Leadership Ah-ha: High-Performing Teams Are Built on These 4 Pillars
In recent months, I’ve had the opportunity to facilitate several workshops on elevating team performance, and it led me to an ah-ha moment. Of course, leaders are essential to bringing people together and developing a high-performing team. It’s literally in the job description. But I realized that the small, day-to-day ah-ha moments often do the heavy lifting to elevate team performance. And that made me think about how leaders can actively cultivate those day-to-day ah-has to further enable and optimize performance.
When thinking about elevating team performance, many people look to Patrick Lencioni’s “Five Dysfunctions of a Team.” While I agree with the principles, I feel like the phrasing starts people off on the back foot, focusing on what’s dysfunctional rather than what’s working well. In my work with leaders and teams, I prefer to focus on the four pillars of high-performing teams outlined in Shirzad Chamine’s “Positive Intelligence.” I’ve found these pillars, which include some crossover elements with Lencioni’s five dysfunctions, to be more impactful as teams work to elevate their performance. Take a look.
Pillar 1: Triple purpose
Triple purpose is the ideal place to begin because it’s at the core of how a team bonds. In high-performing teams, each team member is inspired to work toward a triple purpose: realizing their own self-actualization (aka addressing their purpose and achieving their potential), assisting teammates in their self-actualization journeys, and positively impacting others outside of their organization.
To foster triple purpose, leaders must first declare their own purpose and seek support from others. Encouraging team members to do the same is crucial. By incorporating purpose-driven conversations into day-to-day interactions, leaders create an empowering environment where individuals can pursue their goals and contribute to the team's success, both internally and externally.
Pillar 2: Earned trust
Trust within a team is a crucial element for everything from engagement and productivity to innovation and personal growth. One of the best ways a leader can establish and reinforce trust is through their day-to-day interactions with their team. In other words, you can’t tell people to trust each other. You have to lead it and live it. This means practicing open communication, admitting our mistakes and vulnerabilities, and building strong relationships that go beyond work. By fostering trust, we lay the groundwork for authentic collaboration and optimized performance.
Here are three essential daily actions for leaders:
Practice open communication that demonstrates respect for each member’s ideas. Along with being as transparent as possible, this also means providing opportunities for all team members to feel heard. You’ll need to get to know the communication styles of each individual, so you can effectively encourage them to share ideas and concerns.
Admit when you make a mistake or don’t know an answer. This way, people will see that it’s okay and that innovation and performance rely on learning from each other. Allowing members to feel safe in admitting vulnerabilities is the basis for optimizing the strengths of each individual to form a high-performing team.
Build strong relationships that don’t begin and end with work. Getting people to open up doesn’t happen overnight. The best way to encourage people to feel comfortable being themselves is to “walk the talk” as a leader. Be real – and show your vulnerability. And show a genuine interest in getting to know team members. Your goal is to ensure that everyone feels like they’re part of a team that cares for one another.
Pillar 3: Healthy conflict
In theory, we can all agree that healthy conflict can be a good thing, with each team member communicating directly and honestly – and challenging each other when needed – to arrive at the best solution. But seeing the value of conflict and creating an environment that encourages it are two different things.
Healthy conflict is an absolutely essential characteristic of high-performing teams. When you create and embrace the right level and types of conflict, your team shares open and honest communication, mutual respect, and a commitment to achieving the best possible outcome. Team members also seek out input, challenge assumptions, and highlight blind spots as a standard way of working and making decisions.
So how can a leader nurture healthy conflict? Here are a few thoughts:
Walk the talk: One of the biggest barriers to healthy conflict is the fear of offending or upsetting others. To overcome this, model the communication style you want to inspire. Direct but respectful. Honest but tactful.
Frame conflict as normal: Rather than avoiding it, treat it as an essential aspect of your team’s dynamic. Healthy conflict is an opportunity for growth and development – for you and your team.
Establish ground rules: Team members need to feel safe expressing their perspectives without fear of judgment or retaliation. Talk about what you expect – then demonstrate it in your everyday interactions. Provide opportunities for sharing ideas. Ask for feedback and alternatives. Listen and discuss without jumping to conclusions or becoming defensive.
Shut down destructive conflict: There's a fine line between healthy and destructive conflict. Destructive conflict is all about personal attacks and winning at all costs. Keep the focus on the issues rather than personalities, and step in if things start to get out of hand.
Pillar 4: Mutual accountability
Success in today's complex business environment is rarely an individual achievement. Rather, it results from the collective efforts of a high-performing team. The trust and transparency that come with mutual accountability are the foundation. In my leadership experiences and as I work with leaders through my coaching practice, there’s nothing better than realizing your team is on the same page, focused, and working together toward shared goals. Of course, it doesn’t happen by accident. Leaders – through consistent, day-to-day actions – can foster a team culture of mutual accountability.
Here are the basic building blocks:
Be human first. Goals, objectives, and metrics are important but don’t expect them to be automatically inspiring. Take the time to get to know each team member, what makes them tick, and what motivates them.
Connect the dots. Leaders must paint the big picture to show how the team’s output fits within the larger organization and how delivering on commitments at the individual and team levels impacts other teams and the business overall.
Create clear expectations. In order for everyone to get on board, they have to understand exactly what’s expected. Utilize all available communication channels to reinforce messages, share progress, and, most importantly, collaborate. Be direct – but don’t do all the talking. Encourage conversation by asking questions and then listening to the discussion.
Be a coach. See your role as setting each team member up for success. That means providing them with the resources, tools, and feedback they need along the way.
Celebrate the wins. Track your collective progress, recognize contributions – big and small – and make time to celebrate. Simple shout-outs or thank-you notes are especially meaningful to let team members know their efforts are seen and appreciated. For major milestones, make defining how you’ll celebrate part of the collaboration from the beginning.
Through my work with leaders and teams, I’ve seen how a day-to-day focus on cultivating triple purpose, earned trust, healthy conflict, and mutual accountability establishes an environment where individuals thrive, and teams achieve their full potential. Coaching Works NYC is here to help you create the conditions for success. Contact me to learn more.