Leadership Secrets: The Prize of Investing in Your Team

 Unlock the Benefit of Genuine Collaboration

Technical capability is rarely why a team doesn’t succeed.

Yet, technical capability is what a lot of managers focus on.

The team isn’t performing well, so we look at the people. We review their skill-sets and compare them to one another.

“If only I had another Bob — all of my problems would be solved.”

Sometimes another Bob is the answer. Most of the time it’s not. Technical capability is easy enough to teach. You identify gaps in someone’s understanding, you work with them or use a training mechanism to get them more exposure and experience. Most things aren’t that complicated, and the internet is amazing for someone who wants to learn.

Even with all the talent the Miami Heat had with the famous “big three”, they lost 50% of the time (4 consecutive finals — won 2, lost 2).

Why Does Team Development Matter

Teams are everywhere. It’s estimated that 90 percent of what we do at work happens through the collaboration of teams. The scary part is that almost half of that work effort is carried out by deteriorated teams.

Fostering the right type of environment and investing in teams as a whole should be a top priority for every organization.

Another major factor that is overlooked is differentiation. With more competition in every field, the people within your company are a unique value proposition — none of your competitors have “your” people. A focused team with the right relationships can delivery immense benefits.

How Does it Help the Business

The healthier the teams in your business are, the better your results will be. Since collaboration is the foundation of your execution, these five benefits have significant impact to success.

• Overall efficiency 
• Augmented creativity and problem solving
• Better culture
• Reduced risks
• Superior learning and knowledge sharing

The number varies, however most experts suggest that improved team dynamics generates between 10% to 20% improvement in effectiveness and productivity. These gains typically drop right to the bottom line.

Competition is fierce, having a set strategy for your teams and being committed to supporting their development is crucial for success.

Approaches to Team Development 

Before even starting, I’m going to burst your bubble. There is no system or approach you can implement to improve the effectiveness of your team.

How come?

Because without authenticity and caring, everything you try will fail.

Listed below are the methods I use and have developed over the last 15 years. I’m far from perfect, I’m always focused on learning and improving. Use these ideas as a base and build on them.

1. Listen
   This is the most important thing that you can do for your team. Listen to them. Not just when you have a problem, or you are looking for an answer. You need to listen to what they are telling you. All the time. But with the focus to respond, rather shift your goal towards understanding what they are sharing.
2. Be Vulnerable
   People are terrified of making mistakes. We have created such a negative connotation around failure in our society. If you want your team to be open to new ideas, to be willing to take more risks, you have to disarm the fear of failure response. A leader that shares their struggles, their failures and their own discomforts is the best way to help the team.
3. Speak as One
   I rarely say that someone “works for me”. While true by the org chart, I find the reference segregating. If you want everyone to work as a team, the first thing you need to do is speak (and act) as a team. 
4. Communicate
   There isn’t a relationship on the planet that will survive without communication. Make sure you are having regular conversations with each person on the team. These should be both formal and informal touch points.
5. Strengths & Weaknesses
   Everyone has them, stop pretending that they don’t. Stop telling everyone that they need to be the same. Expecting the exact same work from each person isn’t “fair”; it creates imbalances and friction within the group. Rather, structure work and assignments in ways that is complimentary to each person’s strengths. Each person is valued in their role and how their expertise contributes to the overall progress.
   An NFL team doesn’t have 12 quarterbacks, every NHL team has forwards and defencemen — why do we try to change this at work?
6. Support their Career
   Get to know their aspirations. The type of work that they want to do. Find ways to support them, to give them exposure and experience towards that end. 
   Yes, that probably means at some point you will “lose” them. That’s okay. Never, ever, hold anyone back because it’s easier for you.
7. Radical Candor
   I’m not even going to try to re-frame Kim Scott’s work. It’s fantastic. If you haven’t read her book, it’s an absolute must. Radical candor is a relationship you have with your team where you care personally and challenge directly. 
8. Credit to the Team
   Wins go to the team. Losses go to the leader. That’s the deal. That’s what you signed up for.

The Challenges You’ll Face

That was a lot. These areas can be immediately attended to and have impact.

The biggest challenge you will face as a leader as you look to increase that investment in your team is your priority list.

It’s easy to want to push time off with someone from the team, to cancel that meeting and thing that you will get to it next time. Don’t do that. Not keeping up with these commitments is the fastest way that your team will start to break down.

Final Thoughts

Leadership is about people. Your team is a group of people. Work to connect with each person in the way that best works for them (not you), treat everyone with respect and hold onto the idea that you are there to support them.