Teams are like the equivalent of multiple engine rooms on a ship. They are where all the cooperative components of work come together to get work done, in order to power the organisation. Great teams comprise a range of people with diverse skills who learn, solve problems, innovate and execute the strategy together.
One of the big issues that has percolated to the top of most leader's wish lists is how to keep good people. They worry about what they need to do to encourage their high performers to stay and at the same time, improve the performance of low performers.
One of the issues with teams being in what I call, the Anxiety Zone, is while they can be great at getting things done to a high standard, there can be a big cost. And that is stress and anxiety that leads to burnout.
Trust and leadership are inextricably linked. In both good and bad times, employees subconsciously evaluate their leaders to see that they are worthy of their trust.
According to research by Dr Amy Edmondson, a Harvard Professor, a combination of psychological safety and high standards is vital for teams to reach their full potential.
As we head into a new year with new goals and expectations, you might be finding that you are tasked with some stiff challenges with leading your team.
The last couple of years have seen remarkable turbulence in both the global economy and workforces. The impact of COVID is still continuing to reverberate creating trends such as The Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting.
Now, we are facing a looming recession, redundancies, inflationary pressures, continual supply chain issues and a cost of living crisis. Employees are returning to work scared and uncertain. Of course, when things are unsettling trust is low.
As human beings, we are biologically programmed to want to be with people and work together, as we instinctively know it helps our survival. Yet, there is a dark underside to this need to be with others – we also fear rejection.