Regardless of the size of your company, one of the top priorities today is finding a quality team of motivated and talented employees, truly capable of fulfilling the vision of your organization through their dedication, innovation and excellent team performance.
Yet at times team performance falls short and it can be difficult to understand exactly why the climate of your workforce continues to fail in achieving your objectives.
In this post, we present three of the most common issues around establishing a true “entrepreneurial culture” that empowers and supports your team to perform at its best.
1. You’re not 100% clear on what you need
We often understand the general concept of our business but perhaps miss the detailed analysis around what is actually necessary to make it successful.
And the key element around this is ALWAYS: your strategy.
- What functions are truly fundamental to the competitive advantage and success of your business?
- How do these functions need to flow with each other in order to create an effective and efficient operation?
- Where is the strategy? Does it exist? And does it actually WORK?
And if it does,
- Is it regularly consulted?
- Followed and challenged?
- And adjusted to ensure that you keep meeting your objectives at the maximum level?
These are the typical first questions to clarify if what you are DOING is actually achieving your core objectives.
You can delve a little more into these questions in our NEVBlog “4 Keys to optimizing your business”.
2. You don’t have the right talent to achieve great team performance
Even if you have thoroughly studied WHAT you need, the question rests on whether you have the right people for the job.
No matter how good your leadership, resources or team/company culture is, without a good fit between the necessary roles/functions and the people in front of you, you can achieve very little success.
An important step is thoroughly analyzing the performance of the current team, the objectives and needs of the company and whether the current mix between the two can really create successful results.
There are many ways to do this:
- from informal conversations
- interviews and team meetings
To more structured methods such as:
- 360 evaluations
- progress reports and activity logs
- external support (coaches and consultants)
- clear goal-setting methods and results measures (like dashboards)
If you want to know more, read our NEVBlog: “KEYS to Developing Exceptional Talent in Companies”.
3. Your leadership needs WORK to create high-performing teams
Even if you are a one-person show, a small team, or a multinational organization, leadership concepts and skills are something necessary in every individual of your company.
This means thoroughly understanding your preferences and tendencies as a professional and manager. Communication and management style, strategic and operational abilities, and organization (just to name a few).
The good news is that this is very “workable” and “solvable” and if you’re willing to get curious about it and seek the right support, it can mean not only high-quality results, but a great deal of relief and motivation for not having to shoulder the entire burden alone.
- What specific direction, instruction and skills are your team lacking?
- Do you have proper incentives in place to reward open communication, participation, and creative problem-solving?
- Is there a clear and balanced evaluation process to ensure that results are measured and optimized going forward (360 evaluations, progress reviews, etc.)?
- Are you truly listening to your people to gain all their most valuable insights?
- Is your communication clear, transparent and motivational?
- Are your actions aligned with your words and are you setting the right example to your people?
Leadership begins with the leader but its success is ultimately about the followers.
And if the followers are well chosen, incentivized, developed and INCLUDED, long-term success can take root.
This TED talk on the topic “5 ways to lead in an era of constant change” may be very interesting for you.
As always, if you have any questions or ideas on the topic, you can contact me here for a free consultation and we will work it out together.
And please share with us your own experiences and ideas, so we can continue expanding the sphere of possible solutions.
Great message, Nev. I thought I’d emphasize that all of these factors work together.
If you’re not clear about your vision and the strategies you want to employ to pursue it, you can’t lead your talent.
It may be you DO have the right talent, but even if you’re clear on your vision, if you haven’t conveyed your vision and attempted to create agreements with your talent, you can’t be sure that your issue is a talent issue–and not a leadership issue.
Thanks for making it so clear and simple.
Thank you very much Sandy for your thoughtful comment – and I completely agree. I think it is often the synchronization of critical elements that often falls short in organizations, not just the elements themselves. A very important clarification Sandy – all the best!
I couldn’t refrain fгom commenting. Vеry ᴡell written!
Thank you!