Introducing The Build High Performing Teams Podcast

Episode Transcript: 001

I've been working with organizations, teams and leaders for over 20 years. And there are two things that I'm passionate about high performance and restoring humanity back into our work and our workplaces. Join me as we discuss topics that make a difference in your day to day and you're here to hear for both leaders and their teams. These are the tools and conversations to build and sustain high performance.

This is the introduction to the podcast and should give you a good sense of what you can expect out of the podcast, a little bit about my style and what I hope to accomplish with this podcast. So, first, the Build High Performing Teams Podcast. You know, what can you expect from this? You know, I think it's a lot of conversation and insights and tools. We have quite a few episodes under our belt already at the time of launch. And these are some stellar guests guys. These are going to give you some amazing content and tools, right, for you to get better, for you to build your own performance and increase your impact. And that's really who should be listening, right, leaders or team members - they have a passion about improving their own performance, the performance of their team or the performance of their organization. And I think you actually have to have all three. 

I tend to look at things as as a triangle. So imagine that we're looking at a pyramid, the thing that has to be on the bottom are for your foundational principles, right? And then once we've got that foundational values, vision, mission and structure, right, once we know where we're going as an organization, the next layer up of the pyramid is systems. We've got to build systems to support that work. If we don't have a flow, if we don't have a process, if we don't have a rhythm - humans thrive on that - we are not going to be as productive and as successful as a team or an organization as we could be. So we've got foundations, now we've got systems. Next layer up is the talent. Who are the people? What are their strengths? What are the skills that we need in order to bring those systems to life? In order to honor the foundation that we've met? I think so often we hire to the talent, and then we go back saying, "Oh, we've got to figure out what the foundation is." You know, as a startup myself, I get it. You know, if you are in a new company and you've got just a few employees at this time...I've got four people on my team, I get it. You're sort of building the foundation while you are creating the systems with the talent that you have. I understand that. But as an organization, if you are a large organization, if you've been in business for a long time, you need to be thinking the other way around - foundations, systems, into the talent. And then finally, the top of that pyramid is the tools. What are the tools that are going to help the people, the talent, the systems and the foundation? What do we need to help support all three layers of this pyramid? And I think too often, let's look at tools like the resources, even technology, right? I think a lot of companies will invest in a technology and then not understand how it is impacting the foundation and the systems. They're going to rewire all of their foundational things based on a new technology that they bought. When I think that's the reverse. You need to really be thinking about the foundation that you buil that says that this is the path to success for the organization. These are the systems, this is the talent and this is how the tools are going to help that.

So as an active member of this community, I thought let's give you guys a name. In the corporate world, in the world of talent management, we often talk about "high potentials" in the workplace, and we call them "HIPO." So, when we talk about high performance, think we'll call them HIPOs. You know, we're talking about HIPO. Here we're talking about high performance, high potential. We want to make sure that as individuals and as a unit that we are moving toward that HIPO attitude. So you guys are my "HIPO community." 

I'm just really excited to be on this journey with you. As in life, look, things change. So I'm not sure how long this podcast will last. I talked to friends who've been doing it for years and years and I hope that it has that shelf life. But it's only going to be as good as you want it to be so I need you to share your topics with me. I want you to share your questions. Reach out, have conversations, get hooked up with me on LinkedIn. That's another great resource for us is to be connected on LinkedIn to be sharing resources and content there. Shoot me your ideas. I want to hear what you're struggling with, because I want this podcast to meet you right where you're at and help you get where you want to go.

You know, they say it takes a village. I do actually think it takes quite a few people worrying about their own performance, improving their own performance - not only for the individual benefit for the but for the benefit of the greater good - in order to impact the organization. I think too often we approach it from an organizational level and forget that we have to individually attack these issues. Two of the biggest issues that I see today are both capability and capacity issues. And when I say capability it's what are you really, really good at? Where do your strengths lie? And how are those being applied? How is that being applied into your world of work every day? And you know, we have a gap, we have a gap in not only capabilities, but we have a gap in the capacity to actually conduct business. And so we see things like no breathing room, we see things like working 90-hour work weeks, and having very little thinking room. You know, so I don't think we can attack capability without talking about capacity. 

And so you're going to hear about topics like that for me. You're going to hear about topics related to being a leader, a leader of leaders, and also how to function as a team member on those teams. So, I'm really hoping to attack this from both sides. 

So not only have I been encouraged and asked by other people, I had a passion for this podcast too, and I felt like I was ready. Podcasts have always been a really great resource for me and I hope that this is another great resource for you. I love to absorb and listen to what other people are doing. And not only in the areas that I work, right, organizational development, high performance, organizational effectiveness. But I also listen to podcasts on other topics because it is that type of cross-topic ideas that are really going to get you where you need to go. It's going to help you in your creativity, it's going to help you in building your strategy of actually how to get your ideas done. So I strongly encourage you to be listening to that. So even if you're not a leader, you're going to get some great ideas, hopefully from this podcast. 

So more than wanting to just start a podcast - because I do have a desire to be in service to other people - I really want to make sure we're attacking two issues in the world of work that I think are really important. And the first one is building and sustaining high performance and the second one is restoring humanity. So we've been thinking about building and sustaining our performance, it has to start at home. Right has to start individually. As I said earlier, I think a lot of organizations attack it from the systems perspective. And as somebody who studies that and works with systems, I really appreciate that. And I know that if we don't attack what the individual motivations are if we don't get people aligned to the roles and the work that is going to enhance their strengths. We aren't going to win, we're never going to win as a whole if we don't get healthy, right. It's sort of like a partnership. 

You know, my husband and I have both been to therapy at times in our relationship individually and collectively. And I do believe that there's times where if we didn't go individually, it wouldn't matter if we went together. So, that if we're not working on our own journeys it actually it's not going to make a difference on the joint journey. And to look at that as an organization, right. If we don't have the executive leaders, if we don't have even the middle managers, right. Think about how many middle managers - there's so many more more of them than there are the executives - if they aren't being taken care of developed and nurtured both by the organization and by themselves, we're not going to make progress. And when I say themselves, there's a couple things that really the individual needs to do. They need to be the biggest advocate that they have in terms of their own health, and I'm talking physical health, mental health, and whatever you would consider spiritual health, right? If that's your belief in a religion, or if that's your belief in the power of the Universe, you need to be centered and grounded and that mental and spiritual health is really a part of that. 

And then the second thing that I think is the responsibility of the individual is the clarity. The clarity of what is it that they want to be doing? How do they want to own their own career? I think far too often we see individuals at all levels, giving up their power of owning their career and owning their impact and purely riding along. "What is my leader going to give me next?" "This is what the organization says." No! You need to take ownership of your own career and your impact and say, "This is how I can make an impact. This is how I can best help the organization to achieve the result. Here is my highest and best use." And when we own that as an individual we are more likely to achieve better results, high performing results, as a team and an organization. 

So that was the individual let's talk about the teams or the organizations. You know, I think so often as I work with teams or big groups, we look at the dynamic between the individuals in the group and that's sometimes the leader to the individuals, and sometimes that's within the individuals themselves. But we've got conflict, we've got people who could be better aligned in the way that their strengths and their skills are partnered to actually get the work done. And so often it's just a structure issue, right? And not just a structure in terms of the pyramid that you work in, but a structure and the flow of the way that we're working through work right. 

Now, there's a few exceptions to that rule. We've had a lot of great technology come out in the last few years, even the last decade, that says, hey, you have never thought about a way of working like this. And therefore maybe we do think of a new system, right, I get that. But rarely do I think it needs to back up all the way to the foundation of our organization to switch that. So let's not invert that, that triangle or that pyramid. Let's really make sure we're focusing on the foundation, the systems, the talent and the tools. And I hope that this podcast will be a resource for you in each of those categories. 

And here is how you can get connected and join the conversation with me further. Online you can get connected with me at www.BuildHighPerformingTeams.com. That is where you can find information on my blog. I will also be doing weekly blog posts about the podcast where I will expand on some of the topics that my guests and I discussed and share additional insights, tools and resources for you.

And I also would love to get connected with you on social media. I am hit or miss because I am a person who right now is saying like look, if my heart is not into social media, I'm going to take a break. I'm going to give myself that space to have mental capacity for other things. But I am passionate about being on there and giving you guys content and staying connected to you. So you can find me on Instagram @theAnnaOakes and that's o-a-k-E-s, so put an "E" in there. So Instagram is @theAnnaOakes. Facebook is "Anna Oakes" and you can look me up on there.

If you want to be a supporter of this podcast, which I would greatly appreciate, please subscribe. Please review on whatever app you use to listen to your podcast. I'm a huge fan of iTunes and Overcast. Overcast is a great app to save clips or to share clips at a certain time. If you're big on Twitter, or are an Instagram person, that's a really nice tool for you. And then not only can we get connected by subscriptions and reviews, you can also download your favorite episodes and share those too. 

So I will sign off like I always do - I am wishing each and every one of you peace and progress on your journey. And I will talk to you soon. 

Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of the Build High Performing Teams Podcast. Stay in the know by subscribing to this podcast, downloading all your favorite episodes, and leaving a review on your favorite podcast app. Let's get connected on www.BuildHighPerformingTeams.com. Until I talk to you next, sending you peace and progress.