Session 7: Team Leadership: Inspiring
Others to Deliver Results
Warmth & Strength
Warmth & Strength
Warm
Source: Cuddy, et al., Harvard Business Review, “Connect, Then Lead”
Cold
Warmth & Strength
Warm
Source: Cuddy, et al., Harvard Business Review, “Connect, Then Lead”
Cold
Performance Pressure
Performance Pressure in Action
We were seriously
“
feeling the heat … it
was a make-or-break
project for us. We
threw our best and
brightest against the
problem, but the more
we rallied our team,
the worse it got. I still
don’t know what went
wrong.
”
- Partner, Big Four accounting firm
Performance Pressure Paradox
In high-stakes projects, when teams need to use
their best, most innovative knowledge…
Performance
Pressure
Concerned
Client
Risk Aversion
They do so the least
Reduced
Innovation:
reliance on
“tried-and-true”
Dysfunctional
Team
Dynamics
Team Dynamics under
Performance Pressure
Spot the “Crowding Out” Effects of Pressure
Seem
familiar?
Team dynamics are portrayed perfectly in this
FedEx.com spot
Spot the “Crowding Out” Effects of Pressure
Consensus
Drive
How does it
USUALLY
play out?
As teams push toward completion, they drive for
consensus in a way that shuts down paths to
further exploration.
Keep up the
debate and we’ll
be here all night.
Spot the “Crowding Out” Effects of Pressure
Conformity to
Team’s
Hierarchy
C’mon, that’s
enough
already.
Everyone begins unwittingly to defer to authority
Safer to
shut up
Spot the “Crowding Out” Effects of Pressure
Focus on
Common
Knowledge
Everyone lends more weight to commonly held
information than to individuals’ unique knowledge.
If we all think
it, it must be
right.
Accounting for Optimal Contributions
Kickoff Meeting
Check-in
Have the leadership team complete the four-item
score card assessment at the kickoff meeting
Revisit the individual self-assessments as a team
at regular intervals to improve expertise use
• What competencies do you want to learn?
• What proficiencies do you need to demonstrate?
• How much progress have you made toward
your goals?
• What areas do you still need to work on?
Steps you need
to take to move
toward your
goals
• How will you gain experience to move toward
your goals?
• Be specific!
• List concrete ways you have made progress.
The knowledge
and experience
you can bring to
bear on this
project
• What prior engagements have addressed similar
issues?
• What experience do you have with this particular
client, and what did you learn from it?
• With other firms in the sector?
• Have you contributed as much as you
expected?
• If not, have the engagement’s needs changed?
• If so, be precise about why your prior
knowledge is no longer relevant as expected.
Ways to leverage
the range of your
knowledge and
experience
• What do you know about…
• The industry and its competitive dynamics?
• The client’s culture, politics, and decision-making
styles?
• The client’s processes, systems, and technology?
• Which kinds of knowledge have you brought to
bear and how have they influenced the project?
• Which knowledge has been underused?
Your
development
goals
Case Wrap
Lead Your Team to High Performance
Think RED to lead your team
to high performance
Reflect
V
Equip
V
Deliver
Pop Quiz
Q:
What are the two biggest differences
between successful versus derailed
executives?
A:
1. Handling interpersonal
relationships (“Under stress the derailed
executives became abrasive and
intimidating”)
2. Ability to build and lead a team
Sources: Center for Creative Leadership; McCall & Lombardo, 1983; Van Velso & Leslie, 1995; Gentry & Chappelow, 2009
and many more
What Training Would Help?
You
Your team members
Typical response:
Providing social
support
Time management /
Planning
“I’m surely seen as trustworthy, but I’d better prove my worth.
They could do a better job of connecting with people.”
Source: Wojciszk & Abele
Preparing an Effective Team
Reflect
True self-awareness is essential for
authentic interpersonal relationships.
Reflect, but not in a vacuum.
Building an Effective Team
A Compelling Purpose Must Be:
Equip
• Essential starting point
• Requires understanding and
buy-in
• Facilitates peer-to-peer
accountability
• Ideally includes bottom-up
participation but ultimately
requires ONE answer
Shared
Clear
Meaningful
Challenging
Building an Effective Team
Common Traps for New Leaders:
Equip
1. Sticking with the existing team too long
2. Tolerating mediocre performance in belief
that your own leadership will turn it around
Avoiding These Traps Requires:
1. Quick, but accurate, diagnosis of team members
to assess technical expertise, interpersonal skills,
and personal characteristics
2. Willingness and courage to act.
Leading an Effective Team
Deliver
Key to use the social dynamics of the team to
manage individual members. Do NOT manage the
team on an individual-by-individual basis.
Leading through a team by using social bonds among
members to shape behavior elicits more commitment and
effort from the members of the team.
Superior Team Performance
Holistic
• Results
• Growth
• Sustainability
• Context
Adaptable
• Composition
• Competitors
• Incubate
Contagious
• Transmit
• Export
Put into Practice
Lead Your Team to High Performance
Think RED to lead your team
to high performance
• When are you most energized?
Reflect
• When has your team been most inspired to deliver holistically superior performance?
• How do you handle pressure?
• Do you focus more on demonstrating warmth or strength?
V
• Purpose: compelling & shared
Equip
• Resources: knowledge portfolio; diverse perspectives; time; trust
• Capabilities: technical, individual and interpersonal
V
• Coach
Deliver
• Span boundaries
• Generate accountability
• Learn from mistakes
Take-Away Points
Leveraging Performance Pressure
Performance pressure is a double-edged
sword.
Can make people risk averse,
less creative, more controlhungry, unwilling to listen.
Use it to motivate
people to live up to their
highest potential – as a team.
No pressure, no diamonds.
What Are You Still Doing?
The best leaders push
down not only the work but
also the leadership.
Team members hold each
other accountable, support
and inspire each other to
achieve their fullest
potential.
Closing Thoughts
Directing, motivating and developing subordinates
is one of the greatest differences between
successful versus derailed executives.
Sustainable high performance
requires leading through your team:
leveraging members’ knowledge, motivation
and mutual accountability.