Can you create a high performing team in a high growth environment?
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I’ve been rewriting my website recently. It’s been fun, spending time thinking about what it really means for my clients to make the shifts they do when working with me. Last week I was chatting to Elizabeth who’s doing a stunning job of helping me drag all of the tangled thoughts out of my head. She was asking me about what it really looks like when a team is functioning brilliantly.
It’s like an orchestra I said. You are the conductor. Your team members know their roles, they know what they’re good at and they know that they need to follow the music and look to you for pace, emphasis, energy. You’re not leaving your conductor’s podium every two minutes to play first violin. Neither are the members of your team playing tug of war over different instruments. You have agreed what pieces you’re playing, in what order and when. You take time to practice, to give feedback on what needs to change and to make it sound better. Some elements are more intrinsically linked than others but all of the different parts know when they come to the fore and what to do when it’s their section.
When all of this is in place, the orchestra makes beautiful music. The conductor is lifted by what they are producing, there is a magic in the air, an energy, a hum.
When a team works well together this magic really happens. The team becomes symbiotic, it builds momentum, driving results that punch above the collective weight of its individual members. It becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
If your leadership team is working brilliantly together, working as one, fulfilling the brief it will elevate you exponentially.
It will elevate their team members exponentially too. It won’t come as any surprise to learn that talent development in high performing teams is proven to be far higher than in disfunctional teams.
I find it really difficult when I see how little attention is paid to team development in so many businesses. Bringing in support to fix a team that’s already broken seems to be the default in far too many scenarios and generally by that point, given how many touch points a leadership team has, the impact on the business has been huge - it’s too late. Doing this work at the earlier stages of team development will pay huge dividends in the long run.
Building a high performing team takes work, strong leadership and time. Learning how to build a high performing team can feel tricky in fast growth environments - imagine assembling that symphony orchestra on a rollercoaster and you’re probably not far off, but it can be done!
It’s not enough to assume that good people will work it out for themselves. Orchestras can’t play without music or defined roles and your team is no different.
High performing teams have high levels of trust, accountability and openness. They share a mission, vision and purpose and have agreed ways of doing things. In a fast growth environment you need to be able to accelerate these elements.
You may find yourself needing to make tough decisions at pace too. Whilst it can be tempting to place your money on strong characters who achieve well individually but who don’t work well in teams, putting the individual before the whole can have long term damaging effects to your credibility as a leader.
Coming from the opposite angle, the speed of change in high growth environments can sometimes outpace people’s ability to learn and grow. This means they can start to hold you back. Spotting this early can minimise the impact on them and your team. You have two choices, a strong investment in team development to help them catch up (either in time or external support) or moving forward without them.
Teams that are on fast growth, fast change journeys together need to be resilient, focussed and high functioning.
Resilient teams are able to bounce back quickly from adversity, failure and external forces - these are innumerate on a scale up journey.
Focused teams are difficult to throw off course and we all know that there are many things trying to throw you off daily!
High functioning teams are the key to focus and resilience. They have clear roles and responsibilities, a shared purpose, a collective mission, agreed vision and defined ways of working. There is trust and a deep sense of belonging.
Your role as leader is to provide clarity enough to drive decision making, prioritisation and trust. Once you have made this clear for yourself and others you can get on with the ongoing work of continuously setting the team up for success.
To adopt this mindset, imagine yourself as the conductor. What needs to change for you to step up onto the podium and set the pace, the energy, the emphasis? What do your team need from you? What might they need support with? What resources, processes, information do they need? What is getting in their way?
In the words of one of the best conductors… “At the end of the day, you are trying to inspire these incredible people to do their very very best. They are doing the work”. I love this video where Simon Rattle compares conducting to football management! So worth a watch! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7PPMr7TXmM
If you’d like to talk about how I can help you to elevate your leadership and transform your team, drop me a line on hello@rebeccamorley.co.uk
