(First in a series of Seven Essential Executive Skills)

The most successful leaders know how to build teams. They know that their efforts are only as effective as their team.

High performing executives have built and maintain high performing teams. It is an area of sustained focus. Teamwork is not a pit stop reluctantly taken when problems can no longer be tolerated.

In fact, they don’t just build a team. They architect a team. They craft it. They nurture it. They train it.

But they don’t use trust falls.

In fact, team building is rarely an actual event. The primary exception to this is if you are bringing a group of people together for the first time.

However, apart from this, a team is built through how you lead.

Five Leadership Practices That Build Teams

There are five basic leadership practices, that when utilized, will create a high performing team:

• Actively leading
• Adjusting leadership styles to best fit the need
• Creating clarity in purpose and direction
• Engaging the commitment of others
• Consistently providing accountability for performance and behavior.

There are precious few leaders who seem to just naturally know how to do these things.

For most people in leadership, it is more of a mixed bag.

Someone may be very active in their leadership but not be focused.

Someone else may be very focused but not know how to engage the commitment of others.

If you find that you are bumping against a limit of some kind, it’s likely a challenge in one of these practices.

As I help leaders with exit or succession strategies, it is often clear that the full price of these challenges is often deferred, payable upon exit – with a lower than desired sales price for the company, a longer than desired exit, a complicated legacy or reputation and so on.

Your Ship Needs a Captain: Active leadership

When it comes to active leadership there are three common errors that leaders make:

• Being a boss instead of a leader
• Being a friend instead of a leader.
• Focusing on the position instead of leading.

Active leaders look ahead.

They facilitate the growth and engagement of their people. They build and refine their organization. They pay attention to likely needs of their customers.

In contrast, passive leaders may tend to “lead” by paying attention to lagging indicators. It’s akin to driving by primarily paying attention to the rear-view mirror.

They tend to avoid dealing with issues until they are no longer able to be ignored.

This doesn’t mean that they don’t have a vision, or aren’t nice people, or can organize. But active leaders get out in front of issues, opportunities, needs or challenges and forge the path forward.

Active leaders are more likely to attract, build and retain other active leaders to be a part of their team.

Matching Your Style to Team Needs:

Many people contact me to say they need help to build their team.

I often ask, “Should this even be a team?”

They always look at me confused. The assumption is that “Yes” everything should be a team activity.

That’s not true.

A team, at the minimum, is a group of people with a shared purpose and reward.

The less a group of people shares a purpose or reward, the less they really are a team.

I like to use a sports analogy to describe this. In high school, I played basketball and ran on track and field.

Both were teams. Both were very different teams.

Basketball teams win together or lose together. There is a strongly shared purpose and reward.

Track and field teams can win or lose together. But there is a higher emphasis placed on the individual. There is a weaker shared purpose and reward.

This difference changes how you should lead.

I serve on the board of directors for a non-profit that has nine diverse programs. The need for a strong “team” and what that team needs to do changes depending on where you focus within the organization.

There does need to be a strong executive team. This is a “basketball” team.

Effective leadership, for the executive team, will spend more time focusing on trust, interpersonal relationships, communication and clarity around shared goals and differentiated roles & responsibilities.

However, each of the program directors are essentially running in different events. They are a “track and field” team.

Effective leaders for this group will spend some time finding a clear, unifying purpose that brings them all together.

But then far more time is spent helping set individual program performance goals while looking for ways to collaborate and support other programs. But there is a recognition that one program’s success may be very isolated from another’s challenges.

Teams that should be “basketball teams” are often left on their own to organize or drift into silos. Teams that should be “track and field teams” are often frustrated by expectations that they aren’t working together more – when they shouldn’t be.

Creating Alignment Fast: Purpose and Clear Vision

When speaking on team alignment, I’ve often used the example of how someone loses strength when their spine is unaligned, and they have no focus.

I’ll bring a volunteer to the front and have them extend their arm in front of them and look up at the ceiling. Then I can easily bend their arm.

They were out of alignment and had no focus.

Next, I quickly teach them how to organize their spine – so that it is in alignment. Then I instruct them to find a focal point on a far wall and point their hand toward it.

Now I try to bend their arm – and it is difficult. Sometimes not possible.

Alignment and focus. It creates strength in our bodies. It’ll create strength for your team.

Help your team identify its “Why.” Clarify their shared vision or results of success. This is a focus point.

Then align their priorities underneath it. Define which metrics will help you track continued alignment and progress. Help the team describe what they need from each other to stay aligned.

Team alignment is no more complicated than that.

Getting Commitment: Tapping into Motivation and Dependability

People often ask, “How do I motivate my employees?” Generally, the answer is: “You can’t.”

Each person comes with his or her own motivation.

All a motivational speaker does is identify or address common areas of motivation already in his or her audience. Then the speaker talks about how those desires or motivations can be fulfilled.

People get excited.

A leader does the same thing. If forming a team, screen for motivation. If working with existing people, identify what drives the choices and engagement of those you lead.

The more you can create a connection between what they really desire and how it can be fulfilled on this team – the more you have their engagement.

As a cheat sheet, most people are motivated by one or more of the following three drivers:

• A Desire for Significance: People want to feel like they are valued and that they offer value.
• A Desire for Security: People want to feel safe relationally, financially, physically, etc.
• A Desire for Satisfaction: People want a piece of the “Good Life.” The ability to improve their quality of life.

Provide Accountability for Performance and Behavior

It’s easier to make small adjustments, then large ones.

Effective leaders hold individuals and teams accountable for both performance and behavior.

They don’t wait for problems to grow.

If there are performance issues, they bring coaching, correction or resources to bear.

If there are behavior issues, they correct them. They clarify the needed behaviors. If someone won’t change, they are cut loose.

Any team that has continuous struggles with behaviors or performance has a leadership issue. Not a team issue.

Bringing It Together

Most leaders are strong in some areas and could be stronger in others.

Which of these five practices are strengths of yours? How have those strengths brought benefit?

What of these five practices do you need to grow in? What will be the impact if there isn’t growth?

Often, just paying attention to a neglected leadership practice helps you grow. In my experience, leaders can grow and make measurable progress within months.

How would you, your team or organization benefit from your growth?

Take good care,

Christian

P.S. Interested in a free resource on team building? I’ve created an e-mail mini-course called How to Quickly Build A High Performing Team. In it, I’ll walk you through the actual concepts and techniques I use to rapidly bring teams to the next level. Click here for access today!

P.P.S. Would you like to talk to me, one-on-one, about how you could rapidly build high-impact leadership behaviors or habits? Or perhaps you’d like to increase your ability to accomplish your priorities, decrease your unwanted workload, boost your profits or do more of what you love?

95% of my clients report positive results within the first 90 days of working together. Actually, they don’t report the positive results. The reports come from the people who they lead, their colleagues and supervisors. It’s real, quantifiable change.

Additionally, they report adding between $120K and $1M in new, annual revenue or savings, usually within 12 months.  Contact me to learn more: christian@vantageconsulting.org or 907 522-7200.