As you build your momentum you will be building your own team. Some of the team members will be reporting directly to you, while others may have a more informal link. In order to get the best out of your team you need to be clear about what value-added contributions you are looking for. Sometimes you may need to keep your team renewed and nurtured. Building your team successfully involves a combination of decisiveness, delegation and serving the team.
If you try to operate in isolation you will drown, overwhelmed by work and exhausted through lack of encouragement from others. Raising your game successfully means putting significant time into the hard work of team building. Recognise that this is always a dynamic process, with team membership changing and evolving. A team that is too stable can easily become stagnant; the challenge of new ideas and new blood is essential in any team.
When focusing on getting the best out of your staff, ask yourself 'What can I do for them?' rather than 'What can they do for me?' Henry, a senior leader in a law firm, talked about trying a range of techniques to motivate someone to work more effectively when she looked as if she had no desire to raise her game. Eventually she did make a step change, but it was because she wanted to change, not because her boss wanted her to change. Henry learned that you have to enable people to arrive at their own motivation based on their own interests and goals. Then they are much more likely to step up to the responsibility and be willing to drive positive action.
During challenging times, a key question is how individuals' strengths and networks are to be used effectively. Who is going to lead the operational aspects? Who is going to be doing the negotiation with stakeholders? Who will be responsible for communications? Define roles, maximise energy, benefit from people's capabilities and avoid the debilitating effect of organisational muddle. Flexibility will still be important, but within a framework where everyone knows what they are expected to deliver.
Ideally, within any team you should make time and space to identify individuals' motivations and build the pattern of work around their preferences. Sometimes a more direct approach is necessary when time is short and a range of different tasks need to be done. Where there has been scope for individuals to identify their own preferences in the normal course of work, they are more likely to be willing to do particular tasks when the situation requires decisive action. Clarity about a leader's reasons for a more direct approach will be important; this may not need to be explained at the precise moment when urgent action is required, but an explanation later can make a big difference in terms of an individual's feelings.
In challenging times certain people within a team come to the fore; it helps if you know who they are ahead of time. It may well be those who have been through similar situations in the past and have 'worn the tee shirt'. How are they going to be deployed? During busy periods you might need to adjust your expectations about people in your team. The stress will incapacitate some but take others to new levels of competence.
Toughness when leading a team is crucial. Be relentless in delivering outcomes, be willing to prioritise and then prioritise again. Listen to people's concerns, demonstrate a good level of understanding and be willing to adapt where possible in response to the suggestions and concerns of team members.
When the going gets tough in any team there can be a danger of being soft on underperformance. If someone is not coping with a demanding situation it is no help just leaving them in a bad place. Sometimes painful conversations with team members are necessary both for the organisation and individual. Someone may need to be moved out of the team, but this should only be done for reasons that you've carefully thought through and explained.
You can feel sorry for people who are struggling and tend to avoid the emotional pressure of difficult conversations, but sometimes tough conversations are essential.
In his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Jossey-Bass,2002), Patrick Lencioni talks of the five themes of:
These five strands have proved crucial in many different team situations. Key questions to consider as you build a team are:
How can trust be built more strongly across the team?
How can you ensure that different views can be expressed openly and honestly, which allows difficult issues to be explored constructively?
How can the level of commitment of individuals be grown more strongly (or a limited level of commitment identified and action taken)?
How do you ensure clear lines of accountability that are visible and accepted, with agreed methods of updating them over time?
How do you ensure that results are clearly measured and transparent and lead to effective feedback?
Practical steps for addressing each of these five themes are illustrated in Box 14.
Many teams need a 'healing touch'. There can be underlying prejudices, resentments, fears, frustrations and even anger that get in the way. Because of past history or future apprehensions, there is possibly reluctance among some team members to get close to other colleagues. These inhibitors mean that some teams never operate at their full effectiveness because of a sense of underlying reserve or even suspicion.
How do you help bring healing to your team?
Enable individuals to understand each other better and work more effectively together.
Assist people in understanding why they have prejudices or perspectives that they bring to particular situations and decisions.
Enable the team to leave past failures behind and move positively into the future.
Create defining moments when a team moves from a 'half empty' perspective to a 'half full' affirmation.
Enable people to address their fears and apprehensions openly.
Use the trust you have with individuals to encourage them to change their attitude towards people who may have hurt them or forgive those who have let them down.
Encourage those whose confidence has been dented to forgive themselves and move on.
Being a 'good doctor' is not necessarily bringing about a magic solution. Instead, contribute practical wisdom, encouraging your 'patient' to heal themselves through their actions and attitudes. The 'leader as healer' may sometimes have solutions they want to offer, but often the most useful medicine is a reflective and honest conversation that helps an individual move on from past frustration and anger. While the healing role of a leader can be hidden, (its effectiveness only partial visible because it is done quietly), it can still have a very powerful effect.
