“The collective intelligence of most teams is beneath the average intelligence of its members.” – Peter Senge[1]
This fable gets used a lot to demonstration a lack of collaboration, but it’s just so good. Six blind people are inspecting an elephant, and each gains some local knowledge they believe can be used to describe the entire animal.
“And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!” – Hindoo fable.
The antidote to both of the observations above is collaboration.
Complex solutions require cross-functional teams, and a high performing team knows how to collaborate and bring their whole selves to the problem, making it a differentiator in any market. These teams possess a unique combination of qualities that enable them to achieve outstanding results consistently. A high performing team can be created.
My framework for creating a high performing team:
- Build cohesion within the team
- Get them aligned on a common goal
- Create psychological safety
- Build transparent processes which facilitate focus and execution
In this post, I will delve into each of these components and explore how they contribute to the creation of a high-performing team.
I first outlined this framework years ago while turning a completely dysfunctional team, one that was yelling at each other for months, into a high-performing team that completed it’s project in one month after the conversion. This framework works. I wish I had it earlier in my career.
1. Build Cohesion Within the Team
Teams are built on relationships. Relationships are built on communication. Coordinating action requires communication which is the basis of teamwork.
A cohesive team is one that operates as a unified entity, with individuals working together towards a shared purpose. This is a team that knows each other’s tendencies, strengths, weaknesses, and values the diversity.
I build this into my rhythm this way:
We keep a rotating “About Me” segment in our weekly staff meetings where teammates show their life outside of work.
We have a quarterly offsite which includes fun, thought provoking business simulations such as MIT’s “Beer Game”.
Every new hire gets assigned on “onboarding buddy”. That buddy will be in touch with the new hire before they start to answer any questions and hear any anxieties. The onboarding buddy and I greet the new hires when they leave their Day 1 orientation and we go to lunch together. The onboarding buddy will personally introduce the new hire around the office. Ideally the Project Team will have had a hand in the selection of the new employee and they know.
“We try to hire people who can coexist with other people because we work in teams.” – Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt
Tip for a turnaround
When this is a turnaround we’re embarking on, I call this step “Heal the team”. In that case, the leader should start by building a personal connection with every member of the team. Learn about their dogs, their family life, upcoming vacation. Take notes. Find ways to help the people laugh together again, and they’ll start collaborating again.
2. Aligned on a Common Goal
“If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up somewhere else.” – Yogi Berra
To achieve exceptional results, a high-performing team must be aligned on a common goal. There are infinite goals and finite goals, and both need to be defined. I like to define an infinite goal in the form of a Vision Statement – this is our North Star, the thing we are always striving for but never check the box.
“At the (Gates) Foundation, our guiding principle is equity. So when we disagree about, say, whether we should spend more on delivering imperfect tools to save lives now, or discovering better tools to save lives later we can always go back to how each of those tactics aligns with the core value of equity.” – Melinda French Gates[2]
Collaboration requires disagreement, but with everyone enrolled in the Vision of the team, we’re arguing towards the same end. When everyone is moving in the same direction, energy is channeled towards a shared purpose, and individual efforts become more focused and impactful.
Here’s how you can foster alignment within your team:
a. Infinite Goal:
Build the vision collaboratively, articulate it often. Ensure that everyone understands the overall objective and how their work contributes to the larger mission. This clarity of purpose helps align individual goals with the team’s objectives. This will be the subject of a future post.
b. Finite Goals:
Create clear problem statements with clear completion criteria.
For projects, create a Charter. Charter creation will be the subject of a future post.
Apply Organization Design principles including Conway’s Law to structure Large Program or Project teams to make the goals of the finite teams obvious in relation to the whole. Organization Design principles will be the subject of a future post.
3. Create Psychological Safety
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” – Socrates
“For an idea that does not at first seem insane, there is no hope.” – Albert Einstein
Yuval Noah Harari notes that humans drew world maps long before the entire world was known. The unknown regions would be filled with imaginary monsters. “Here be dragons” satiated curiosity. If there were known dragons, why would we go? But starting in the 15th and 16th centuries, Europeans began to draw maps with empty spaces. “The empty maps were a psychological and ideological breakthrough, a clear admission that Europeans were ignorant of large parts of the world.[3]” Those empty spaces sparked the curiosity that began the period of Great Exploration.
Psychological safety is anvil upon which innovation is forged and the corner stone upon high-performing teams are built. It is the belief that team members can express themselves without fear of judgment or negative consequences. Most innovative ideas sound weird when first spoken. And there is a long history of innovators who faced persecution for their ideas from Copernicus to Galileo to Darwin.
Don’t let this happen on your team.
When team members feel safe to take risks, share their opinions, to get those strange, innovative ideas on the table, and learn from mistakes, innovation and growth flourish.
Here’s how you can cultivate psychological safety within your team:
a. Lead by example:
As a leader, demonstrate vulnerability and openness. Admit your mistakes, seek feedback, and encourage others to do the same. Say “I don’t know.” When team members see their leader embracing vulnerability, it sets the tone for psychological safety.
b. Build some team rules to guide conflict while maintaining psychological safety. Enforce them. Applaud them when people exemplify them. Remind the team of them often.
Here are my favorites:
- Improve the program/system/process (whatever it is you’re collaborating on) and this team at the same time. One cannot victim to the other.
- If we’re collaborating on a dinner, your making the salad and I’m making the chicken, and you notice me putting cinnamon on my chicken instead of paprika – you gotta say so. Otherwise, you are letting the meal fall victim to our relationship. But if you do so screaming, you might be letting our relationship fall victim to the meal!
- This is a bilateral agreement to give and receive feedback; to give feedback with skill and to accept imperfect feedback.
- Afford everyone the assumption of best effort and best intentions.
- We’re all aligned, so we must have the same intentions, right?
- If you don’t know, say so. We’ll all learn together and it will increase the team’s mutual understanding.
- Send empowered representatives and respect the decisions made by the team. Don’t back channel something you didn’t agree with.
- Make and recognize repair attempts.
- This is actually from a brilliant marriage book. I think this applies everywhere.
4. Build Transparent Processes Which Facilitate Focus and Execution
“Results without process is not repeatable. Process without results is futile.”
Pixar had only made 6 films when Disney CEO Bob Iger championed the $7.4B aquisition. He needed to turn around Disney Animation which had lost $400M in the previous decade.[4] It was Pixar’s process for building great stories[5] that attracted Iger and Disney Animation which has been hugely profitable since. They have two main processes – one for getting the story perfect, the other for building the animation. These films often take 3-5 years, cost hundreds of millions of dollars and are wildly profitable after that huge cash outlay. I’ll write an outline of the Pixar processes in a follow-on post.
Transparent processes are vital to ensure that teams remain focused, execute effectively, and can see the progress, and impediments to progress. Here are some practices to enhance transparency within your team:
a. Clearly define workflows and expectations: Document and communicate clear workflows, standard operating procedures, and performance expectations. This clarity eliminates confusion, reduces errors, and enables team members to work efficiently towards their objectives.
b. Foster visibility and accountability: Utilize project management tools and platforms to provide real-time visibility into project statuses, milestones, and deadlines. Encourage team members to take ownership of their tasks and create a culture of mutual accountability.
c. Regularly evaluate and adjust processes: Continuously evaluate team processes, seeking feedback from team members on what works well and what can be improved. Regularly review and refine processes to ensure they align with evolving needs and changing circumstances.
b. Set OKRs goals: Establish Objectives and Key Results that support the team’s infinite and finite goals. When team members have clear objectives, it becomes easier to prioritize tasks and allocate resources effectively.
Conclusion:
Building a high-performing team requires intentional effort and a focus on key elements that foster cohesiveness, alignment, psychological safety, and transparent processes. By cultivating these qualities, you can create a team that thrives on collaboration, achieves outstanding results, and continuously pushes the boundaries of success. Embrace these principles, and you will unlock the full potential of your team, driving your organization towards greater heights of excellence.
Sources/Further Reading
[1] Senge, Peter M. The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. 1st ed. New York: Doubleday/Currency, 1990.
[2] Brown, Brené. Dare to Lead: Brave Work, Tough Conversations, Whole Hearts. New York: Random House, 2018. Page 212.
[3] Harari, Yuval Noaḥ. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Translated by John Purcell and Haim Watzman. Popular Science. London: Vintage Books, 2015.
[4] Iger, Robert. The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company. First edition. New York: Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2019. Page 131.
[5] Catmull, Edwin E., and Amy Wallace. Creativity, Inc: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration. First edition. New York: Random House, 2014. Page 83.
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