Is Your Leadership Preventing Your Team from Achieving Its Potential?

This is a written Transcription for the Leadership Hustle episode about Is Your Leadership Preventing Your Team from Achieving Its Potential?, from Season 1 Episode 17.

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Andrea Frederickson: On this episode of The Leadership Hustle, we're going to show you how you're preventing your team from becoming high performance. Hello, and welcome to the Leadership Hustle. For executives whose companies are growing fast and need leaders who are ready. As executives and leaders, we get into the routine of answering questions, solving problems, sending emails, going to meetings, and that routine becomes just part of what we do every day we're reacting. Have you ever thought about the that process, though, where maybe you are preventing your team from being all it actually could be? In today's episode of The Leadership Puzzle, we're going to talk about the stages of the team, but more importantly, how leaders are actually preventing them from being all they could be. So welcome back to the Leadership Hustle. Hi, Michelle.

Michelle Hill: Hello.

Andrea Frederickson: Ready to do this? I think we are. I don't remember how many episodes we had, but it feels like we've been doing this for a while, so we're starting to get into a different rhythm. So we're having some fun with this. So today we're talking about teams. And you know we in the business world talk about use the word and throw the word teams around all the time. But I'm not so sure that we truly understand what a team is. I mean there's all kinds of teams, right? Correct. But I really think that people, you know, when they say teams, they're thinking about a group of people. That may have one litre. You may have a team that is has a project that they're all working on, but that doesn't mean that they are aligned and it doesn't mean anything other than it's just a group of people. And I personally, when I think of a team, I think of a team that is really high functioning and really supportive. You know, if you've ever been on a high performing team, one that not only supports each other, has each other's back, can debate things, can solve problems together, they don't need to ask a whole lot of extra support, you know. But if they need to, they can go to their coach or they can go to their leader, but they don't do it all the time. If you've ever been on a team like that, it's amazing. And then when you're not on a team like that, it really crap. It's really crap, right? And so as we talk about teams today, I want us to really make sure that you, as listeners are hearing that when we talk about teams, we want this high performing team, we want this. Everybody's got everybody's got this goal of going down that path. So. With with that with the team. What are some of the problems you hear leaders talk about with their teams? Right.

Michelle Hill: Well, I believe oftentimes what comes up is going to be, well, they complain about not having people give input. I have a meeting and I go over things and no one, no one has input for anything. So I'll hear it. That one. Right. I will hear that they are having to say this respectfully, but you know, they've got some people on their team that that don't get along. And so they're having to tip toe around both of them and try to manage that versus on a high performing team, those two individuals who manage it themselves.

Andrea Frederickson: They just go have a conversation. They would take.

Michelle Hill: Care of that. It's that that peer to peer accountability. And then I would say the well, the other is one's frustrated with the other one. But again, they don't go and and have the conversation. They may come complain to to them, but not to the person who really can do something about it. Right?

Andrea Frederickson: They get stuck in this level of team development that that really isn't working.

Michelle Hill: Yes. And then one thing I often hear though, is that manager is going into rescue. They'll say, I'll take care of it and that I'll take care of it now. Sends the message, continue to come to me with your problems and I'll solve them. And there's no peer to peer accountability.

Andrea Frederickson: So that leader isn't helping them move through those stages of team development.

Michelle Hill: Correct? Correct. And we think about those four stages of team development. You're right. They're getting stuck about that third as they're going into that second or third stage. So tell tell our group real quick the audience about those four stages okay.

Andrea Frederickson: So you know there's research. This stuff was coined in the 60s. But there there are definitely four stages of team development. Some people know this, but I think these four stages help give context to what we're trying to accomplish here. So there's the forming stage where any time you bring a new person into the team or onto the team, that people are introducing themselves. This is what my job is. This is what my role is, and it doesn't take very long to get to. It's like, oh, just kind of introductions, right?

Michelle Hill: People just getting to know each other.

Andrea Frederickson: That's stage one. Stage two is storming and people are like, oh, my people aren't storming. Like, well, let's talk about what storming is. Storming is let's negotiate what the expectations are. Let's get clear about, oh, the person who was here before didn't do it that way. Oh, but I was expecting it that way, or that's not how I do it. And having those baits and frustrations. And when we do that stage, the senior leader or the leader of that team needs to make sure that we're pulling people together so they can help solve those problems. Okay. So that's that's stage two. I'm going to step skip stage three and go to stage four just for ease of explanation. So forming Storming stage four is performing stage four is that high performing that we mentioned before? People have each other's back. Yes, they might disagree on something, but they can get through it. They can have conversations, they can hold each other accountable. They can solve problems together. And every once in a while, they may need to have their leader involved. In some part of that. The leader probably spends maybe 30% of their time with the team doing much of anything right. They're simply coaching and getting feedback. That's high performing, and that is the goal. Stage three is norming, and that norming is that continuum of people aren't getting along. Lots of drama and working through expectations and and meeting, having those conversations when expectations aren't being met, solving problems together, not elevating everything to the leadership team or the leadership person. And the closer they, you know, on that continuum, they get to high performing, the less they need the leader to solve problems and do all those things. So those four stages are super critical, and recognizing that any time you bring somebody back on, you got to go back through the process, because it's still not high performing until you get through all those stages.

Michelle Hill: They have to build those new relationships because now there's a new dynamic, right? And then where does that person's roles, responsibilities and how do they impact what I do. And and that that's where it starts. They start getting comfortable. And that's when they start getting into storming because someone's feelings are hurt or there's misunderstanding, or they do it differently and they're not necessarily comfortable having those conversations right, to hold each other accountable.

Andrea Frederickson: So in the decades that we've been doing this, maybe you not as many decades as I have, but we've been doing this for decades, right. And one of the beliefs that we have is that and the experiences that we've had and we've noticed is most leaders do not allow their team to get to stage four high performing, and people will argue with us and say things like, well, I have a high performer and I have a high performance. High-performing individuals. That's different than a high performing team. And so, you know, let's let's talk a little bit about what are some of the things that you notice leaders do that prevent their entire team from getting to that stage for high performance? What do they do? Well, the.

Michelle Hill: First is they rescue.

Andrea Frederickson: They rescue, they rescue.

Michelle Hill: And and then think about, I mean, if you really boil it down and think about the situation, you have two individuals and they're not getting along. There's something going on there. And one comes and complains to their manager. At that moment, trust is actually being eroded because first of all, if you're the person that didn't go complain, I would be hot because it's like you just made me look like an.

Andrea Frederickson: Why didn't you come to me? Yeah.

Michelle Hill: Why did you not come to me? We could have talked about this, right? So now it's taken one situation that you you don't work well together and you've elevated it to where? I don't trust you at all. Possibly because how do I know you're not going to, you know, say something else and, you know, really have my side, my side or best interest. I would say that's that's probably the, the biggest. But then the second is going to be looking at what are they doing to help build those relationships. How can you. That's one thing that we'll talk about in groups. It's it's how do you be more proactive. You have a new person coming on. You know, that we need to do some stuff so everyone gets to know them. We know that we need to start, you know, try to get to know each other, build relationships.

Andrea Frederickson: What's your perspective on this? What's your thought on that? How would you do this. Yeah.

Michelle Hill: And create some clarity and roles and expectations. Oh by the way let's go over our norms that we've created. Let's talk about how those how those are bought. And let's make sure we're all role modeling. Right. And putting people may be responsible for helping guide that new person there. So we're moving people through it faster. So then that way we can close that gap faster. And we're also not rescuing we're not taking care of their problems. We're like, nope. Let's why don't you have have a conversation. Maybe you coach them, but you're really wanting to have them have it.

Andrea Frederickson: So those leaders aren't putting out those expectations or we as a team aren't setting expectations of norms. I've heard people in interviews. Yeah, our culture is we want people to debate and we want people to do that. Like that only happened during the interview. No one ever brings it up again. And so then, you know, leaders aren't reinforcing that we need to do that. You know, in a previous episode, we talked about how you not get yes people. And so wanting to make sure that we help people understand how to solve problems together. If there's an issue, let's go to the person first, not elevate it to the leader. Right. And so that leader not setting those expectations would be, you know, another kind of thing. You know, I also see people get involved in solving problems that are not theirs to solve. So it's not even just rescuing, you know, relationship conversations. But they have delegated a project to a group of people, a couple people, three people. It doesn't make any difference, but they they start stepping into what's going on and so people interpret that they're involved with what's happening. And so because maybe it's their pet project, it's like, oh, I'm really interested in this. So what do we did this? What do we do that it's like, because you're the leader now, your authority comes along with your suggestion and so it gets in the way. Or maybe you're just interested. You start asking questions about something. And so people think, oh, now I have to elevate this to a person, to the leader, because, oh, they want decision making authority. Yes. And so.

Michelle Hill: Well, and one of the things I just thought about is oftentimes we may have a personal relationship outside of work with some of our employees, maybe as we grow within the organization and are promoted and so forth. So it depends on where your people fall. But that personal relationship, if we're not careful, we may be having small talk about what we did over the weekend together that then can feel create a feeling of excluding that person and then also cause that new person or someone else in the team to feel like I can't debate with this other person because they're really good friends with the leader, the manager.

Andrea Frederickson: Right? And you're having those impromptu conversations, and that impromptu conversation leads to, oh, I was having this project and we're having really fun with this. And now I got input on this, right. And now it's you're getting involved with something that you ought not to get involved with. And the same.

Michelle Hill: Thing goes with delegation. If I only delegate to my few, those are going to be the people that feel included and feel they can speak up and feel it safe, and the rest of them are going to can feel excluded. Right. Because what are they doing that I'm not that I'm not having development opportunities. I guess it all depends on how you view delegation. Right.

Andrea Frederickson: Well so let's let's look at this. So we our objective is to get people through the stages. But the one people get stuck on is this level three. So yes our leaders need to make sure that they're setting the expectation that the team needs to be able to do this and coach and promote. That specific activity intentionally, right? Recognize, too, that those impromptu conversations, yes, we're human are not necessarily input into the project. It's let the team deal with the project and make sure that there's no misunderstandings about what involvement you need to have. And so, you know, there's a there's a metrics out there the Duarte group talks about, but it's really about having that leader tell their team what are the things that they need. Do not bring it to me. Just take care of it. Right. Here are the things that just keep me in the loop. That's all I need to do is be kept in the loop. Or does it need to be elevated because some decision making authority is this is mine, I own this, do.

Michelle Hill: The research and then let's chat.

Andrea Frederickson: Right. And so, you know, helping the team that you lead know when to do that individual and group as as well is is super important. You know I think that you know, the other thing that I was just talking with a group yesterday and the executive there was going through and doing one of the things we asked people to do, which is a time analysis. And he was realizing, you know, what do you really do? It's like you're spending all your time doing emails, you're spending lots of time coaching, and you're spending all your, you know, it's like, okay. But within context of that, are those emails, emails that you should be solving a problem or are you redirecting it back to this is a group decision. This is decisions that you should make. I trust you to make that decision right. Are you coaching on how somebody should solve a problem, or are you helping that person go back and say, how do we help the group do this? And so recognizing, even in the context of these large labels, that our intentions are good, but we're really not really helping them move to this high potential team that they really can do. And so I really want our audiences, our audience, to have an audience are to think about, are you preventing your team from advancing to that high performance because you like to be involved? It's a habit of yours. You haven't created clarity about what those expectations are, or have you really not just thought about it and said, you know what, I know I can help this team become high performance so I can concentrate on the things that my responsibility deserves.

Michelle Hill: And be okay with them not getting along at times.

Andrea Frederickson: It's okay.

Michelle Hill: It's not. Everyone has to get along at the moment. Let's make sure they figure it out. But let that tension happen.

Andrea Frederickson: And and just teaching people like I can dislike the idea, but I don't have to dislike the person. And people have such a difficult time recognizing and separating those two. Thanks for joining us today on The Leadership Hustle. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode.