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If everyone in your team is not working toward the same end, reaching any goals will be frustrated. Having a clearly defined direction, purpose, or objective is essential for high performing teams. As a leader, it is your job to help articulate that vision, bring everyone on board, and, when necessary, remind team members of their commitments and agreed upon goals. How can you help your team develop its goals? How do you ensure they stay on track?
A Team Charter
I recommend the team develop a charter, or terms of reference, when the team is not getting the results they want. For a new leader who wants to make their team a high performing team, working with them to create the charter engages them in the process, and lets them take ownership of the team’s success. The process itself is beneficial. The charter, meanwhile, has 2 primary benefits:
1. It provides direction for how the team will operate, and a way to measure if the team is performing in agreed upon ways. It ensures the goals stay visible and manageable.
2. It helps the team develop, moving from “storming” to “norming” through the co-creation of the charter.
As a foundation, a charter should be clear about why everyone is a part of the team, what the team is doing, and what the expectations are for each member. It also helps prevent ‘scope creep,’ by serving as a reminder of goals.
A Frame of Reference Revisited
Once upon a time I was against team charters, because I saw them as too rigid and defining. They can be, but only if you let them. Once created, you should not be slavishly adhered to a charter. Rather, it’s a place to go back to if your team is having issues. If something isn’t working, maybe it needs to be changed, or maybe someone isn’t doing what was agreed. The document should be revisited and modified as needed, and if necessary recreated from scratch. If it just sits on the paper and know one on the team gives it a second thought, can anything within truly be actionable?
The way your team operates, the dynamic between members, and the agreed upon behaviours are only productive if your team is consistently meeting or exceeding its goals.
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 David Swain, BSc Mgmt., MSOD, CEC, PCC with over 30 years’ experience in both coaching the leaders of large organizations and leading them himself.
LinkedIn
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It’s rare that leaders get to form their leadership team from scratch. More often than not, leaders inherit a team, with all of its history and habits. The team may already work quite well together. They may not be a high performing team, however, and that’s what leaders want. Often an outside consultant can help make the transition or assist in defining areas to increase performance.
There are two key steps to improve performance:
1. Diagnose the current performance and assess whether the performance is a result of team or individual dynamics and/or how they accomplish tasks together, and,
2. Develop the capacity of the team to work together effectively, and perform the tasks required of the team.
Here is an example of how this approach works. I had been called in to help a new leader who had come into the senior position in his company. His leadership team was not performing at the level he felt was necessary to lead the organization. It was critical the team improve because the organization was going through a significant change. Each member of his leadership team came to the meeting as the head of their respective department, rather than as co-leaders of the organization. The discussions were bogged down with the particular interests of each part of the business, rather than with the business as a whole. They needed to be working on the strategic direction of the company, not just on how the organization was functioning in their silo.
So he explained what he needed and resolved to get there. This meant bringing the team on board to help define what exactly that meant, and discussing what behaviours would help reach that goal. Over the course of 6 months they improved their performance significantly, and, more critically, they became self-correcting. At the end of every meeting the team would assess whether they had the right conversations, whether they were operating at the right level, and whether everyone was taking co-responsibility for the outcome.
Diagnosis
When a leader first takes over a team it’s important to observe it with fresh eyes. The leader has to analyze how the team performs, and discover what the root cause of any problem is. Under performance can come from problems in the team dynamic, the tasks they execute, or both.
Problems in the team dynamic might be members who dominate, keeping other members from contributing. Conflict is a common problem that harms the team’s ability to work together. Task dysfunction refers to problems with the way the team accomplishes normal tasks that are not a result of dynamic problems. A task level problem might be the way the team makes decisions. They might lack a means of making a decision, or they could have a single decision-making model they use for every decision, whether appropriate or not. Consensus can be an effective decision-making model, but it can be overused.
Develop Capability
Once the leader has a firm grasp what’s holding the team back, he or she can step in to help improve the team’s performance. The four steps necessary are as follows:
- Clearly Articulate Expectations. The leader has to declare what is expected of the team both in terms of expectations for output and how it conducts itself. The leader explains the behaviours that are required for the team to succeed. The leader may also specify the kind of behaviour he or she does not want to see.
- Get A Commitment From Everyone. Every individual team member must accept their role in affecting change, and acknowledge the purpose of the team is to work together to be successful. If team members are unwilling to work for the success of the organization, they shouldn’t be in the organization.
- Address Dynamic Issues. Where there are problems with the dynamic, the leader has to decide to address them as a team, as a smaller group, or with an individual. Bringing the whole team on board to help address problems brings them into the process and lets them learn to self-correct. If some team members are dominating the team, bringing it to the attention of the team and discussing it can help everyone see how it is hurting productivity. Sometimes, individuals who are in conflict, dominating meetings, or being too quiet, can be taken aside. At other times, it may be necessary to work with an individual who is initiating conflict, or refusing to work with others.
- Address Task Issues. Task issues are usually a matter of educating the team in alternate means of accomplishing a task. For a team having trouble making decisions, they may need to learn new ways of making decisions, and learn when it is appropriate to use a model like consensus, and when that model is not appropriate.
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David Swain, BSc Mgmt., MSOD, CEC, PCC with over 30 years’ experience in both coaching the leaders of large organizations and leading them himself.
LinkedIn
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What is work-life balance? It’s sought-after, that’s for sure. A survey conducted by the Association of Executive Search Consultants found that 85 percent of job recruiters have had candidates reject offers because the work-life balance would be, well, imbalanced. We want “balance” because it sounds like a promise; a promise that we can finally be fulfilled now in every sphere. What ends up happening, though, is that our idea of work-life balance works against us, creating a dilemma that keeps us off kilter.
Work*X + life*Y=balance. This is how we tend to see work-life balance, and that’s exactly the problem. We set ourselves up for failure, and a fair amount of guilt. We start keeping track. We try to make that equation balanced, to figure out the right X and Y values to make it all work and to make ourselves happy and satisfied with life. But it doesn’t; it never will because life refuses to fit into neat equations!
- What is your 5-year plan?
- What gives you enjoyment? What gives your life meaning?
- Which aspects of your work life give you meaning, enjoyment, and satisfaction?
- Which aspects of your personal life give you those?
- How can you give yourself the time and energy for the things – whether at work or at home – that give you fulfillment?
- How do you eliminate the aspects that don’t bring you joy or fulfillment?
These are tough questions, and it’s even trickier because the answers are different depending on your goals. Your answers today may not be your answers five years from now. If your goal is to become CEO and make a sizeable salary, your “balance” will obviously skew more towards work. If, later in life, you want a family and spend time with them during their early years, your balance will shift to reflect that.
Sabrina Parsons, CEO of a software firm, mother of 3, and Forbes contributor, writes an interesting piece entitled, “Is ‘Find Work-Life Balance’ Just Code for ‘Feel Guilty’?” in which she talks about this:
“My flow, my balance is someone else’s nightmare. Theirs might be my nightmare. I’d like to see the discussion change from “How do you achieve work life balance?” to “What are your choices, and how do you support them?”
Work-life guilt is not just for moms anymore! That balance is a myth, but creating a meaningful life is not – as long as we drop the dead weight of “balance”. What really helps is thinking about what you want your life to look like, and then setting in place the path that gets you there. Instead of balancing work and life, how can you integrate them?
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David Swain, BSc Mgmt., MSOD, CEC, PCC with over 30 years’ experience in both coaching the leaders of large organizations and leading them himself.
LinkedIn
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Machiavelli wrote that, “It is better to be feared than loved (if you cannot be both),” an assertion that has not stood the test of time. Nowadays, effective leaders encourage their followers to challenge them. It is only a few leaders (mostly dictators) who try to rule through fear. Unfortunately, and somewhat ironically, many leaders are themselves ruled by fear. Robert Goffee and Gareth Jones, in their exemplary article for the Harvard Business Review, wrote that nothing terrifies executives more than the question, “Why should anyone be led by you?”
The Fearful Leader
Many leaders, far more than you might suspect, suffer from the imposter schyndrome. The short explanation of this phenomena is that leaders (and other successful people) often feel they are a fraud. They believe they have somehow lucked into a higher position than they deserve, and that it is only a matter of time before they are exposed, disgraced and cast out. These leaders fear that their incompetence will be discovered, and their attempts to compensate for whatever they feel they lack, hinders their ability to effectively lead.
The Effects of Fear on Leadership
Fear manifests itself in the form of problematic behaviours in leadership performance. A typical, and very common, example of this behaviour is micromanagement. To be more effective, a leader must:
- Recognize the behaviours that are not working.
- Acknowledge the fear behind it (fear of being a fraud).
- Decide to make changes to behaviour and thinking if necessary.
Recognizing Fear: The Practical First Step in Becoming a More Effective Leader
Uncovering the roots of fear is not a necessary part of accepting it. All that matters is that fear is recognized and acknowledged — and this takes a commitment to being honest with one’s self. This is much more effective when it is done out loud. Speaking out loud can surprise us when we hear what we did not know we knew. This also applies to strengths. Many an executive I have coached has only recognized their intelligence after hearing themselves speak about it. Once fear is recognized, we can work on altering behaviour. Often when a person is afraid, they fall back on old patterns of behaviour that once worked. By recognizing when we are afraid, we can step back and choose to act differently.
Fear is one of the most primal of human emotions. It is a part of all of us, and it often serves a useful purpose. However, it can lead to behaviours that do not serve our goals.
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David Swain, BSc Mgmt., MSOD, CEC, PCC with over 30 years’ experience in both coaching the leaders of large organizations and leading them himself.
LinkedIn
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There are some common answers to the question of what makes a great leader. Traits like confident, charismatic, and assertive are common descriptors which get thrown about quite a lot. Occasionally more nebulous terms like “visionary” are used. When we actually look at great leaders, however, we find many examples of people who possess few, if any, of these characteristics. There is no single model of exceptional leadership; there is no single trait all great leaders possess except for self-awareness. But it is this self-awareness that allows great leaders to be true to their strengths and weaknesses. When a leader tries to fit into a model of leadership that does not match their talents, it is very unlikely they will be successful.
Authentic Leadership
Being a leader means having a clear sense of what traits comprise their personal leadership. How do you do this? How can a leader find their authentic leadership voice?
- A good leader knows their abilities, skills, and talents. Understanding your strengths means knowing where you can operate with confidence and surety. More importantly, a leader who knows his or her weaknesses will know when delegation, or consultation, is necessary. This self-knowledge is crucial, because…
- A good leader will surround themselves with the right people. The best leaders make the decision to fill their executive team with people who have abilities, skills, and knowledge that complement their own abilities. The best leaders are not afraid to hire people who are smarter than they are. The strengths of such an executive team is in its contrast to the leader. This produces positive friction; these teams can challenge a leader, but that is necessary. It’s true what Drew Dudley said: “Leaders are only as good as the questions their followers are willing to ask.” Comparatively, poor leaders make the mistake of surrounding themselves with executives who are clones of them, thus the phrase “yes-men.” Such a team is highly limited.
The Leadership Team at Apple, Inc.
A good example to illustrate this is Steve Jobs and his executive team. In his second term at Apple he was monumentally successful, and a large part of his success was thanks to the people he had around him. Jobs was a demanding boss, always pushing for perfection. He was often described as mean. His team could handle his level of assertiveness, however, and not back down. Just as Jobs challenged them, he was challenged in return. The result was amazing growth, and a wealth of trailblazing new Apple products. Additionally, because of Jobs’ direct approach to criticism, his team acted as a buffer between him and the rest of the company.
Most people in leadership positions can aspire to become a great leader. How one’s personal leadership manifests though will vary. If a leader tries to be something they are not, they will not be very successful. Effective leaders play to their strengths, and delegate tasks to others in areas where they less capable. The best leaders forge their own way of leading that comes from a place of authenticity.
Many traits can be found in great leaders (charisma, assertiveness, intelligence) but none of them are essential in their own right. Self-awareness – knowledge of personal strengths and weaknesses – is what is truly necessary. When a leader tries to be something he or she is not, they fail. The best leaders forge their own path and lead from a place that feels authentic to them.
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David Swain, BSc Mgmt., MSOD, CEC, PCC with over 30 years’ experience in both coaching the leaders of large organizations and leading them himself.
LinkedIn
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An organization needs to have open lines of communication. This includes instructions from superiors, information gathered from research or experts, feedback, discussions in meetings, and strategic planning, to name a few. When communication becomes stymied, through fear, anger, spite, or any other reason, the organization suffers. The conversations that are not being had can control an organization, stopping progress in its tracks.
What Is Holding The Organization Back?
The literature and experts differ on the terms for this communication blockage but there is a common theme: there is a problem that you and others are avoiding because of the fear of emotional reprisal or not knowing exactly how to proceed. Leaders need to face these conversations head on. Waiting just makes the conversation harder to have.
What Characterizes a “Dreaded” Conversation?
- Everyone involved knows a conversation has to happen, or at least feels tension.
- The longer people wait to have the conversation, the harder it gets. The dread grows with time.
- Not having the conversation impacts the organization’s effectiveness.
- Once these conversations have occurred, they are easier than anticipated.
- There is a great sense of relief once the conversation is over. Everyone feels better.
While these conversations may be an abstract concept, everyone has experienced them. It’s the feeling that there is an elephant in the room. For example, I was working with the head of an organization who needed to have a conversation with the chair of the board about an operational problem. Changes could not be implemented because of doubts on either side. They both knew the conversation had to happen (I had spoken to both individually), but they were afraid that their working and personal relationship would be harmed. When they finally did have this critical conversation, they found it was easier than they expected. This is almost always the case.
There is a strong belief (held by me) that organizations are nothing more than a network of conversations. When I coach executives and leaders who need to have a dreaded conversation, it is important to go into the conversation with the right intent. The right intent is the desire to come to a resolution, and be open to the other person. The wrong intent is to assign fault. However, because so much fear and doubt surround these conversations, I often role-play possible scenarios with my clients. Remember though, a dreaded conversation is always easier than it seems initially, and everyone will feel better once it has taken place.
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David Swain, BSc Mgmt., MSOD, CEC, PCC with over 30 years’ experience in both coaching the leaders of large organizations and leading them himself.
LinkedIn
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People resist change, including noticing changes in other people. This is simply a fact. When a person decides to make a change, they have to consider how the people around them will react to these attempts. When people say first impressions are important, they really are, because once someone forms an opinion they will generally only notice information that confirms and supports that opinion, selectively filtering and ignoring information that contradicts it.
For individuals moving into executive and leadership roles, there is often the need to change and grow rapidly to be effective and successful. These professional changes must be accompanied by an effort to demonstrate and convince the executive’s peers, superiors, and subordinates that they have changed. The organization does not need to make changes to accommodate an executive’s new behavior; it just needs to notice the new behaviour.
What Can You Do To Institute Positive, Noticeable Change?
In short, follow these 3 proactive steps to make changes that are lasting and effective:
- Decide what you want to change, and how that change will be manifested in your behaviour.
- Do your utmost to consistently apply the new behaviour. Use the words “I will” instead of “I will try.”
- Consistently demonstrate your new behaviour to reinforce it and help others recognize that you have changed.
Drawing Attention and Reinforcement
When you make changes in how you behave or operate, it is imperative to frequently discuss and explain what you are doing differently. Pointing out the new behaviour is necessary, as it will almost always be overlooked. A great place to start is when receiving feedback. If you have a direct boss, during the normal process of getting feedback you might say, “I don’t know if you noticed, but I did this differently and I feel it produced more desirable results. What do you think?” You can try similar phrasing when speaking to colleagues. If you do not explicitly bring attention to what you have done differently, your colleagues are not likely to notice the change.
Let me offer you a real world example. I was working with a young woman who was having difficulty in her role in a large financial services firm. She was new to the organization, but had already been identified as having high potential. The people around her, however, had the impression that she was not giving it her all. Being in the early stages of the role and still getting accustomed to it, she was reluctant to challenge others in the organization. We discussed what she could do differently and how she could demonstrate what she was contributing to the company.
She identified an area where she could contribute: her team was getting caught in discussions that were going nowhere. She started asking more refined and insightful questions, which allowed her team to see their problems and objectives from a new, more optimistic and productive perspective. This proved effective, and because of the success of this methodology she could now refer to this as a demonstration of her value (disproving the impression she was not contributing). Without talking about this new behaviour and drawing attention to it, it would probably not have been noticed at all. As her comfort level increased, she worried less about fitting into the organization, and focused more on being true to herself.
As this example demonstrates, she identified the behaviour in need of changing (her reluctance to participate), applied the changes (asking questions that moved the agenda forward), and spoke about her behaviour with her colleagues and supervisor.
Personal and professional changes are not easy; they will not happen overnight. It is all the more difficult because the people around you will naturally resist change. Their resistance is not born out of a spirit of meanness; it’s just a psychological quirk. Lasting change requires work, but if that change is true to your authentic self, it is worth it for you and your organization.
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David Swain, BSc Mgmt., MSOD, CEC, PCC with over 30 years’ experience in both coaching the leaders of large organizations and leading them himself.
LinkedIn
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Good managers are important in any organization. This usually leads to recognition and talented managers are often promoted into leadership roles. The problem is the skills that make a manager great are necessary but not sufficient to make leaders great. For a manager to become a good leader, he or she has to understand the differences between managing and leading, and develop new skills to thrive in a new role. This key distinction between managing and leading does not get enough attention!
What’s the Difference?
To paraphrase Warren Bennis, it’s a manager’s job to make sure things are done right; it’s a leader’s job to make sure the organization is doing the right things. The difference is that managing is focused on the immediate, day-to-day operation of the organization. A manager’s priority is making sure the organization provides its goods and services effectively and efficiently. Leading, meanwhile, is focused on moving the organization forward. A leader’s job is to be forward looking, anticipating where the market is going and providing direction for the organization. A leader makes sure the organization has the direction and resources both to thrive in the face of the challenges and uncertainties of the future.
How To Successfully Make The Transition From Manager to Leader
Nothing derails a career like an unsuccessful transition from manager to leader. Continuing to be a great manager will eventually get noticed for what it is: insufficient leadership. It’s very easy for a new leader to keep doing what they have always done—after all, that’s what they are good at and what got them promoted! Many new leaders haven’t even considered what it means to lead, or even that the organization needs something more from them.
Importance of Awareness
The first step is awareness. New leaders need to recognize that they need to make changes, and start asking questions about what they need to do differently. It means leaving behind old ways of doing things and learning about leadership. Being a leader means developing an organization that can produce the desired results without the leader having to oversee all their activities.. If you are not getting the results you want, or are finding you spend all your time overseeing the work of your group, it’s time to reflect on what you are doing, and what you can do differently. Seek out successful leaders in your organization and ask for help. Don’t settle for doing what worked before, because it won’t work anymore.
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David Swain, BSc Mgmt., MSOD, CEC, PCC with over 30 years’ experience in both coaching the leaders of large organizations and leading them himself.
LinkedIn
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In many organizations today, I keep seeing leaders working a level or two below where they should be working (and I’m talking about those charged with leadership at all levels, not just CEOs). In other words, they are doing tasks their people, or their people’s people, should be doing, as opposed to the strategic functions outlined in their job descriptions. This happens either because leaders don’t trust the people working for them to accomplish tasks, or they have not established an effective accountability framework in the organization.
Experience has shown us that the longer high performing teams operate and develop and become more effective, the more a leader should be able to let them do their work and focus on the strategic, long-term vision that is really important to move the organization forward.
Leaders have a responsibility to set the tone for a climate of trust and accountability. They need to be focused on the “right” things (those things that will make a difference) and not allow themselves to always get bogged down in the minutiae of tasks and projects. So what is the best way to stay focused on strategic leadership while ensuring projects move forward?
A leader should focus on building the teams capability and trust while creating a commitment to individual and team accountability.
This encourages the team to collectively own the decisions and responsibilities they make. If a leader can develop the trust to allow team members to accomplish their goals, then he or she can stay focused on the business of leadership.
At some points in the evolution of an organization, there are moments when the leader needs to manage the team. But at other times, you need to move from managing to leading the team. When you can trust a high performing team to do the necessary work, this will allow you the time to focus on strategic decision-making.
If you are struggling with building a high performing team, leadership coaching can help. When I coach, I work with both the leader and the team. We’ve found a coach can support a leader in creating the necessary climate of mutual respect, trust, and accountability that allow high performing teams to flourish and meet their goals over a sustained period of time.
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David Swain, BSc Mgmt., MSOD, CEC, PCC with over 30 years’ experience in both coaching the leaders of large organizations and leading them himself.
LinkedIn
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If you are remotely connected to the field of leadership studies you have heard of Warren Bennis. Even if you have not, as a leader you have doubtlessly been influenced by his thinking. I have had the privilege of studying under Warren and working with him, and I can say he has had a profound impact on me. For me, I think the 2 most important realizations I had from Warren are these:
Authenticity. Warren is the embodiment of authenticity, and through him I learned that you can be an effective leader and still be your authentic self. In fact, you must be yourself to be am effective leader. Individual’s cannot be forced into aping a single model of good leadership. In many ways, a leader has to be true to him or herself first, and figure out their way of leading from that place.
Curiosity. My curiosity is more important than what I actually know. Teaching leadership requires being curious about other people and what works for them and what they are doing. It’s not about being proscriptive and telling people what is right or wrong. It’s about being curious about the other person’s answers to their problems. Leaders also need to develop their curiosity to get the best results from their people, and I try to model it for them.
For two summers, I taught sessions with Warren at The Cape Cod Institute. These sessions were on a concept called “Organizing Genius”. They were about the question, “How do leaders create organizations that achieve extraordinary results?” I’ve consulted with Warren throughout the years, studied under him, and done leadership work with him in a variety of settings.
To sum up Warren’s life in a few paragraphs would do him a disservice. He’s is the father of leadership studies and one of the world’s most influential people. He has been a consultant to five US presidents, he has written and co-authored dozens of books, and he has occupied many prestigious business and academic positions. Nor can his influence on me be summed up in one short article. Clearly, I would not be where I am were it not for him.
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David Swain, BSc Mgmt., MSOD, CEC, PCC with over 30 years’ experience in both coaching the leaders of large organizations and leading them himself.
LinkedIn
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