Copyright Marie-Claire Ross Pty Ltd
In a highly popular Tedx video, Amy Edmondson, a Harvard Business professor, talks through her research on the impact of accountability and psychological safety in teams. She discovered that when high levels of psychological safety and high standards collide it leads to high performance.
Her theory has been the genesis for these four zones of team performance based on work I have done with teams over the years. Except in my work, I found that accountability was a better terms for organisations. These zones are unpacked in more detail in my book, TRUSTED TO THRIVE: How leaders create connected and accountable teams. (download a free chapter here).
Let me step you through the model above. Essentially, both psychological safety and accountability are modelled and managed by the team leader. How a leader models and rewards behaviour creates the culture in which a team operates: