Managing and leading a team towards higher performance levels

Firstly I believe in the premise that there is “goodness” in everyone and likewise the basic premise is that all teams can become great teams: Teams that deliver outstanding results, collectively and consistently. However to move a team towards high performance requires serious effort. This calls for much more effort from the manager than from the team itself. It is the manager’s leadership trait that moves the performance of a team from ordinary levels to a “high performance” level. But not all managers are “leaders”.
So how does a manager become a “leader” and move the team towards higher performance levels?
Let us get the basics right first. In an organizational context, teams consist of managers and their team members. A manager is a “manager of people” (m.o.p). The team members are all Individual Contributors (i.cs). Everyone’s professional career can transition upwards across a spectrum from an i.c >>to>> a m.o.p >>to>> a leader. Not all i.cs become m.o.ps , some remain as “executives” who are more of doers. They excel at that. Many transition from an i.c to a m.o.p and become “managers”. Managers do just that: they manage. That is, apart from doing a fair bit of “doing” & “executing”, they also analyze the situation, arrive at strategic decisions / plans and lead the implementation of these plans.
However not all m.o.ps move upwards to becoming good leaders. I too am somewhere between an m.o.p and a leader. It takes a lot of effort for an m.o.p to move onto true leadership. And why is that?
Every m.o.p gets a mixed bag of people in his/her team. It is very normal to have the bulk as mediocre i.cs. A small minority would be top-talent. One can also expect to have lots of poor performers at the bottom of the pile. Any m.o.p who wants to move onto leadership has to be able to manage these three distinct kinds of i.cs. This demands the ability to manage them with different strategies: Different strokes for different folks. One has to excite and retain the top-talent and leverage them as role models. Migrate the middle mediocre bulk towards becoming top-talent. And have effective plans to either enhance the performance of the poor performers upwards, or get them out of the system. Doesn’t all of this sound difficult? Not really.
So how does a manager become a true leader and get high performance results from his team?
In all aspects of Life, we have to first be willing to GIVE before we GET. Before you G.E.T the team to deliver great performance or results, you have to do the G..…. E….. and T… >>> Give, Engage & then Take the best out of each team member and the team as a whole. To GIVE and ENGAGE, you have to adopt an appropriate MINDSET and APPROACH. Only then can one TAKE the best results out of the team and TAKE them to a high performance level. That will help you keep the team always “in the zone”: the hi performance zone. Having the right mindset and the right approach is the essence of true leadership. If a team is fortunate to have a m.o.p, who has the drive, passion and persistence to demonstrate leadership, the chances of that team delivering very high performances are very high. It is the vital science (the physics, chemistry & biology !) between the m.o.p and the i.cs that determines which teams become great teams.
MINDSET
Leaders can be of various mindsets and kinds. Like in the LMI lingo, leaders may be adopting either of these styles , out of their personal mindsets and viewpoints.
C : Casual : “ why should I care?” , “ it is not my job to coach”, “the team is paid to deliver , so they better”, “I am the boss, so they have to deliver” etc….
B : Blame: “my people are bad”, “my team cannot be trusted”, “my bosses are bad, so what can I do”, “”the environment sucks” etc….
A : Accountable: “I will get them to deliver”, “I will seek all help to coach my team”, “I will influence change in my environment, if it is required, to get my team to deliver”, “I will and can do it”….
Personally the only mindset which will truly succeed in all scenarios is a leader and a manager who are ACCOUNTABLE. They truly count. They matter. They do not shirk. They care. AND they make a huge difference to the world we live in.
APPROACH
Having talked about the MINDSET, what is the approach that a manager and aspiring leader could take? Based on my practical experience of managing teams over 25 years, the following approach with its seven C’s may be quite effective. Especially since every manager will have a mix of top-talent, mediocre performers and poor performers in his/her team. Each of the “7 C” elements of the approach will however need to be tweaked depending on whether the i.c is a top-talent / mediocre performer or poor performer. Like stated before, different strokes for different folks. Doing this will help every m.o.p become a good leader of a high performance team:
CARE & CONCERN : Demonstrating genuine & heartfelt care and concern for the team-members welfare, both at home and at the workplace. Being with them in their tough times and proving that you are flexible and fair. Helping them realize that you are “for” them not “against” them. Helping flex the organizational rules to support them. Getting them to a point where they start seeing the genuineness in their leader as one whom they can truly trust. Let them truly appreciate that you are their “partner” not a “boss”.
COACH & COURSE CORRECTION: Assessing the aspects that they need help with. Seeking resources from within oneself and from within the rest of the organization to help them. Setting up a course (course meaning a pathway, not in the usual sense of a training course) for them either individually or collectively. Providing the navigation and course correction, along the way. Powerfully use a EWS (early warning system) philosophy. Early detection is early solution. Addressing a problem early helps you tackle smaller problems. Late detection is trying to solve a much bigger problem. Also help the team to have the courage to adopt an “ews” style. Encourage risk taking. Allow experimentation. Learn to accept failures as they open the doors to success. Show them that after every fall, we can rise, if we stick together in the true spirit of being “partners”. Diving deep into the finer details of each issue and challenge helps immensely. Because ATD “attention to detail” is what works. A coaching recipe that truly has “partnering”, an environment of “ews” and lots of “atd” will be the tastiest one.
CALIBRATE : Reviewing each one’s individual progress and the team’s collective progress. Helping the team realize that an organization is nothing but an assemblage of numerous teams. Most importantly aligning the team’s direction and the organization’s overall long term direction. Helping the team see the big picture. How the “now and todays” will make the “future and tomorrows”.
COMMUNICATE : Build a strong two way communication methodology. Listen before you seek to be heard. Develop the capability to sense the said and the unsaid. Look out for signals and patterns in individual behavior as well as in overall team dynamics. Share transparently the team’s results and the organization’s results. Tell each one how the scenario and the big picture is shifting, because that is natural. Situations in which the organization operates in are dynamic and hence the organizational course correction will call for course correction in the team’s directions too. Communicate in a 360 degree style: upwards, downwards and at peer level.
CHANGE : Ability to visualize the need for change, manage change and drive change. Change within oneself and within his/her team. Change within one’s own span of control and circle of influence and also in the environment. Change roles within the team, change the team members if required. And that too with a lot of passion, persistence and patience.
CONQUER: Set lofty goals and “partner” with your team to conquer them. Raise the bar always and set your sights and the team’s sights on higher peaks to climb. One conquest clears the path to the next. Stop and enjoy one conquest, while at the same time preparing for the next.
CELEBRATE: The conquest is “ours” not just “mine”. Ensure that they get to plant the flag at the peak. Share the success of the conquest. It is only in their success, that your success lies. Shed the ego to allow them to be in the spotlight. Share success and celebrate success. That paves the way for greater success ahead.
In summary therefore, to G.E.T great results from your teams, one has to:
GIVE : Care & Concern, Coaching & Course Correction
ENGAGE the team with: Calibration, Communication and Change management
and only then …. TAKE: Conquests and Celebrate.
My best
Shriram
31 Oct 2010