Alliance for Leadership Acceleration

Most every employer comprises various teams. The large versions are often called business units or departments. Of course, they can also be smaller assemblages of employees—committees, workgroups or simply project teams.

Whatever the name or type may be, every team starts somewhere. And its success or failure very much hinges on the knowledge and skill of its leadership. When leaders allow teams to form and develop with unrealistic expectations or too little oversight, bad things can happen. Conversely, when leaders recognize that every team needs some time and TLC to grow into a functional unit, good things tend to follow.

High-Performing Teams
No matter what type of team you’re forming, you probably shouldn’t expect its members to instantly bond and quickly reach the level of a high-performing team.
For our purposes, a high-performing team is one with a clearly stated purpose, an identifiable leader with decision-making authority, well-defined roles, mutual accountability and shared goals. It has an additional characteristic as well: a high-performing team consistently produces good results.

The Tuckman Model
Few teams hit the ground running as high performing. Most undergo a multi-stage development process; among the most time-honored ways to measure this is the Tuckman model. It was created by psychologist Bruce Tuckman way back in 1965 and still holds value for leaders today. The model breaks down team development into four essential stages:

1. Forming
The initial stage is usually marked by a mixture of attitudes and feelings. Some members will be excited and optimistic about joining, while others will be anxious or perhaps skeptical about their roles. Meetings and other interactions will generally involve cautious attempts to get acquainted and discussions of big-picture concepts, as members determine norms and, in some cases, form cliques.

When forming a team, leaders need to build trust, set expectations and encourage involvement. You want to develop a keen sense of belonging in every member. Creating a team charter is a great tool to help your team, as is conducting different kinds of "get to know you" activities.

2. Storming
This is when things "get real." Having found some level of comfort on the team, some team members may begin to distrust others—whether because of interpersonal clashes, past experiences or other reasons. Resistance to assigned tasks and bristling at certain rules or methods may occur. At this stage, members often begin to question the wisdom of the project at hand or even the purpose of the team itself.

Leaders can weather this storm by welcoming, confronting and resolving the inevitable conflicts that arise. Don’t quell open disagreements, as long as they’re civil. Make time for healthy dialogue. Conducting personality, conflict or team-styles assessments and upskilling team members in areas such as communication and problem-solving will help the team sail through the storm.

3. Norming
Barring a total disaster, most teams make it through the storm. Eventually, a sense of cohesion develops, and the team enjoys a relatively open climate of productive communication. Boundaries are set and interactions are generally friendly. Constructive criticism can occur without fear of retribution. Some people even have fun!

A leader’s role at this stage is to encourage cooperation, leverage the strengths of each individual and, again, identify and resolve conflicts before they get out of hand. Encourage members to roll up their sleeves and work collaboratively. At this stage, having the skills to facilitate open dialogue and enforce accountability is critical.

4. Performing
Welcome to the promised land. It's upon reaching this stage that a team can become high performing. Members will generally be excited about their work and find satisfaction in the results. They’ll also trust each other and interact with a high degree of openness. Best of all, teams at this stage will largely be able to manage themselves, resolve their own conflicts and act collectively, as a whole. You may even be able to turn over some of the day-to-day leadership to a team member.

You might still have to put out the occasional fire, but on high-performing teams, leaders can generally focus on monitoring progress, measuring results and celebrating achievements. Helpful tools include having the right technology and accurate metrics to measure team performance—as well as knowing how to throw a good party.

The Ultimate Objective
Bear in mind that, in some cases, you might need to reform and relaunch a long-standing team to reap the benefits of all four Tuckman stages. And to be clear, the Tuckman model is only one way of looking at team development. But it’s been around a long time and I believe it still serves as a good jumping-off point for the concept of seeing teams as organically evolving entities rather than "plug and play" machines.

Ultimately, whether a group is newly formed or has been around a while, your objective should be to develop it into a high-performing team that enjoys working together and produces positive results for your organization.

Manager’s Toolkit – Tips, Tools, and Trustworthy Best Practices for High-Impact Results

In the dynamic and ever-evolving world of management, the role of a manager has never been more critical. As organizations strive for high-impact results and exceptional performance, managers find themselves at the forefront, leading their teams through complex challenges and inspiring peak performance. Just like a skilled craftsman, a manager needs a well-equipped toolkit to navigate the intricacies of modern leadership successfully.

Welcome to our first in a series of articles, "Manager’s Toolkit – Tips, Tools, and Trustworthy Best Practices for High-Impact Results." In this series, we delve into the essential elements that make up an effective manager's toolkit, offering valuable insights and time-tested strategies to excel in the art of leadership. Whether you are an experienced manager looking to refine your skills or an aspiring leader taking your first step into this exhilarating journey, these articles are designed to equip you with the tools you need to elevate your management prowess and achieve great outcomes.

Your manager's toolkit should be equipped with a variety of tools to effectively handle different situations and challenges. Here are five essential tools that will greatly enhance a manager's capabilities:

1. Effective Communication Skills: Strong communication skills are at the core of successful management. Managers should be adept at active listening, clear articulation, and providing constructive feedback. Good communication fosters trust, alignment, and cooperation within the team.

2. Emotional Intelligence: Emotional intelligence enables managers to understand and manage their emotions and those of their team members. It includes empathy, self-awareness, and the ability to navigate emotions in a professional setting. Managers with high emotional intelligence foster a positive work environment and handle conflicts more effectively.

3. Goal Setting and Performance Management: Managers should be skilled in setting clear and achievable goals for their team members and monitoring their progress. Effective performance management involves regular feedback, coaching, and recognition to keep the team motivated and focused on achieving objectives.

4. Problem-Solving and Decision-Making: Being a good problem solver and decision-maker is crucial for managers. They need to analyze situations, identify root causes, and implement effective solutions. Managers who can make well-informed decisions efficiently contribute to the success of their teams and the organization.

5. Delegation and Empowerment: Delegation is essential for maximizing team productivity and development. Managers should know how to delegate tasks according to team members' strengths and provide the necessary support. Empowering team members by granting autonomy and trusting them with responsibilities can boost morale and foster a sense of ownership and commitment.

Additional tools, such as conflict resolution skills, time management, adaptability, and strategic thinking, can further enhance a manager's effectiveness in various situations.
Furthermore, we recognize the significance of trust as the bedrock of exceptional leadership. As managers build trust with their team members, they create an environment that encourages collaboration, innovation, and open dialogue. Our next article will share some tools for developing trustworthiness and guide managers in developing strong bonds with their teams, earning respect, and inspiring loyalty.

Developing a well-rounded toolkit enables managers to lead their teams more successfully and navigate the challenges of the modern workplace. These ‘power tools’ for managers are amazing but people need to learn how to use their power tools – that’s where our LEAP – Leadership Acceleration Program comes in. Over the course of 12 months, our Certified LEAP Coach works with a small group of leaders to draw upon real-world experiences and proven methodologies to allow managers to practice using their power tools and implement them in their daily workplace settings. As we continue this journey through this, and future articles, we hope you find a wealth of knowledge that will help you not only achieve your management objectives but also foster a more fulfilling and rewarding work environment for your entire team.

As an independent coach and consultant for 25 years now, we are always honing our coaching practice in support of helping our clients grow and achieve great things. Over the years, I’ve learned and used quite a few coaching methods, tools, frameworks, and of course assessments. A couple of tools I’ve even created myself because I couldn’t find anything out there that measured what I was looking for. I’ve been asked many times (by other coaches) what is the ‘best’ tool for X or Y when I’m coaching so I’ve decided to share our best practices and tool-kit by featuring them in newsletters and will be doing a couple of workshops for Coaches/Consultants too so be on the lookout for announcement of those!

Where to Start? At the beginning… assessment tools that get to the heart of things!

I don’t think I’ve met a coach that doesn’t use some sort of assessment. Ennegram, MBTI, Strengths-Finder, DiSC, etc. are great for looking at the individual being coached to help them discover more about their strengths, stressors, needs in their work, and workstyles but we’ve found that 360-degree feedback from people who work closely with the client is one of THE MOST POWERFUL tools to support the coaching and development plan. In fact, 360-degree feedback is so powerful – when it is done poorly (or with the wrong instrument) it causes great damage. These tools are designed to gather comprehensive feedback from multiple sources, including peers, subordinates, supervisors, and sometimes even clients, to provide a well-rounded assessment of an executive's performance and leadership skills.

Today, we’re going to share the BEST TOOL and one BEST PRACTICE for when NOT to use this very powerful coaching tool.

When selecting a 360-degree feedback tool for executive coaching, it's essential to consider factors like the assessment's validity, reliability, reporting features, and how the tool can align with the specific coaching goals and the organization's culture and values.

Our Affiliate Coaches (and their clients love) the CheckPoint360 Survey. This instrument was created by Profiles International (a Wiley company) based on research of 1000’s of leaders/managers in hundreds of organizations globally. We like this instrument because it confidentially and anonymously measures 70-key leadership behaviors that are associated with 18 skills-sets and 8 universal competencies. Most 360-surveys are overwhelming, hard to digest, and lack clear development priorities. Plus, many of them measure the leader on a scale of “dissatisfied to satisfied” or “ineffective to effective” which is very judgmental and causes the ‘rater’ to over-inflate/under-report their ratings based on their judgment of the person. It also causes the leader to become defensive and unable to see the feedback as helpful developmental feedback.

Our instrument invites the “respondent” to the survey to provide feedback on a scale of ‘frequency of observed behavior’, so they are honestly reporting how often they see the leader display a particular behavior. No judgment. Just their experience in working with the individual. The leader being coached is much more accepting of the feedback because they can envision themselves doing a particular behavior more frequently if needed. Our Coaches rely on the Profiles’ 360-Survey for many more reasons, not the least of which is the simplicity and clarity of the reports that support the leader in setting specific goals and priorities for their development. Want to learn more, contact me or be on the lookout for our Webinar Workshop!

When NOT to use a 360-degree survey tool

While 360-degree feedback tools can be valuable resources for executive coaches and leadership development, there are certain situations where using them might not be appropriate or effective. Here are some scenarios when a coach should avoid or carefully consider not using a 360-degree feedback tool:

1. Lack of Trust: If there is a significant lack of trust within the organization or between the executive and their colleagues, the feedback gathered through a 360-degree assessment may not be candid or constructive. In such cases, the feedback may be skewed or not genuinely reflective of the executive's performance.

2. Organizational Culture: Some organizational cultures may not be ready to embrace the openness and transparency required for effective 360-degree feedback. If the culture is hierarchical, authoritarian, or punitive, using a 360-degree tool could lead to negative consequences and resistance.

3. Unwillingness to Act on Feedback: If the executive or the organization is not prepared to take action based on the feedback received, using a 360-degree tool can be counterproductive. Collecting feedback without a commitment to change can lead to frustration and de-motivation among participants.

4. Coaching Goals and Readiness: If the primary coaching goals are not aligned with what a 360-degree assessment can offer, it might not be the right tool. For instance, if the focus is on a specific skill development that doesn't require input from multiple sources, other assessment methods might be more suitable.

5. Time and Resources: Implementing a 360-degree feedback process requires time, effort, and resources from both the coach and the organization. If these resources are limited, it might be better to focus on other coaching methods that can provide valuable insights without the extensive preparation required for a 360-degree assessment.

6. Small Team or Confidentiality Concerns: In organizations with small teams, it might be challenging to maintain confidentiality in the feedback process. If executives are concerned about their responses being traceable to specific individuals, they may be less likely to provide honest and constructive feedback.

7. Unstable Organizational Context: During periods of significant organizational change or upheaval, using a 360-degree feedback tool might not be the best approach. The feedback gathered in such uncertain environments may not accurately reflect the executive's performance under normal circumstances.

Before using a 360-degree feedback tool, executive coaches should carefully assess the readiness of the organization, the executive, and the team members involved. Open communication about the purpose and benefits of the assessment, along with a commitment to act on the feedback, is crucial to ensuring the success and effectiveness of the 360-degree feedback process. In some cases, alternative coaching methods may be more appropriate to address the specific needs and challenges of the executive.

For our next article for your “Coach’s Toolkit” I will do a deep-dive into the Best Practices when using a 360-survey. Until then, Happy Coaching!