Are you hitting all the right notes as a Leadership team?

One of the things I love about summer is the advent of music festivals. I love live music, and enjoy spending days and nights watching various bands blast out some of my favourite tunes.

When you watch a group perform, it’s obvious that they all have different yet complementary roles, and the sound only truly comes alive with the collective. Yet you never refer to a band as a team though do you? I think there is much to suggest you should!

Tuning in

Recently, I’ve worked with various senior teams, and have challenged them on whether they are really a team or purely a group.  Sometimes, it seems, it is merely a common reporting line that connects them, yet that doesn’t always mean that they are in tune once they leave the meeting room, failing to ensure that the rest of the world hears a common message coming from each of them.

Often, once a decision has been reached on a critical issue, that’s where the teamwork then seems to stop; when leaders walk out of the meeting, the ‘what, how and when’ of communicating the agreed message is lost sight of, resulting in a lack of alignment as it gets cascaded throughout the business.

Team Soundcheck

At ACP, we use the Insights Team Effectiveness model, which identifies the four pillars that can be used as a framework to review a team’s performance. They are Focus, Flow, Climate and Process, and if these aspects are all in place and functioning well, it can transform any group to super group status.  A bit like a four-piece band, all play an important part to make the whole perform.

Focus enables the team to have that shared vision for the future combined with a sense of urgency and clarity to realise it.  Sometimes, less is more when it comes to communicating a key message. Consistency of message matters in order for a team to demonstrate alignment.

Take action: Ask each team member to write down, in around twenty words, what they believe that key message is. Get all to share what they have written with each other, and if they aren’t aligned, the meeting might need to last just a bit longer.

Flow is a vital ingredient combining agility with collaboration. Senior teams need to engage in dialogue, and anticipate the obstacles that might get in the way of them achieving their goals and targets, proactively moving forward with a sense of momentum.  Everyone knows the words to their favourite songs, and the flow in a team, ensures that all can join in.

Take action: Take time for hopes and concerns to be shared, and alleviate passive resistance. If concerns aren’t voiced in the room, they are invariably voiced out of it. Allow time at the beginning and end of each meeting for each individual to check-in and out. Talk doesn’t have to be cheap.  

The pillar that is significant for any team to invest in is Climate.  Many great bands are a tricky balance of egos and abilities and if relationships break down, the group will quickly disintegrate.  In a similar way, a senior team that hasn’t invested in building the right climate, won’t realise its team potential. The crucial elements of trust and cohesion are both in abundance when a team has a strong climate.

Take action: Every member of the team should know how they can help each other team member achieve their goals. The team goals and the individual goals should be intrinsically linked. Use the meeting as an opportunity for each leader to ask their colleagues “What can I do to help you achieve your goals?”  The fewer the gaps, the greater the potential for teamwork to flourish.

So that leaves us with Process – the working methods and the way that team success is measured. Process clarity in any team is hugely important for the smooth running of the teaming process. Decision making is a process and so is communication, so leadership teams need to take care to align these aspects within the team.

Take action: Has the team sense tested whether team roles and responsibilities are clearly understood, so that there is no unnecessary duplication of efforts or stepping on one another’s toes? It’s easy for individuals to make some assumptions about the ‘how’ in the execution of the team’s decision – does everyone understand the steps involved in the same way? Have the team fallen into the trap of groupthink and stopped challenging itself on finding a better way? 

Staying in sync

So, going back to the common communication challenge we started this article with, making sure the team is clear about the ‘how’ of the communication provides the consistency and clarity that, if missing, can undo all the good work that has gone before.

And what’s the point in having great lyrics if the vocals don’t match up?