How can you coach high performance teams without common pitfalls?

In my work with teams I use a very (deceptively) simple activity to demonstrate high performance. I'll ask everyone to raise their hands as high as they can and when everyone has their hands up, ask them to raise them just a little bit higher. Invariably everyone manages to raise their hands a bit more. This is the difference between good performance and high performance. This reinforces the need to ensure clear definitions and expectations have been communicated. AND that personal expectations (and limitations) sometimes holds back individual, and therefore team, performance. The conversation can then focus on identifying the KPI's and how the team will work together going forward.

1. What are the KPIs here. Are they clear enough that people can translate that in everyday speak. 2. What are the ambiguous expectations re behaviours here? How can we clarify them (e.g. what does hybrid work really mean?) 3. What behaviours do we encourage here?

The most important point is about creating a shared understanding of the desired outcomes and the criteria for success in addition to assigning tasks or setting goals. This involves not only being clear about what needs to be done and why but also establishing a mutual understanding of how success will be measured in our team.

Setting clear expectations is a foundational step in high-performance team training. By defining SMART goals, clarifying roles and responsibilities, and aligning team vision and values, leaders empower team members to understand their contributions, support one another, and strive towards collective success.

SMART is an acronym that you can use to guide your goal-setting. ??Specific (simple, sensible, significant). ??Measurable (meaningful, motivating). ??Achievable (agreed, attainable). ??Relevant (reasonable, realistic resourced, results-based). ??Time bound (time-based, time-limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive).

Maintain a Positive Feedback Ratio: Aim to keep the ratio of giving more positive feedback (80%) than negative feedback (20%). Positive feedback reinforces desired behaviors, while negative feedback offers opportunities for growth and improvement.

Regular feedback is crucial in high-performance team training, fostering learning, improvement, and motivation. Constructive, specific, and timely feedback helps identify and address performance gaps effectively, while encouraging a balanced exchange of positive and negative feedback among team members.

Providing regular feedback is like being a skilled gardener. Your team members are your plants, each with unique potential (seeds). Regular feedback (water and fertilizer) helps them grow and flourish (reach their full potential). As a bonus tip from my personal experience: Don't just give feedback, cultivate a feedback loop! Make feedback a two-way street (open communication channels). Encourage your team members to ask questions and provide feedback to each other (share best practices). This collaborative approach creates a fertile ground for learning and continuous improvement, making your team a flourishing garden of talent!

The key to effective delegation lies in understanding that delegation is not just about assigning tasks but also about empowering individuals to take ownership and make decisions. When delegating, it is essential to give the person the authority to complete the task, as this allows them to feel responsible for the outcome (sorta a sense of ownership)

Coaching high-performance teams involves effective delegation, embracing the "fail fast, fail cheap" approach. I delegate with a mindset that encourages team members to make mistakes, fostering a fearless environment for open communication. This cultivates independent thinking, skill development, and fearlessness in exploring unknown territories. By allowing room for errors, team members thrive, developing a proactive mindset, and contributing passionately to our collective success. Delegating strategically empowers individuals, shaping a dynamic, skillful, and innovative team.

The five-step guide to workload management?? ??Figure out your team's workload and capacity. ??Allocate resources and break down individual workloads. ??Check in with your team members and adjust workloads as needed. ??Improve team efficiency when workloads are heavy. ??Onboard a work management tool.

Use the Eisenhower Matrix to prioritise, especially re what you need to delegate/delete. If there is a task that you kinda want to do. . but don't want to delete, subsume it to your Nice To Have list. Also, ask yourself what standards are good enough vs perfect. This way, you will avoid being trapped in the weeds of perfecting something whilst that brings marginal or no returns.

In high-performance team training, managing workload and stress is crucial to prevent burnout and maintain productivity. Proactively identifying stress signals and sources enables effective mitigation strategies, such as prioritizing tasks, setting realistic deadlines, and promoting work-life balance.

One way to manage stress and tension in teams is to use the Kolbe assessments so you can see where the synergy and tension are within the team. Kolbe shows how someone needs to work and often there's a disconnect in how someone is working and how they need to work. When I took the Kolbe assessment, I learned so much more about myself and how I work best based on my natural instincts. I helped me perform at a higher level with much less stress. It also made communicating with others on the team much more effective because it allowed me to communicate in a way that was aligned with their strengths.

Establish and maintain a foundation of trust within the team. Think about training in psychological safety; create brave spaces. High-performance teams thrive on diversity of thought. Encourage team members to share their unique perspectives and challenge each other in constructive ways.

Build and sustain trust among team members by prioritizing psychological safety through training and fostering brave spaces. Successful teams leverage diverse perspectives, encouraging members to openly share their unique viewpoints and engage in constructive challenges.

Stay abreast of the latest research and trends in leadership development, team dynamics, and performance psychology. Look into neuroscience as a framework too. Be willing to acknowledge your limitations and areas where you are still growing. High-performance teams often operate in dynamic environments. Developing your adaptability allows you to modify your coaching strategies to meet the team's evolving needs.

Coaching high-performance teams demands a commitment to personal growth. Embrace the belief that improvement is perpetual, recognizing every interaction as a chance to refine coaching skills. Life, akin to coaching, is a continuous learning journey. Stay dedicated to evolving, draw lessons from each engagement, and adapt to the evolving dynamics of the team. By embodying a spirit of perpetual improvement, you not only elevate yourself but also inspire high-performance teams to reach new heights. Life is an unending classroom, and as a coach, your passion for learning fuels the success of those you guide.

Be aware that high performers need their own kind of solutions-- generic models don't work for them. Figure out what aligns with their personal and professional values/lifestyles/personality. And how that fits into your team or organisational culture, and the wider sociopolitical climate.

Managers can screw up a high-performing team by recognizing their best performers and then asking them to do the underperformers’ jobs until they burn out. This way, managers inadvertently perpetuate a cycle of underperformance by asking the best performers to take on more work instead of addressing the root causes of the underperformance at work.