5 Ways for Leaders to Enhance Team Success

How does leadership impact team performance? Common sense says if leadership is good, performance will increase. If leadership is poor, performance will decrease. But what makes a good and effective leader? That is a question we will explore now.

There are 5 drivers of success for leaders: Trust - Execution - Teamwork - Motivation - Change

Wouldn't it be great if we could measure these!! Actually, we can.

Story

I am sitting in a conference room with a new operational director, the COO and the President of a company. We are reviewing a Leadership Vital Signs 360 (Six Seconds) assessment/survey done on this new leader. What is the LVS360? The most accurate and actionable leadership 360 report that I have ever seen. In this assessment/survey, there is a validated set of measures that provide deep insight. Here is the model:

I believe that the pathway to good decisions starts with good data. Actionable data. What does that look like? Start with the 5 drivers of success above (Trust, Execution, Teamwork, Motivation, Change). You might think that these are difficult to measure...and in most cases you would be right. In this LVS360, there is 15+ years of validation and thousands of leaders who have been through the process. On top of that are dozens of case studies, research, and real world application. These can be measured and from those measures, much can be learned.

Here is what one of the drivers of success measures look like:

The measure in blue is the new director's self measure, the rest are other groups of raters, with the green measure being the average of all other raters.

So...the discussion continues. The leader does not understand why others don't give him a trust score equal to his self rating. This opened the door to a very profitable discussion that led to a profound learning moment for the new director. He had confused "Trust" with "Like". He is very well liked, but trust is more than just being liked. Here is a direct quote of what is in this report about trust:

Definition: “Trust is a feeling of confidence and surety - a trustworthy leader is someone who others will rely upon.” Leadership isn’t something that one can buy or make by oneself; by definition a leader requires the consent of followers. The quality of that relationship can be measured by trust; it is the benchmark or foundation of an effective working relationship.

Leaders who generate trust facilitate others to take positive risks - risks to fully commit, to be forthcoming and honest, to stretch, to be open to change, and to grow. Followers listen to a trusted leader, they believe in her/his words so they don’t waste time in petty disagreement and power struggle. Trustworthy leaders keep promises, both those spoken and unspoken. Trust grows when leaders are competent, consistent, committed, and caring. (Six Seconds - excerpt from LVS360 report - Trust)

 This is only one of the 5 drivers of success for a leader. Leadership effectiveness is measured by these, but also by team performance. No matter what is happening in the team, team performance is the responsibility of the leader. Think of what it would be like to have this kind of tool to use in your organization. This is a transformational tool.

Think of the LVS360 as a mirror we hold up so the leader can see themselves the way others see them. Powerful! This takes accountability and self-awareness to an entirely new level. Now, look at the definitions of all of the 5 drivers of success and consider how these leadership measures can impact team performance:

1. Motivation
Definition: “Motivation is the source of energy to overcome challenges, pursue a goal, or maintain commitment.”

2. Teamwork
Definition: “Teamwork is collaborating to pursue a goal; it requires a sense of shared purpose and belonging.”

3. Execution
Definition: “Execution is the ability to achieve strategic results by implementing specific steps that work.”

4. Change
Definition: “Change leadership is the ability to keep the team innovating and adapting to succeed in a continuously changing environment.”

5. Trust
Definition: “Trust is a feeling of confidence and surety - a trustworthy leader is someone who others will rely upon.”

(Definitions from LVS360 report - Six Seconds)

 This may seem to be a strange way to answer the question, "How does leadership impact team performance?" But as I said, good data reveals much. It is like turning on the light in a dark room so you don't stumble or crash into something. Without this good data, how would we measure the efficacy and impact of a leader?

Can you start to see why I like this tool so much for helping leaders identify key performance indicators for themselves? You can create measurable developmental goals and KPIs from a well validated assessment/survey like this.

Oh...did I mention the entire section of the report with comments for the leader. The Stop, Start, Continue section. The custom questions.

There is no doubt that leadership directly impacts team performance. I remember something I heard a long time ago, and many times since then, "people leave managers (leaders) they don't leave organizations." The leader/manager:

• Gets the team culture they tolerate
• Determines the amount of psychological safety the team experiences
• Sets direction
• Provides support and coaching to develop team members (or not)
• Sets accountabilities
• Either inspires or enforces (maybe some of both)
• Chooses to reflect and celebrate with the team (or not)

I am sure there are many more areas of impact a leader has. We have answered the question.

Leaders have a massive impact on team performance!

If you want to know more about the entire Vital Signs tool kit (Leadership - LVS360, Team - TVS, Organization - OVS) from Six Seconds, please reach out to me. I would be happy to share this wonderful set of tools with you.

Copyright © 2022 EQFIT® - Author: Steven Goodner All rights reserved. No portion of this material may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact: [email protected]