will naturally separate work and play. This is not because they don’t enjoy their work, it is just that they keep the two worlds separate. Take time to ask them about their weekend or evening but if they shift back into work mode don’t take it as a dismissal, it is just where their head is at that time.

3. Get smart people around you who genuinely compliment your gaps … and who then collectively compliment each other as well.

This firstly requires you to be really honest with yourself about your own talents and weaknesses. Secondly, it requires you to have a very good understanding of each person on your team. Not just their strengths and weaknesses, but also their ambitions, values, limitations, operating styles etc.

Knowing your own I.D. will give you great insight into your unique needs, talents and vulnerabilities, combined with your own self knowledge you will be armed with plenty of information about the gaps you need to fill!

Depending on which drives you have you’ll want to look at how others in your team that are driven differently to you can provide a set of talents complimentary to yours. For example:

Those driven by the Instinctive Drive to Verify™ :

Who will check out that you’re including the progress or achievements in your communications rather than only the things that are going wrong (which in your mind are the areas for improvement) so you can maximise the positive impact you are looking for?
Who can you go to when you don’t have time for analysis and you need a decision to be made?

Those driven to Avoid the Instinctive Drive to Verify™:

Who can check over the detail and help you pick up where you need to dot the i’s and cross the t’s?
Who can fire questions at you to prepare you for when you know you’re going to get grilled by others over a project, your performance or a new idea?

Those driven by the Instinctive Drive to Authenticate™:

Who can help you see leverage where you never saw it before - ways to take what you do today and expand its reach tomorrow?
Who can let you know when your open and honest communication is going to land with a big ouch!

Those driven to Avoid the Instinctive Drive to Authenticate™:

Who’s there to give you a reality check in terms of how a great idea in theory may play out in practice?
Who can help you get the message across clearly so that others really get what you are trying to say?

Those driven by the Instinctive Drive to Complete™ :

Who can show you where a change to the original plan will get an even better result?
Who can let you know that your need for harmony is, infact, causing longer-term disharmony?

Those driven to Avoid the Instinctive Drive to Complete™:

Who can help you to ensure follow through by keeping you honest – reminding you of the things still to be done?
Who can ensure that others, both inside the team and external stakeholders, are kept in the loop when changes in thinking and process occur?

Those driven by the Instinctive Drive to Improvise™ :

Who can keep you motivated to see something through to the end when there’s no choice but to keep going with it?
Who can identify the risks for you, the places that things might fall apart, so that you can be ready for them?

Those driven to Avoid the Instinctive Drive to Improvise™:

Who can push you out of your comfort zone and identify the risks of not stepping out of it?
Who can help the team develop its profile and exposure to those that need to know by making them aware of its wins and what it has to offer?

Your main focus as a leader: people.

So as a proactive leader:

assume that 99% of people are smart;
be genuinely interested in people and;
get smart people to compliment your gaps

These three strategies all highlight the need for your primary focus as an effective leader to be on leading and growing your team. Managing objectives or resolving operational issues are, of course, also important. However, 70-80% of an effective leader’s time should be connected to strategically leading and growing individuals and the team.