There’s an Elephant in the room…And, surprisingly, its human-shaped

I’m just going to say it.

Maybe we’ve all got it wrong when it comes to teams and their performance.

We talk about ‘optimising’ a team’s dynamics to improve their performance, as if they’re all part of some mechanical process to be made more streamlined, or a bunch of robots that can be fine-tuned to succeed.  Just oil the machine and it’ll run like clockwork.  Right?  Hell, we may have even been guilty of this in the past, “if you do XYZ, if you follow this process or that, then you’ll see the results at the end”.

Well I’m afraid it’s time to call it out.

When we think about teams and enhancing their performance, it’s not usually the processes that are broken, more often than not it is the culture within the team that needs to change.  Sometimes, it’s even the culture of the entire organisation that the team sits in, that needs to change!  

Now, if you speak to anyone who has ANY semblance of experience of working with a change in culture, or in fact, any type of change involving people, you’ll get the same dreary set of answers - ‘ooh culture change is hard’, ’it takes such a long time’, or ‘yeah, that’s a tough ask’.

The truth is that this kind of change is never going to be a linear, ‘A to B’ implementation.  There are forks in the road, U-turns, road blocks, and unfortunately, sometimes even collisions on the way to shifting culture. 

It’s never straight forward and no, it’s certainly not easy. But, why is that the case?

Well when you strip it right back, at the end of the day it comes down to the fact that you’re dealing with people. 

Individuals. 

Human beings. 

Human beings who think for themselves.  Humans who just so happen to have deep rooted opinions, biases, prejudices, personal culture, hopes and beliefs.

And to top it all off, these pesky humans are also influenced by external factors!  These external factors could range from simple things like whether they have had enough sleep the night before, or if they got stuck in traffic on their way to work this morning - both of which will impact how they interact with the world - to much more complex issues like going through a tough time at home, or juggling caring for loved ones, or any number of difficult scenarios which, over a long period, can impact their overall resilience and general ability to deal with change.  

There are so many different external factors that if I were to try to list them all out (which I couldn’t anyway), you’d think that it would be a lost cause trying to effect ANY kind of change where people are involved!

But you’ll be pleased to hear that all is NOT lost. 

Because, in the same way that we know a team is a collection of fascinating, complex, and often wonderful characters, we also know that people have a basic set of needs.  And understanding some of those needs, means we know that, amongst other things, individuals have a desire to be heard, to be seen and to be understood.

Meeting an individual’s needs in this regard can be a real motivating factor for that person. When they feel motivated they are more likely to feel engaged and bought in to achieving the desired outcomes for the team.  So tapping into this motivation is key.  But, it’s not only the act of motivating team members which will help them to succeed and perform in their roles.

When we consider team performance, what we find is that those teams that outperform the most are those where individuals in the team feel a sense of inclusion, they feel that they ‘belong’ to a team which has an identity of its own.  Taking it a step further, individuals in teams that perform exceptionally well know that they can be themselves within their team, and they are invited and actively encouraged to share their opinions, views and challenges with one another.  Healthy conflict is welcomed and viewed as necessary in order to challenge the status quo and move them closer to innovation.  

But again, it’s not enough just to know and list out the raw ingredients which are needed for the team to succeed.  Exceptional team performance is fostered when the individual team members not only know and understand their individual and collective strengths, but they also know HOW to get the best from one another.  This kind of team thrives because they share a collective growth mindset, they look for mistakes and opportunities to learn from each other, and from their experiences.

I could go on to list out all of the attributes that need to be present to enable a team to outperform, but what we’re really talking about here are teams where individuals have mastered the art of human interaction and are committed to continuous improvement through learning and reflecting.  

When you have a team of people who really understand how to interact clearly, positively and with a solid level of emotional intelligence, it creates a culture built on behaviours that encourage personal and team growth and development.  When you, as a leader, go on to bolster this culture by creating a clear identity and set of boundaries, then you’re setting them up to succeed.

So why does any of this matter? 

Well, put simply, when you can help people to interact successfully then it promotes the overall success of not just each individual, but of the collective group.  

But how do we do this, and what do we do differently to help teams to enhance their culture to support performance?

Well, here at Captivate we take a human-centred approach.  Whilst it is all very well (and, arguably, necessary) to have a structured framework and an educated approach based on studies and leadership theories, at Captivate we put human beings front and centre in our approach to team performance and changing culture. When we work with a team we temporarily immerse ourselves into that team and model behaviours for the team members to observe and learn from.

What this means in reality is that, while we know, appreciate and understand how to achieve each of the attributes that contribute towards team performance, we also adapt to what is happening in the moment; we relate to and interact with individuals on a level which means that they feel truly seen, heard and understood, first and foremost.  We get curious about what’s happening in the moment, taking in all of the cues and information, but never assuming we know the full picture behind the behaviours we are witnessing.

When you make the mistake of taking the surface level information on offer, i.e. by simply observing behaviours and making a judgement based on this information, more often than not, you are witnessing the symptoms of an underlying issue.  The behaviours on display are just the tip of the iceberg, and to not get curious about these behaviours would be providing a disservice to those individuals. 

So while we lean on our tried and tested proven leadership and team frameworks, stay up to date with the latest research and tap into our own extensive leadership experience, the key message from us is to treat the person in front of you as a fellow human being, who’s basic needs are crying out to be met.  Help them to feel seen, heard and understood by being compassionate with your curiosity.  Don’t take behaviours at face value, instead seek to understand what’s driving those behaviours in the first place.     

For you, as a leader, we invite you to reconsider your approach to your team.  Forget the textbooks and team performance frameworks and try a human-centred approach – by supporting individuals with compassionate curiosity and leading with a positive intent you will generate more positive interactions across the team.  These positive interactions support an upwards spiral of trust which will underpin your team’s performance.  Give it a try - we would love to hear how you get on with this approach so drop us a DM or comment on this blog via our social pages!

Written By Michelle Horgan

Photo Credits: Unsplash.com