Have you ever wondered what the ‘secret sauce’ is to high performing teams?
Like many leaders, I’ve pondered that very question many, many times. Operating in and having had the honor of leading high performing teams, I’ve found a few select ingredients to be vital. Such as trust and strong professional relationships. Such as deeply held shared values and a clear and unifying purpose. From what I’ve experienced, these are essential cornerstones of excellence in teams.
However, even the strongest of cornerstones can be eroded by ‘change’. And, as we all know, the only constant IS change. So, what is a team leader seeking long term high performance to do?
Try this. Experience has taught me that ownership and accountability can be outstanding countermeasures to the challenges of change. Ownership embodies initiative and determination to overcome any obstacle. Accountability brings commitment to team and teammates, and that ‘I’ve got this, you can rely on me’ mentality. In my journey, taken together these are powerful catalysts supporting consistent high performance in the face of ‘change’.
This has been a leadership lesson learned for which I owe a huge debt of thanks. As a newly minted team leader in the early years of my career, I learned first-hand the power of ownership and accountability. My executive leader - let’s call him Mike - was extremely wise, experienced, and knowledgeable, a true ‘engineer’s engineer’. He placed a strong emphasis on not only performance but also equally the long-term reliability of our designs. He was data driven, deeply experienced and excelled in asking detailed and challenging questions during our many design reviews.
Our team had deeply studied the designs of not only domestic competitors but also global competitors whose designs sometimes differed from common accepted practices in our North American market. Our challenge, as an engineering team, was to find the best practice for our designs. In our design reviews, Mike drilled deeply into our designs, asking difficult but appropriate questions, seemingly one after another, non-stop. It was extremely rigorous. Our design challenged some of the conventional wisdom of designs in the North American market and was counter to his experience. As an executive leader, Mike had to make a choice – direct us to change the design to be more conventional or trust and empower our design direction given the rigorous engineering reviews he conducted.
In retrospect, it would have been easy for Mike to micromanage and support the more commonly accepted design practice at that time, but he saw opportunity in our design to set a new, better standard and supported our approach. After explaining to our team how he reached his decision, his words still ring true to me to this day, decades later.
Those are the four magic words: ‘I’m counting on you”.
In only one short phrase he empowered us. And in doing so, ownership and accountability immediately followed. We knew our leader challenged us deeply and ultimately believed in and supported us. If you have ever experienced the restrictions of a micromanager, you know firsthand the feeling of freedom when it is truly your call, and you are being trusted to deliver success.
It has been said that the difference between managers and leaders is that managers make sure things are done right, while leaders make sure the right things are done. Mike was a true leader, and his decision was a prime example to us all. Mike trusted us. It was both the ultimate compliment and ultimate incentive at the same time. Now, it was up to us to make it happen.
It wasn’t easy. Long hours, lots of learning and continuous improvement along the way. But knowing we owned it and were accountable for its success, we pushed ourselves willingly. Discretionary time now was also devoted to the cause. We went way past ‘above and beyond’. We were on a mission.
Imagine unleashing that same energy, enthusiasm and determination on any problem or objective your team faces. It is magical to be part of, and thanks to Mike, a leadership lesson forever learned.
So, now it’s your turn. I’m counting on you.
Authored by: Jeff Boyer, Managing Director
