Your leadership tactics just might be at the root of your team’s less than stellar performance

As a leader looking for ways to improve the performance of your team, it is important to spend some time examining the impact that you have on the working environment and productivity of your associates.  Effective self-examination might just help identify some opportunities for your own development that will spur the performance of those around you. 

In case you are reading and thinking, "It’s not me, It’s… ," think again.  I’ve often been invited to work with executives and managers on team performance issues, where it quickly becomes clear to everyone that many (not all) of the issues reside at the top of the food chain.  Some great leaders that I’ve worked with or for have embraced the reality that they have culpability for poor team performance, made the necessary changes and subsequently jumped back on the high-performance track.  Of course, some leaders are in perpetual denial about their own faults–there is only one solution in this case.

Leadership can be lonely and feedback on your own performance inconsistent or non-existent.  In the absence of any tangible input, a conscientious leader observing suboptimal performance will look for help on identifying the problems and solutions.  Often, my first meeting with a concerned leader focuses on them describing the symptoms that they are observing in the working environment.  Some are tangible and behavioral, others are not. 

The Common Symptoms of Poor Performing Teams:

  • Projects are not completed on time or with the targeted results.
  • The leader perceives that the team is unmotivated.
  • Associates do not act as if they are empowered.  They seem afraid to make a decision on their own without your input.
  • There is little observable risk-taking and no visible innovation in programs or processes.
  • Work tends to occur in silos with little cross-functional collaboration.
  • Often, there has been a recent departure of talented associates.
  • The leader might be spending a lot of time arbitrating disagreements between team members and functional areas.
  • People do not appear excited about their jobs or plugged in to the mission of the organization.
  • Numbers and performance indicators are heading in the wrong direction.

After describing many, all or even a superset of the above symptoms,it is common for the leader to wring his or her hands and begin speculating on whether the right people are on-board or whether it is time to reorganize and "shake things up." 

The Leader’s Self-Examination–Ask Yourself the Right Questions Before You Act:

While  it is always possible that the talent make-up of the team is wrong or that restructuring around new goals or strategies can help, it is important to dig deeper into your own habits and see if the solutions are within reach and without much cost.

A few
key questions to ask yourself:

  • When reviewing an employee’s work and concluding that it is substandard, do you take it upon yourself to fix the problem?  A
    department manager for a technology hardware manufacturer required her
    employees to write Product Bulletins to describe product issues/fixes
    or to communicate new releases.  When faced with a document that didn’t
    meet her standards for writing quality or clarity of message, she would
    rewrite the document herself.  One of her biggest frustrations was that
    her team members "didn’t understand how to write a good product
    bulletin."
  • Do your words and actions about risk-taking match.  A department manager publicly encouraged his team members to take risks, but in reality, every time someone took a risk and ran into difficulties, the manager was quick to find fault and chastise the risk-taker.  After awhile, this manager’s poor handling of these situations effectively stifled any interest in risk-taking or innovation.
  • Do your team members view the goals and mission of the team/organization the same as you do?   An executive who had been with an organization since its inception, was surprised at what he perceived was a lack of commitment to the organization on the part of his key managers.  After a few disturbing departures and some consulting help, the executive learned that he had done a poor job of creating a sense of purpose for the team and instilling the mission and its impact on the community in the minds of new associates. 
  • Are you truly paying attention to your associates?  A vice-president was fired after a long tenure and a lot of patience on the part of the CEO.  The new executive took the time to sit-down and talk with all of the team members about their careers, their interests, their ideas for improving.  Over time and through repeated individual discussions, it became clear through actions that the ideas were heard and career issues understood.  This new executive continued to take time to engage with the team members and implement good ideas, help people make adjustments in their professional activities.  As the numbers improved and the enthusiasm grew, the culture reformed from one of low-energy and a feeling of helplessness to one of "anything is possible."
  • Do your team members view you as credible?  Are you respected for your title or for what you represent as a leader?  No anecdote here…just an absolute.  Credibility is earned slowly and through consistent reinforcement of what I call The Nine Credibility Builders.  Like a bank account, you make constant small deposits and over time the compounding effect helps your balance grow.  In this case, positive credibility deposits are small and withdrawals are big and instantaneous.  Do something to cause someone or your team to question your credibility just once and you risk wiping out the hard earned balance in the bank account.

The Takeaway:

You as the leader have a powerful impact on the working environment and performance of your team members.  Your every action is observed, your intent questioned and a conclusion drawn about your credibility.  If performance is down, morale appears low or you are experiencing any of the common symptoms described above, ask yourself some key questions and compare your own behavior to these nine credibility builders.  It’s easier to reorganize your own priorities and adapt your approaches than it is to flounder through unneeded reorganizations while you squander prospectively valuable talent.  Spend some time looking in the mirror.

The Nine Credibility Builders for Effective Leaders to Live By
(excerpted from Practical Lessons in Leadership–A Guidebook for Aspiring and Experienced Leaders, by Petty and Petro.)

  1. Your positive attitude and high energy level are infectious to everyone around you.
  2. Your attention to others and your willingness to listen are the ultimate signs of respect that you can pay your associates.
  3. Honesty is not a some-of-the-time policy.
  4. A visible agenda builds trust.  Broadcast your agenda constantly.
  5. The only time to do the right thing is all of the time.
  6. There truly is No "I" in Team.  Quit talking about yourself.
  7. Your job is to support the career development of others.  This is how you positively affect lives.
  8. Mistakes are the best teachers–encourage them.
  9. Humility is a virtue…practice it.