Every leader should be asking these four questions about their team right now.
2023 proved to be one of the most challenging times to lead teams. Many either experienced or are fearful of looming layoffs, or are trying to figure out how to make hybrid work workable, all while setting the bar for performance higher at a time of what feels like permanent uncertainty.
Add it all up, and you understand the fundamental paradox of teams. We all love teams because, when they’re at their best, they generate the passion that comes with winning together, and they get better results than individuals could on their own. But the hard truth is most teams underperform compared to their potential because we don’t spend enough time as leaders focusing on the team dynamic itself. That neglect is ironically at its worst when we need it most; when countless external challenges pull our attention in a million different directions.
To drive passion and high performance in your team while everyone is distracted by the demands of the day, every team leader should be asking the following four questions:
#1 Does our team have a purpose that we all actually believe in?
We know the power of purpose in organizations. It gives individuals a sense of meaning and fulfillment that enables us to do our best work. But teams are the missing middle between organizational and individual purpose; we don’t usually think of them as needing a distinct vision and purpose, even though they are our main vehicle for getting things done on a daily basis.
I worked with a team in a global financial services business that was suffering from disengagement at junior levels, driven by a disconnect between these frontline employees and their senior leaders. The latter had a clear understanding of the why behind their work to make payments easier for customers, but junior employees only saw the immediate tasks in front of them.
We developed a one-sentence version of their purpose that team leaders began repeating at every major meeting, giving their people a galvanized, shared vision that everyone found meaning in. Try to define your own team purpose in a concise statement. If you can’t say it in a sentence, your team members probably don’t know what it is either.
#2 Are we clear and aligned on what we each “give” and “get” to help each other be successful?
Underperforming teams usually have misalignments on what each person is supposed to be contributing to the others to support their shared success. I once facilitated a retreat with the leadership team of a tech company that had created a downright toxic environment, driven by a belief that a few of the senior leaders couldn’t trust each other. When they got into a room to hash it out, we learned that the mistrust was mostly driven by role ambiguity. When the CMO made operational decisions the COO thought were under her purview, she assumed it was because the CMO questioned her competence. The CMO just thought he was doing his job, and that simple kind of misunderstanding had eroded the team culture over time.
The scourge of role misalignment is especially harmful for teams battling for top talent. Career advancement is a top priority for candidates. When they’re deciding on a job offer, they need to know they have a clear contribution to team success that will be recognized and rewarded when it comes time for them to be promoted.
To get alignment on the give and take in your team, ask your team members to lay out what information, expertise and resources they need from each other to fulfill their roles. Identify and troubleshoot pain points in the give-get relationships that your team depends on.
#3 How do we handle conflict and disagreement?
The best teams aren’t always “nice.” They’re able to push each other when it matters because they care about their shared success. When Google famously conducted its own review of internal team performance – dubbed Project Aristotle – they found that the number one characteristic of their high performing teams was psychological safety: the sense that we are safe to disagree, admit mistakes and offer new, potentially unorthodox or controversial ideas.
Having a conversation about handling conflict as a team starts with understanding how we handle it as individuals. One of the most effective conversations we had with the underperforming tech leadership team was around how they approached conflict and negotiation. We learned that what one team member interpreted as aggressiveness aimed at undermining others, another viewed as a directness that they intended as a sign of respect for their teammates.
Consider the typical flashpoints that come up when you have to make decisions and give feedback. Lead a team conversation on how each person approaches these tough conversations and talk about how you want to handle them before they arise. Understanding differences in communication styles helps us assume positive intent in tense discussions.
#4 Do we have a few key rules of the road that every single team member follows?
High performing teams have 3-5 key norms – we at co:collective call them operating principles – that guide each person on how to collaborate effectively. Operating principles give your team the rules of the road and keep them focused on the few key behaviours expected of everyone to create the right culture.
Consider brainstorming and problem-solving conversations. The evidence tells us that teams do better in these situations when each person is contributing their own independent perspective. But this doesn’t come naturally to every team, especially those with dominant personalities or hidden biases.
As head writer for the hit show The Shield, Glen Mazarra was dismayed when he noticed that two of his talented female writers weren’t contributing during his regular team meetings. They asked him to observe what happened when they tried, and sure enough, he noticed that, when one of them spoke up, a male writer would interrupt, shutting down their idea or taking it as their own. He instituted a clear operating principle: No interruptions. It gave the two women, and everyone on the team the space to contribute their best thinking.
When coming up with your own operating principles, think of them as team values articulated as behaviours so that they are practical and actionable. Keep the list short so they are memorable and meaningful.
The goal of posing these four questions is moving your team from what the anthropologist Mica Pollock calls “shallow to deep” conversations. Because we’re so busy and distracted with day-to-day team tasks, when it comes to diagnosing team issues, we often stay at a shallow level of understanding: “We need to get aligned,” or “We need better accountability.” By asking these simple but profound questions, you can uncover the real drivers of your team culture, and get your team operating at peak performance, even, or especially, when they face their toughest moments.
Derek Newberry is Head of Organization and Culture Design at co:collective in New York, US.
