S1: E2: The Science of creating a brilliant team: Part 1 -Performance
S1: E2 - The science of creating a brilliant team: Part 1 - Performance
Welcome to our latest podcast episode, where we dive deep into the fascinating world of team dynamics and performance! If you're curious about what makes some teams shine while others struggle to achieve their goals, then you won't want to miss this episode.
We'll be exploring the latest research on team psychology and neuroscience, revealing the secrets of high-performing teams and the factors that set them apart from the rest. From communication and trust to leadership and motivation, we'll be unpacking the essential ingredients that make up a truly brilliant team.
Join us as we speak to leading experts in the field, share real-world examples of teams that have achieved incredible results, and provide practical tips and strategies that you can apply to your own team, whether you're a leader, a member, or aspiring to build one.
So whether you're a business owner, an entrepreneur, or just someone who's passionate about teamwork and collaboration, this podcast is for you. Get ready to take your team to the next level and unleash their full potential with the science of brilliant teams!
Key topics I cover today :
What is a brilliant team? What does it look like? How can you spot it? 0:08
The importance of teams in organisational performance and why it’s important. 2:27
What is an effective team? 4:52
What are the elements of a brilliant team? 6:58
What are we doing to deliver high quality results? 9:32
How do you use the culture of your organisation to drive performance? 11:18
Teams that are proactive in fostering innovation and thinking creatively together are more likely to respond to unanticipated changes. 13:31
Accountability. 15:40
How to navigate change effectively. 17:43
What is meeting effectiveness? How do you measure it? 20:42
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S1 EP02 The Science of Creating a Brilliant Teams - Performance
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
TeamBuilding, Leadership, teamwork, Collaboration, Management, Business, Employee engagement, Organisational culture, Professional development, emotional culture, Team development, leadership development, High performing team, Team effectiveness, Team cohesion. Performance management, Conflict resolution, Personality assessments, Cross-functional teams, Emotional intelligence, Team performance
You're listening to knowing me, knowing you, the podcast that explores the art and science of creating, developing and retaining brilliant teams.
Emma Clayton 00:18
I'm your host, Emma Clayton. Join me weekly for practical advice, simple steps, and inspirational ideas as we discuss topics that make a difference to leaders and their teams. I'll be sharing all the tools and having conversations that help you to build and sustain performance. Welcome to the knowing me knowing you.
Emma Clayton 00:46
Hello, and welcome to another episode of knowing me, knowing you. Now, I thought this session would be a really great time to go through what do I mean by a brilliant team?
When we talk about the art and science of creating brilliant teams? What does that actually mean? What does it look like? How does that feel? How can you spot it? And, more importantly, how can you create it? Now I call brilliant teams brilliant teams; they are, in essence, high-performing teams. But as we get to know each other, you'll understand that I am not a follower of all the jargon because when we start following it, we lose the meaning and the feeling of what we're trying to achieve.
And so when we talk about the high-performing team, it's used broadly. And it doesn't really define in my mind what brilliant might mean. So if I give you the definition in the definition of brilliant, it means to shine very brightly or for somebody to be exceptionally clever or talented. And that, to me, is an excellent way to think about what a high-performing team is. Because high performing, what does that mean? Again, it doesn't really tell you what high performance is. So for me, brilliant is a team that shines brightly and is full of exceptionally clever or talented people. And when I say clever or talented people, I don't mean academically or intellectually; I mean that they've got that high emotional skill within them. So just as a little bit of context, before I take you into and break this down and start to unpack what a brilliant team is. Just think it's excellent to position why this is important.
And we know there has been a large shift of focus on teams, and people recognise that this is a fundamental driver for organisational performance. So, high-performing teams, brilliant teams create a solid organisational performance. And there was a study recently in 2019, by Buckingham and girdle and that study showed that 83% of workers do most of their work in teams, we work together, and we work supposedly collaboratively. And we're very, very few of us working alone. And that shift in focus, where organisations are building teams to create outcomes, is coming through to show that the importance of teams and their importance to the organisations are the number one critical success factor that came out of a study that Deloitte did in 2019. And in the same study, there's also been this increased requirement for leaders to work collaboratively with their teams and to develop and foster their performance. So the story goes that, you know, there are more of us working in teams, and we need to work collaboratively and foster performance from those teams.
And looking at how effective leaders can differentiate themselves in how they manage teams, the leadership is looking at the true leadership of the teams and using the teams to implement and execute strategy. And as I've said to you before, as a strategist, my whole career, the biggest frustration was exactly that. How do we deliver strategy through our teams? And so this is how I've become excited to look at how we can build brilliant teams. Historically, we've always had teams, but that's always been built around the assumption that the more heads we have in the organisation, the better. And that proliferation of team-based work went across jobs, industries, and global markets, and it seemed to be widely accepted for a very long time. And we're starting to adopt and embrace this whole focus that, yes, actually, we need these brilliant teams in our organisation.
But what makes an effective team is quite complex, and I will pack and unpack it all for you, too. A day, don't always think that the popularity of teams has been met with equal enthusiasm for this dissection. And this, looking at how we can assess and DEVELOP team effectiveness. But this is what this podcast is all about. Because when we know ourselves and know each other, we can build and harmonise and amplify a team's performance. So what do I mean by a team? Teams can show up in lots and lots of different ways.
For me, a team is a group of people that are made up of at least three individuals, and they perform tasks together that have relevance to the organisation. And they are made up of team members with shared goals and interdependency. So again, this could be hierarchical teams, it could be project teams, it could be cross-functional teams, it could be global teams, it really, you know, can be decided by you, you know, what are the teams that you're working in, it could be that you don't have any reporting line. But actually, you've got this shared goal and interdependency. And I don't think there's any surprise that the importance of teams is really well understood.
Now, it's really well-researched. You know, we have this positive impact on organisational level outcomes, financial profitability, stakeholder engagement, all of that. So that's all been crystallised and formed as an opinion. But I think there's still a lot of work that needs to be done on building that brilliant team. And that's what I'm going to break down for you today. And this is a lot of things to consider, rather than, you know, you must do this, because I've you know, as I've said, in all of the podcasts, we are humans, we are messy, and there's no simple formula, you know, that we're driven by emotions just as much as anything else. But I thought if I give you a structure to assess the teams you work in, it might really help you. So what are the elements of a brilliant team? Well, I guess for me, this goes into art and science. And so we have this science, a structure and a process that builds performance. But we also have this art around the culture and the environment that needs to be the way that the team operates, the environment, they operate in the way we do things around here. So I'm going to break some of that down for you. This is going to be a podcast of two halves. In this podcast, we will break down the science of performance and the steps and sub-themes around what that entails. And then, in the next podcast, we will look at culture and all of the themes that build the importance of culture in building those brilliant teams. So that is what we're going to do today. So I'm going to get right into it.
Emma Clayton 07:56
So performance refers to the factors that impact the team's capability to achieve those shared goals and interdependencies. So they have the things they need, the capabilities, and the skills to deliver the results they're responsible for.
So breaking that down, that goes into six elements, the fastest strategy, and I'll break all of these down for you shortly. But strategies have a strategic planning cycle with a short and long-term focus. The second is innovation. So how are we implementing new ideas around process improvement and new products going to market? How are we using their collective divergent thinking and skills and capabilities in that team to create innovation to stay ahead of our market and competitors? The third is accountability. Really important. This is one of the things I see lacking in many teams. Because we all want to be nice to each other. We're all in that superficial niceties. But those teams that are brilliant in holding each other accountable and challenging each other to perform will do well. So accountability is our third. The fourth is leading change. So how are we demonstrating leadership in response to change, and those are the changes that are in the organisation. But they're also the changes happening in and around us, that volatile, uncertain world that I talked about when we first met in the first podcast. The fifth is results. What are we doing to deliver and sustain high-quality results? And then this makes me laugh, and we're going to dedicate a whole podcast on this, and I know anyone that works in a team, and I say these two words will probably have a chuckle. So number six is meeting effectiveness. How efficient and effective are the meetings with a defined purpose? Those are the elements that we will talk about today. Just before I go on, and to give you a taster, we will quickly touch on culture and break that down in the second episode. But that's around factors that impact the team's standards of behaviour and the values they hold together to achieve their objectives. So within that is trust, professional conflict, communication, emotional intelligence, collaboration, and resilience. But like I say, if you head over to the second part of this podcast, we'll cover that in greater detail.
So performance, let's really break those elements down even further. The performance will refer to those factors, as I said just a second ago, that impact the team's capability to achieve the deliverables and results.
And so the first element that I wanted to break down with you today is strategy because teams with a clearly articulated strategy and vision are more likely to understand how success will be achieved between them. And that a successful strategy should focus on defining, reviewing, and sharing, defining, reviewing and sharing strategic priorities for the team. And then that team can hit its organisational goals. So that could be financial, engagement, there are all sorts of different things that you will put as that objective for that team. And what is known is that teams with a greater shared understanding about their purpose, individually, collectively, and in the organisation, with clear direction, are much more likely to make better decisions, build a shared understanding, and adapt more effectively to the demands of the organisation. Because they've got a plan and a structure, they understand what this is all about. They've got clear direction and purpose. So the things that I would ask you to think about, I want to invite you to question yourself, in your team in your organisation, are the following. Are your strategic priorities clearly defined? And then shared? And communication is something we'll cover in the next podcast? But how are you using the culture to drive these performance issues? How's the team got a full planning cycle with quarterly reviews? At the minimum? Has the team got short-term plans for one year? And then, has it got long-term plans for three and five years? You might have them in the organisation, but have you broken that down into your teams? And then, have you got some excellent measurement tools and performance indicators built into that? And can they be financial or non-financial? So yes, you know, you need to hit this percentage of the organisational target, but what are the other non-financial? How are you going to show up? What are the things you need to do in your team stakeholder management, or you're going to client excellence factors, whether financial or non-financial. So that is your strategic component of building performance, to invite you to look at that in your organisation. And if you think you've got it, go back and dig into it. Because often we think we've got it, and when we go down into the coalface into those client-facing or frontline workers, they tend not to be as clear as what we are at the top in that C suite or leadership role.
The second is around innovation. So teams that are proactive in fostering innovation and thinking creatively together are more likely to respond to those unanticipated changes and the adversities we face in the organisation and do it well. And as a result, they'll create much more value for their organisations by developing new and different ideas and approaches. And when teams engage in diverse, innovative processes and strategies, they're really going to impact that innovation orientation of the organisation they're part of. So how are you harbouring and inviting innovation through your teams? Because it will provide you with a much greater competitive advantage and, as a result, improve your organisational performance? So the questions that I would ask you to consider are: Are the team always looking to add new value and deliver better results? What space do you give them to think about these challenges? Are they constantly improving the key processes within the organisation that refine and perfect almost the processes? How do you know that nothing stands still? How can we continually iterate on our processes? Is the team being creative and thinking outside of the box, so to speak? Are they regularly implementing new ideas? Are there? Is there a culture in which they can implement new ideas and fail? Because if we're allowed to, you know, our teams are allowed to fail, they will inevitably come up and test new ideas and theories and iterate along the process. And then also, how is that team regularly talking about long-term new opportunities? How far into the future are they looking whilst they're also getting on with the day job because that is proven to build, again, that brilliant team.
The third is accountability. I see this critical piece missing, but it is key for delivering on that strategy. And that innovation is because teams holding each other to account to accomplish their desired goals and shared goals are absolutely more powerful than those just nice to each other. So if you're giving the skills to your team to constructively challenge and support each other to be better together, then you will create a mighty, high-performing brilliant team there. And teams that focus on shared responsibilities instead of the individual will be way more effective. We've heard that saying so many times, you know, the parts are greater than the collective sum. And so I would invite you to think about, you know, how your teams and individuals are being held accountable for their behaviour in the performance? How are you holding each other to account constructively and supportively? To really generate those outcomes? And how are you embedding feedback into the culture of those teams so that they can support and challenge each other? What space are you providing for them? And with the team members? How are you empowering them and equipping them to have those conversations together? So they can provide timely, effective feedback to each other at the moment, rather than sitting and harbouring and, you know, all the unsaid things of saying says not pulling their weight, or they said they do that. They haven't done it, or they're not showing up to meetings, or, you know, people need to be held to account quite quickly and nip things in the bud so that we can grow and iterate together. Because when the team underperforms, that's when you know one underperforming person can really harm the outcome of that team.
The next is leading change. So change is inevitable. I will keep telling you that. So how do you navigate change effectively? So as well as being proactive at identifying those opportunities and capitalising on the change internally and externally in the market? How can you enable your teams to improve their effectiveness and ability to become Agile to pivot to respond to dynamics in the market that are out of your control? How can you lead that change? How can you continue to lead the change in your marketplace and your organisation so that a more proactive change focus will help your teams navigate ambiguities? And we saw, you know, the best teams come together in, you know, the pandemic and really put some agility into their ways of working. And they coped a lot better with the stress associated with change, a lot of people don't like change and don't know how to do change. And so those that are very open and transparent, and leading through change, even if it's very authentically and vulnerably, they are the ones that will do much, much better. So again, I'd invite you to think about how your team is effectively creating opportunities to respond to changes. So when we see things in the marketplace, what are the mechanisms and processes that you've got in place, even if they're just, you know, they're not written down, but they're just sort of agreed if you like, how can your team respond to those unanticipated changes? I've worked in many organisations where bureaucracy has really failed at this point. And is that having to go through so many stakeholders to even get heard as an issue? How can we escalate some of these changes to respond quickly? And then, how is your team dealing with the feelings and emotions in the organisation? When they're driving that change? How do they understand how that change impacts everyday work for their colleagues and those outside the team? And, you know, are you doing those excellent SWOT analyses on those changes and how that will impact the business and the wider play. So look at your strengths and weaknesses in the organisation and those external threats and opportunities.
And number five is the overall results. So, without that focus on delivering results consistently, we can do all of the innovation, we can look at, you know, change, we can look at accountability, but actually, without our eye on the results, what is the end game? How are we delivering those results consistently and to a high standard? Then those teams are really in danger of becoming inefficient and ineffective. So results should always be at the heart of all the working within the team, all of those decisions there the way they work, you know, what is this? How is this driving the results forward? And that real clarity of strategy will enable that as well. And supporting your teams in defining what success and effectiveness look like in terms of results is a critical part of helping them leverage their potential performance? So the questions I'd invite you to consider are: How is your team delivering good results? And if they're not, why not ask them? Why? How are they meeting their key performance indicators? Again, their KPIs are those that are asked how so that you can duplicate that, bottle it, and share it amongst other teams in the organisation? Has your team got a reputation for high performance? And if so, why? How? And if not, why? And how, and then look at how your team performs to those high standards. Have you set the standards for those more challenging projects?
Emma Clayton 21:39
And finally, again, we're going to dedicate a podcast to this meeting effectiveness; oh, my gosh, we are, you know, death by meeting, aren't we, and especially now we're not able to have as much face-to-face coming out of the pandemic and these new ways of working with remote and hybrid working, we tend to just constantly go to the default of Let's have a meeting and the right people in the room. Wrong people in the room, the decision-makers in the room, you know, what is that meeting effectiveness because that increasing reliance on consultative and collaborative approaches can create more damage. So it's, do you have enough meetings, do you not have enough meetings? It understands the actual meeting effectiveness, so we can create opportunities for them to meet together. Still, effectively, purposefully, managing time better, having, you know, pre-reads post reads, whatever that meeting might be because there's a primary means of how teams get together and collaborate and coordinate really effective method. But the high-performing brilliant team will get this nailed their meeting effectiveness and teamwork will be critical to their engagement and performance.
But again, like any life skill, you can be skilled and then over-skilled. So I'd invite you to consider whether the team has established protocols in place to ensure meetings are managed efficiently? Are meetings finishing with clear decisions, next steps, roles responsibilities? Is there a cadence in the organisation of a meeting cycle that's in place for the year? So those meetings are in the diary, protected, and blocked on they're not to be moved? Because these are where we come together? And we've got very, very clearly defined agenda items or priorities to discuss. And how are we reviewing those organisational performances against the strategy as a team? How are we using those meetings to come together, look at our performance, strategy, and change? And the accountability? These are the method of how we then create all of the other five previous components of the version. And what's really important to be clear is the difference between strategic and tactical meetings; they are very different. So tactical is, you know, more of that, how are we going to do this day to day, and the strategy is more than how we're going to deliver on strategic goals, the changes, so get really, really clear about that in your team. So that's probably where we pause this discussion. That is how you create performance in your group, but that is not it alone, and I see organisations really focusing on performance.
These factors we've covered today. Results strategy, bang, bang, bang steps, processes scorecards, these are all very scientific ways of thinking about how we build performance and brilliance in our teams so that they can do that. All the things that we want them to do. But those organisations that then forget about the environment, culture, and ways of doing things are missing a trick. And so in the following podcast, that's what we're going to look at; we're going to look at how we can create an environment that really enables and empowers our teams to deliver on those six components of performance. So I will love you and leave you for now. And I will see you in the following podcast, where we will talk about culture. I will see you then. You have been listening to knowing me knowing you. If you would like to take your personality or team assessment, go to brilliant teams.org forward slash store, and let's get you knowing you knowing them. Tell your friends about us and share the podcast with colleagues. But most importantly, come and listen to us again next week. See you soon.
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