The 4 enemies of team performance and how to avoid them

As an organisational consultant and high-performance leadership coach, CEO’s often reach out to me because they have a great product and great talent but there is something missing in the way their people are working together. They have defined the company purpose and vision for growth, created a leadership team, set clear benchmarks for performance, and communicated consistently. But despite all of this – they still feel like they are carrying all the accountability and risk. This can be frustrating and exhausting.

Just getting the right people in the door does not guarantee they will work well with others and unlock creative potential. To realise success, CEO’s must master the art of finding team synergy – where their leaders leverage collective capacity. This is impossible when they are stuck in dysfunction junction. Here are four common traps keep leadership teams locked in underperformance, and how to avoid them.

1. The saviour trap – thinking that the boss has all the answers 
   The most common challenge that CEOs (or any team boss) faces is shutting down the creative spark whenever they walk in the room. Suddenly, everyone who was previously opinionated waits to hear what the boss has to say before contributing.

   The paradox of being the boss is that your job is to bring talented people into the business and encourage them to share their useful ideas, and yet your very presence can stifle that objective.

   For this reason, a CEO I work with insists on being the last to speak whenever the team are brainstorming or sharing their viewpoints, because his opinion colours the sharing of others in the room.

   If you’re the boss, using statements like “I don’t know…”, “help me think this through…” and I’m keen to understand your perspective…” will put your opinion on a level playing field and make it safe for a diversity of views to be shared.

   In modern times where problems are complex and markets are volatile, there are no precedents. The boss does not have all the answers, they are just more willing to take the risk and lead teams to innovate new solutions to organisational challenges.

2. The solution trap – starting with the wrong problem in mind
   In the pursuit of a quick fix, I often observe leadership teams fall into the solution trap – jumping into solution-finding without first understanding the problem they are solving. For example, a leadership team may come together to urgently solve a revenue gap in the following quarter’s forecasted earnings. They throw out ideas to increase sales. The sales director considers these and selects one. An action plan is devised.

   Not only does this approach not lead to the best solution, it starts at the wrong place. What if the problem is not with sales? What if the problem is in the quality of the product? Or the customer segment they are targeting? Or in the capabilities of their team? What if the problem is in how they are leading and communicating expectations and priorities?

   Effective decision making involves three key steps: (1) problem identification, (2) solution creation, and (3) decision generation. If we start with the wrong problem in mind, the whole process is mute. First stopping to agree on the problem we are solving ensures that the decision-making effort will yield the best outcomes possible for the team and the business.

3. The debate trap – locked in debate with a winner and a loser 
   On any issue, it is very easy to get locked into a debate where there are two sides to an argument and only one wins. Debates turn discussions into tennis matches – with two protagonists fighting it out to win a point, and everyone else acting as spectators, deciding which winner to back.

   We are conditioned to believe that that through debate, the better idea wins. But sometimes, it’s not the better idea that wins – it’s the person who is more skilled at communicating, voicing their idea, or with the most positional authority to whom others are more likely to defer, who wins. But what about the third side? Or the fourth side? Problems are often multidimensional – especially wicked problems that require systems thinking.

   To overcome the debate trap, invite multiple perspectives from your leadership team, and encourage honest, vulnerable sharing. Listen without judgement and challenge the team to think beyond the immediate, obvious ideas. The more diverse the thinking, the more creative and innovative our solutions tend to become.

4. The blame trap – thinking it’s not my fault, it’s yours. 
   When we play the blame game (also known “the witch hunt”) we are inventing an ‘us vs them’ scenario that enables us to abdicate responsibility and avoid dealing with the problem. The blame trap creates a false sense of security. “I’ve done my part – it’s someone else’s fault things have gone wrong” is not the mindset of team players.

   It’s easy to blame the market, the customers, the economy, the competition, the suppliers, or underperforming employees. The blame trap diminishes collective capacity because we are giving over our power to the ‘other’ instead of accepting responsibility.

   Instead of playing the blame game, play the accountability game. CEOs are always ultimately accountable for every decision made in an organisation. It comes with the territory. The sooner you can accept your share and encourage others to do the same, the faster your leadership team can get on with problem solving. Invite the team to take responsibility for the part they play and instead of attributing blame, seek solutions.

High performing teams are teams in synergy  

The true potential for the organisation lies not solely in the brilliance of its individuals, but in the synergy and collaboration fostered within teams. Great results come when great thinkers come together to elevate their performance. As a CEO, fostering a great team dynamic in the top team will set the tone for teamwork throughout your whole organisation.

Written by Stephanie Bown.
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