A big, but seemingly invisible, problem many organisations have is suboptimal teamwork.

Sure, there is teamwork going on.

So much more is possible if organisations paid more attention to team leadership, teamship, and cross-silo team of teams working.

(The good news is this changing. Don’t be left behind. We can help).

And here I mean “teams” in the fullest sense of the term. Teams where there is collaborative working in service of joint goals that serve their stakeholders, and where there is collective inquiry and learning that maintains relevance and fitness for the future.

Not only are many teams underperforming in the moment and over the short term, they are failing to spot the faint signals of wider opportunities and risks ahead of them.

Sure, some may be hitting targets.

So much more ambition, innovation and value is possible.

Particularly when this is underpinned by investment in developing team leadership, teamship, and cross-silo team of teams working. I have already said this. It is important!

(For example, we are working with a hungry team that is chasing double EBIT over a sporting timescale, and has recognised this is only possible via a business-wide team of teams approach. Watch out for the case study in due course).

THE HIGH PERFORMANCE DELUSION

An underlying issue is that leaders and teams fail to develop beyond a set of one-to-one relationships.

This is a “habit” which cascades through the organisation and is cemented by an individually-based performance appraisal system. 

The organisation loses out on the power of team leadership and teamship.

What if leaders and teams explored the value that lies in the multiple possible interactions between colleagues. In a team of 8 there are potentially 28 one-to-one interactions and 960 one-to-many interactions.  What value is being ignored or inadvertently suppressed?

What if leaders and teams lifted their gaze beyond the present fire-fight to emerging opportunities and prospects for longer term radical innovation?

What if leaders stopped acting as subject matter experts, offering themselves as the “go to” fixer?  What if they stopped managing inside their own “comfort zones”?

What if leaders could do more than just pull team activities together under a single narrative, and with empowering delegations? Pretty good but not high-performing. The team is still a collection of individuals doing their bits, and the team leader is still the “go to” person for external stakeholders. 

THE OPPORTUNITY

What if leaders could help colleagues connect more fruitfully across the team and externally to discover and resolve issues unaided.

What if leaders led by coaching the connections rather than just the individuals?

What if leaders and teams could be supported to reach for this level of high performance?

NEED HELP?

This is precisely the work that we specialise in.

Let’s explore how we can help you.

Dave Stewart

+44 7776 153428

dave@freshairleadership.com