What are the Characteristics of High Performance Teams? Part 4
CEQ - Collaborative Equity LLP
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4. Acceptance of individual idiosyncrasies and personal circumstances
We are not machines, with the ability to pound out hour after hour of utterly consistent productivity with no rest and without getting sick. Neither are we prisoners, forced to live 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year in sole service of our corporate roles and goals. And neither are we Vulcans with the ability to control our emotions to the extent that we behave rationally at all times.?
We are human - beautiful, flawed geniuses all of us. Humans get sick. Humans have private lives. Humans are irrational. Humans make mistakes. There’s a lot of ‘messiness’ and inefficiency that goes along with being human. If we focus on that aspect, bemoaning it and using both positive and negative forces to change it, we will fail and not only that, we will damage people along the way. So rather than wishing people were perfect, let’s celebrate their messiness and see it as the critical creative factor that it really has the potential to be.
It is our differences that will create the synergy of the team.
This is the true value of diversity – not the politically correct misinterpretation given to that term where we end up focusing on outputs (of gender or ethnicity balance for example), but where we truly understand differences and proactively use these as creative forces.
So when I encounter a colleague who possesses habits that irritate me, do I judge them as wrong, or bad or worst of all, inferior to me? If this is my reaction, then first of all they will know this however hard I work to hide it, and secondly I invite them to sit in judgement over me in return.
Since I am human I may not be able to stop myself being irritated by their habits, but what I do have control over is how I react. So the real question is how we manage these reactions in each other within the team, and how we build an environment (a culture) and relationships of mutual respect, where we focus first and foremost on each other’s strengths and skills and talents. Where we focus on their genius not their flaws.
The use of psychometrics can be very helpful here. Psychometric profiling allows individual team members to understand each other and therefore accept each other. Profiling gives a language for honest and direct feedback and we can therefore learn not just to tolerate each other’s idiosyncrasies, but to positively embrace them. We can consciously encourage acceptance over judgement, thus building a supportive culture not a competitive one
It is also vital that we accept and support each other’s unique personal circumstances.
If there is a single male in the team, that individual may just be ‘lucky’ enough to have no responsibilities outside work (it being so inconvenient that people have private lives that frequently encroach on their work time and focus, that occasionally even deliver massive emotional changes that severely affect performance for many days or even weeks). But increasingly we will have care responsibilities outside work – children, aged parents – and these must be genuinely honoured.
Remembering that EQ has two parts – awareness and performance – it is fantastic for us to develop awareness and acceptance around these factors, but the truly great team goes beyond awareness and ‘tolerance of’, and is brave enough to proactively work to add value, deliberately and consciously using the differences to make things even better.
And this is where coaching comes in again – where we can practice peer group coaching, coaching each other and seeking each other out for coaching. First of all this assists the process of ‘relieving’ the leader of automatically being used as the sole coach. Secondly it opens up the possibility of being coached by the ‘best’ person for that issue.
Who do you go to for coaching? You may of course naturally go to your boss, but they might not be the best person for you with the issue at hand – they have an agenda and may not be able to stop themselves from moving into rescuing or directing. More likely you will gravitate naturally to someone you trust, someone who knows you well, someone who is like you and thinks the same way, someone who shares the same beliefs (and who will therefore give advice that you could see yourself following quite comfortably), someone who will be kind and sympathetic, someone who may even offer to help out……
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In the high performing team, the opportunity is there to go to someone who is different to you – someone who will come from a completely different angle, someone who may give advice that is uncomfortable to contemplate, someone who isn’t like you and who believes very different things, someone who will be really honest………………..
So go to your peers with an issue; go to the one who will challenge you most; go to the one with the characteristics you most need.
Next week's Newsletter will cover:
5. Conflict embraced and used as a creative force
Article excerpted from “And The Leader Is… Transforming Cultures with CEQ” - by Gareth Chick for the CEQ Newsletter: Coaching, Leadership, Change
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