The 4 Proof Points of Higher Team Performance
There are only 3 words that team leaders need to live by for their team to flourish:
“Drive out fear”.
Those 3 words are Point 8 of W. Edward Deming’s 14 Points for Total Quality Management.
Given the modern day focus on people’s wellbeing in the workplace, perhaps “drive out fear” would be re-prioritised to first.
For the single-most common and consistent point of management failure that undermines all efforts to improve performance is the failure to address fear.
I love Patrick Lencioni’s model for team performance – the Five Dysfunctions. The absence of trust is a fundamental weakness for teams. In “Driving Fear Out of the Workplace”, Ryan and Oestreich look extensively at the symptoms, causes and strategies to address workplace fear and distrust.
There is plenty of material written online about the signs of fear in the workplace. But what are the behaviours that team leaders and team members should focus on to “drive out fear”, build trust, boost motivation and build higher performance, all at the same time?
Decision-making: frequent, efficient, effective.
Feedback: timely, constructive, genuine.
Conflict resolution: respectful, empathetic, instructive.
Problem solving: creative, sustainable, profitable.
When teams focus on these 4 critical proof-points, people work in an environment of high trust, their energy and enthusiasm for work increases – they get motivated!
The challenge for team leaders is to objectively consider their team’s capability across these 4 critical proof-points to make it happen - stay tuned for more insights.