3 Reasons Why Team Performance is Critical for Tomorrow’s Leaders

In a world full of VUCA – volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity – business leaders face constant pressures and unexpected challenges. (Exhibit A – the uncertainty caused by the spread of the coronavirus in recent months.)

Leaders who are able to meet current objectives and effectively navigate the ever-changing dynamics within their industry, marketplace, and overall environment are good. Leaders who can do all of that AND develop the forward-looking strategies needed to transform the business to meet future demands are great – and they don’t do it alone.

Optimizing team performance has always been an important element of a leader’s success. However, in an increasingly volatile and complex world, tapping into the diverse strengths and perspectives within a team is a business imperative.  Ninety percent of investors cite the quality of a company’s leadership team as their single most important non-financial factor.1 And, when a team is working effectively together toward a common vision, the likelihood of above-median financial performance increases nearly two-fold.(1)

The essential benefits created by a high-performing team

Future-oriented leaders won’t succeed with top-down decision-making. As discussed in previous posts, they need to get comfortable with ambiguity, experimentation, and constant learning. As a result, tomorrow’s leaders must put even more emphasis on creating and nurturing a high-performing team. In addition to bringing together the right mix of personalities and skills, leaders need to cultivate an appropriate culture that enables the team to succeed. The resulting attributes will be critical to future success, including:

1. Agility

When a team shares a common challenge – and operates in an environment of trust – members adapt an entrepreneurial mindset that questions the norm and looks for outside-the-box solutions. With a shared sense of purpose, high-performing teams are more agile and less afraid of changing strategic direction.

2. Constructive conflict

When there’s trust within a team, communication is open, and conflict is embraced. Team members feel comfortable in proposing solutions, as well as questioning them. Getting to this point takes authentic leaders who admit what they don’t know and are receptive to the different perspectives that come from a diverse and empowered team. Assessing a team’s readiness to deliver in these types of situations is essential, including the ability to identify and address blind spots.

3. Innovation

With an entrepreneurial mindset and a sense of trust, team members are energized. They’re willing to take risks, experiment, and build on ideas from others. Innovative thinking fuels high-performing teams and creates the environment that will be required as companies take on disruptive competitors, globalization, and digital transformation.

In my practice, I work with leaders and teams to increase the understanding of an organization’s dynamics, team development opportunities, and potential skill gaps. Through a mix of evidence-based tools and consultative resources, I help leaders and their teams accelerate collaboration, performance, and transformation. Contact me to explore the opportunities for you and your team.

1 Scott Keller and Mary Meaney, Leading Organization: Ten Timeless Truths.