Flamingo Images/Diverse businesspeople
By Joe Hart
CEO, Dale Carnegie Training
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Over the past two years, companies and their employees have had to find creative and innovative ways to lead, motivate and remain productive. More than ever, teamwork is required to ensure that the company is achieving its goals and providing high-quality service to its clients.
What is critical is that when teams work together and share a common goal, they learn how to build off each other's individual strengths as well as create processes that drive success. High-performing teams also contribute to boosting the company's overall morale, productivity and efficiency. Here are five approaches to creating high-performing teams.
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Reward Failure
I'm always looking for new ways a leader can inspire their teams. Josh Linkner, New York Times best-selling author and business leader, told me the story of a technology company that had a weekly event called "Friday Fails" that rewarded the biggest team failure.
If a team didn't report a failure, management would ask, "So, what are you going to try next week?" Not only did this create a culture of innovation and creativity, but it also opened communication lines among the company ranks and created a culture where invention and risk-taking were rewarded.
Discussing your team's failures and tribulations can help employees feel emotionally involved. There's a tendency for some leaders to sugarcoat circumstances to maintain morale or play the blame game, ranting angrily at team members for their failures. When leaders do that, they are setting themselves — and their employees — up for a huge letdown in morale. The days of the old "command and control systems" where bosses told their employees to "do as I say" are over. The previous heavy-handed approach discouraged feedback, creating a culture that squashed creativity and ingenuity.
Instill a Sense of Purpose
The role of a leader is not to manage people so they follow orders, but to set a purpose and let them contribute to it while giving them a voice in the process. When an employee feels valued, it's the foundation for their engagement, which almost always leads to higher productivity.
When you take the time to provide your teams with a clearly defined goal, then empower them to work collaboratively, you'll find how creative, efficient and productive they can be. As leaders, if we avoid micromanaging our teams in these circumstances, you can see each team member step up to hold themselves and each other accountable. You send a message to your team members that you are creating a culture where you value their expertise and diligence.
Honesty, humility and transparency are useful tools for leaders to build trust and find solutions. If the company is losing money or lost a huge client, you can use this as an opportunity to engage your team members. Let them know what's going on. Invite them to the conversation. Hold listening sessions in person or virtually in small groups. Ask them for feedback on what ideas they have to generate new revenue, cut costs or create new products and services. You'll be surprised how in tune your employees are in knowing what's working, what's not and what solutions they have to address the problem. You'll be comforted in knowing that your employees welcome your humility and seek out their advice.
Empower Your Employees
Studies show that employees feel more vested in their company when they're given the authority to make decisions. Turns out, employees often find solutions that management would have never thought of. Why is that? They're closer to the action. This doesn't mean taking power away from management — quite the opposite, in fact.
Employee empowerment frees up management for other things. Our research shows that when employees have a strong relationship with their immediate supervisor, they'll be more engaged and motivated. As leaders, you need to create opportunities for employees to share ideas with you and other leaders, providing a forum for feedback on which ideas are worth implementing and others that need further development.
If team members are reluctant to make decisions, find out what is preventing them from giving a co-worker or customer an answer. Remove those obstacles and provide the resources the team needs to make decisions, particularly on routine matters, without waiting for approval from a supervisor. Take the time to talk to each team member to understand their fear of making a decision. You'll probably find out that many fear failure. As a leader, create a culture that supports your employees. Let them know it's okay to fail because they are going to learn more from that experience than never taking the risk.
Build Trust
Every leader needs to create a culture where their employees can succeed. For instance, if an employee brings you a bad idea and you respond by saying, "Now that's a terrible idea," you've convinced them to never share an idea with you again.
You can say things like, "Hmmm. How did you come up with that?" or "What would make your idea better?" They are likely to return to their desk feeling validated. And come up with five more bad ideas. But one day, they might hit the game-changing one that transforms your business that never would have seen daylight had you created a fear-based culture.
Create a Sense of Loyalty
How do you instill a sense of loyalty in your team members? One of the key ingredients is confidence. When employees feel good about themselves, they are more likely to stay at your company, and better yet, put in the extra effort.
Challenge your team members to create professional and personal goals. When your team members develop, then there is the likelihood of higher levels of job satisfaction, which leads to improved efficiency and productivity for the company. As leaders, you want to encourage team members when they're doing well and when they're underperforming.
High-performing teams lead to a greater focus on the tasks at hand, help boost morale and continuously learn how to contribute to a company's success in numerous ways.
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