Team Excellence: The 8 Fundamentals to Build High Performing Teams

By: Philip C. Bolger, Senior Advisor
Compass Executives, LLC

During my formative years and long career, I’ve had the good fortune of affiliating with organizations that exuded teamwork as a core value, and subsequently attracted amazingly talented teammates. It allowed me to experience many teams that achieved extraordinary success, and frankly, some teams that woefully underachieved.

So what makes the difference? What is required to build high performing teams? In pursuit of answers, I was so blessed to know Dr. Frank LaFasto, Ph.D. Frank was a “Yoda” as an H.R. executive with pioneering expertise in building organizational effectiveness during my early career years at Baxter Healthcare. He made a significant, lasting impact by inspiring many aspiring minds toward developing team excellence as empowered leaders. I am forever thankful for his key teachings about Teamwork instilled in my career and in my life.

Frank taught 8 fundamentals of building high performing teams. Each of these fundamentals deserves a deeper evaluation to best understand their impact on building a team excellence culture. So today, we will focus on the foundation of which great teams are built...Principled Leadership...a leader’s ascribed core values that guide, and are shared by the team. They must be aligned and consistently patterned between their own attitudes, motivations, behaviors, decisions, communications and actions.

Principled Leadership alone is an important subject evidenced by entire books dedicated to the topic. It also is critical in building the foundation of a GREAT TEAM. Without it, teams will simply not sustain success long term.

What are the key attributes of a principled team leader? There is an abundance of amazing present and past leaders for sound guidance, both in life and in business. I’ll touch on two.

• Inspiring Vision – Martin Luther King, Jr. transformed society as the leader of the Civil Rights movement. His “I Have a Dream” speech inspired equality for all of humanity by challenging the darkness of racism. His memory continues as a guiding influence addressing critical issues of humanity today, 51 years since his death.

• Guiding Core Values - MLK lead the movement with the guiding principle that non-violent resistance engendered moral superiority. He brilliantly exposed racism in its ignorance and reactionary anger, hatred and violence that inspired societal transformative changes.

• Instills Trust - Herb Kelleher, Founder and Past CEO of Southwest Airlines transformed the airline industry into its greatest growth era by making leisure travel affordable for the masses. Leading with a servant’s heart at his core engendered the trust of his team, unions and other stakeholders, distinguishing Southwest from all other airlines. Trust was earned due to Herb’s belief in these 5 key “C” attributes...

• Camaraderie - Herb shared, “I’d rather have a company bound by love, not one by fear”. The “heart logo” of Southwest is emblematic of this legacy. He exuded fun in work. He treated others with respect and dignity, while building an esprit de corp team culture.

• Collaboration - Herb was an empathic listener. Teammate voices mattered. An employee shared, “Herb was uncanny at drawing you into a dialog that made you fill smart where your ideas were worthy”. He also detested tribalism “us versus them” behaviors as deadly to teamwork that was prevalent at other airlines.

• Commitment - Herb was passionately engaged by his own convictions, perseverance and determination to change the industry. He expected and appreciated the same commitment from teammates. In the early years, it was not uncommon for him to show up on Thanksgiving day to handle bags, and thanking others for the same dedication.

• Confidence & Competence with Humility - Herb had a uniquely effective combination of business acumen, intellectual inquisitiveness, and egoless, witty warmth about him that was disarming in building trust and engagement across his organization.

• Empower Teammates as Extended Leaders - Herb unleashed and supported the talents around him to believe in their high potential, and shared in his high expectations. He delicately balanced demonstrating human decency and respect while still being tough-minded. He valued diversity of ideas, experiences, and independent thinking that constructively challenged the status quo, provoking debates with sound reasoning and rational analysis.

There are so many other terrific highly principled team leaders we have experienced in business that also ascribe to these highly principled team leader attributes. I welcome hearing from you of other inspiring examples.

References:
1) “TEAMWORK” by Carl E. Larson & Frank LaFasto, 1989
2) inc.com, “3 Skills MLK Mastered to Become a Transformational Leader, 1/12/2018
3) Forbes, “Upon his Death” by Kevin and Jackie Friefurg, 1/4/2019

Identify Risks and Seek Opportunities

Published on June 28, 2020
William Hickman 

Most senior leaders have extensive experience in understanding and managing risks through personal experiences, self-study, and engaging other leaders, but personal experience isn’t enough.

In today’s complex, ill-structured world, the best senior leaders acknowledge managing risk requires a business wide approach. Risk and uncertainty are not easily identified nor defined, and risk is more than compliance and safety concerns. Even when a leader correctly identifies a risk, the risk can morph in real time based on environmental conditions, competitor impacts on the market, and internal team dynamics. The best leaders look broadly to anticipate risks, seize opportunities, and build business resilience.

In the military planning process, the best organizations identified risks to the mission while developing courses of actions (possible solutions). Identifying potential risks early, improves a leader’s understanding and evaluation of courses of actions, identifying risk mitigation measures, and preparing the organization for any possible setbacks.

For a strategic leader, there are three elements to identifying and evaluating risk. First, risk assessment and evaluation require a desire to study, understand, and gain new knowledge on potential risks. Leaders, across an organization, increase their value with a drive to excel in risk assessment. Second, leaders understand risk mitigation and management are required. Leaders must embrace ambiguity and plan for uncertainty. Third, leaders communicate regularly, exchange ideas, and share their knowledge. Communication includes adding risk management to the organization’s leader development program.

To identify, mitigate, and accept risks, leaders establish a learning environment that is open to new ideas and challenges assumptions.  This learning environment includes several innovative approaches to studying risk and uncertainty. Listed are four examples.

·     Industry Futurist. Several times during my recent NATO assignment, we invited futurists to present their ideas to the leadership through formal presentations and informal discussions. While not predicting the future, a futurist enables leaders to question their assumptions, broadening their vision of the future, and at times, radically change their thinking and decision-making.

·     Strategic Foresight. Many organizations commit resources to study their operating environment which includes identifying environmental categories to describe changes and enable understanding. Additionally, within the environment, trends are identified and the potential impact of the trends over time are analyzed. As an example, the NATO Transformation Command provides a robust strategic foresight capability for the alliance. The alliance’s environmental categories focus on influences to NATO’s security and include political, human, technology, economics, and environment. Many businesses also leverage foresight techniques to improve their long-term perspective and identify risks and opportunities.

·     Diverse Group Discussions. Through diversity, an organization can prevent many cognitive traps such as group think which discourages creativity and mirror imaging which is assuming people think like you. Additionally, diverse groups challenge leaders, develop different perspectives, hold team members accountable, and move people intellectually out of their comfort zone.

·     New Knowledge. Leaders receive new observations, analysis, learning, and experiences and form a new perspective or knowledge. As new technology can change an industry, new knowledge can radically change a business’s future. 

When risk is present, leaders must focus their attention on gaining knowledge and understanding through a thoughtful risk appraisal process in an aggressive learning environment. With the knowledge, leaders can manage and mitigate risks, and seek positions of advantage and opportunities.

Enjoy your time as a leader. Every day, embrace the challenges, enjoy the opportunities, and focus on your team and the business’s success. 

William Hickman is a Senior Advisor at Compass Executives Group.

The Importance of a Leader's Presence

Published on June 28, 2020
William Hickman

Why a Leader’s Presence is Important?

           Have you ever attended an important event and waited patiently for the “Strategic Leader” to arrive? How did the dynamic of the room change with his/her arrival – positive or let’s get this meeting over with? Leaders are constantly observed whether on the job, in a community setting, or relaxing on vacation. Once you agree to step forward as a leader you are accepting the challenge to demonstrate presence, excellence, motivation, and the best qualities of your organization every day all day.

           While everyone has good and bad days, a strategic leader owes his/her organization a pledge, a commitment, and the dedication to be fully present and conscience of their actions and the environment—you are never off the public stage. A strategic leader’s impact is felt across an organization to include positively or negatively impacting the daily lives of team members, customers’ satisfaction, supplier opportunities, and the community’s well-being. Never underestimate your presence and the impact a strategic leader has through personal actions, statements, or failures.

           There are several characteristics to measure a strategic leader’s presence.

·     Character. In selecting leaders, character comes first then competence. A leader’s values and the organization’s values must be aligned to produce an effective leader committed to building a successful organization, dignity and respect for the team members and the customers, and a commitment to improving the community.

·     Clear Message – Vision. A leader’s presence must include a clear message aligned with the organization’s vision. A leader must communicate to all team members, the public, and other stake holders consistently without causing confusion.

·     Genuine and Honest. A leader must show respect, understanding, and a true desire to know their team to include the strengths and weaknesses and a genuine desire for improvement for all team members. 

·     Professional Tone. A leader sets the tone for their organization that shapes the business’s culture, team productivity, willingness to learn and improve, and the leader development program. There is one measurement of a leader’s tone and the organization’s culture—are people working hard to join your team or are people looking for new opportunities to leave the team?

           Strategic leadership isn’t easy. Once an individual becomes a strategic leader, whether in a business with fifty team members or running a large corporation, the leader must consciously shape an environment that remains aware of threats to the organization to include the organization’s reputation. A strategic leader has several techniques to shape their ability to influence the organization’s environment.

·     Calmness. A strategic leader remains calm under pressure, but calmness does include a leader showing passion for the team and the organization. With calmness under pressure, a leader is positioned to receive information from diverse sources, control his/her emotions, and make quality, informed decisions.

·     Confidence. With confidence, a leader conveys certainty that the organization will succeed with hard work and a commitment from the team. Confidence comes from sharing hardship, experiences and building resilience.

·     Standards. Every organization establishes standards for business operations. Even the most innovative companies have standards that ensure creative thinking and an innovative environment is maintained to encourage free flowing of ideas across the team. 

           Never underestimate the importance of your presence, especially a strategic leader. Your daily impact on your team has long term consequences, and with a positive presence, the impact will exponentially lead to organizational improvement and future success.

           Enjoy your time as a leader. Every day, embrace the challenges, enjoy the opportunities, and focus on your team and the business’s success. 

William Hickman is a Senior Advisor at Compass Executives Group

After-Action Reviews are Powerful Leader Development Opportunities and Lead to Organizational Improvement

Published by
William Hickman, Senior Adviser
Compass Executives

The Power of After-Action Reviews

Veterans are asked what they miss most from serving in the military. We all miss serving with our nation’s amazing young men and women, who volunteer to serve their country. Along with this service, I miss the honest, candid After-Action Reviews (AARs). The desire by every leader to improve the organization knowing full well that the lessons learned in training are going to save lives in combat and lead to improved mission execution.

Many years ago, on a very dark night, I entered an AAR mobile trailer, as one of the senior leaders in a brigade combat team (4,000 Soldiers) from Ft Campbell.  Our unit was conducting a 3-week training exercise in the California desert.  Over the last two days, the brigade prepared a complex, combined arms defense. Early this morning, the opposing force, “the enemy,” attacked our defense, identified a weak point, exploited the weakness, and attacked into the brigade’s rear area. When the training battle ended, the observers/controllers (OCs) (cadre of experienced leaders) paused the action and facilitated AARs beginning with the smaller units.  Now it was time for the brigade’s senior leaders to review the last two days activities, identify the lessons learned, and determine who was responsible for fixing the deficiencies.

The OCs facilitated the AAR. They started with a short review of the defense preparation followed by what happened in the execution. After the review, the OCs, for about fifteen minutes, reinforced what went right. Then the bulk of the time, approximately eighty minutes of a two-hour event, was dedicated to leader discussions of what happen, what went wrong, and how to fix the deficiencies. The OCs asked opened ended questions and encouraged candid discussion. The senior leader present, brigade commander, encouraged a hard examination of our actions from mission preparation, command and control, communication, and synchronization of actions. The last few minutes of the AAR were dedicated to summarizing the lessons learned and identifying who was responsible for fixing the problems. We were reminded a lesson learned isn’t learned unless behavior is changed. We ended the evening recognizing several exceptional Soldiers that excelled in the execution of their duties. A not to subtle reminder that our actions, decision, successes, and failures directly affected our Soldiers abilities to accomplish the mission—added motivation, as we prepare for our next mission, an attack at the National Training Center.

After-Action Reviews are important for all organizations to embrace at critical times while conducting operations. There are several important considerations when a business implements an effective AAR process. 

·     Focused Questions. During an AAR, the leaders ask four questions. What was supposed to happen? What went right? What went wrong? What are the lessons learned?

·     Established Standards or Professional Doctrine. To identify lessons learned, the business must have established business standards, industry policies, or a professional doctrine. 

·     Focus Areas. Planning and execution of a project can be complex and require many hours to fully review. A quality AAR focuses the senior leaders on the critical areas that will improve business operations. Focus areas might include decision-making, communication, synchronization, interdependence, marketing, or manufacturing.

·     Senior Leader Support. Senior leaders must support and actively participate in the AAR process. They must encourage candid discussions, treat the event as a leader development opportunity, and focus on AAR outputs.

AARs are critical events that are schedule and annotated on the business’ operating calendar well in advance. Your facilitators must collect observations and prepare for the AAR. 

AARs are best executed after completion of each phase of a project and upon project completion. Additionally, AARs are effective in examining the business’s value chain to include interaction with suppliers, plant production, distribution center operations, customer/retailer relationships, and the final customer’s satisfaction. 

Don’t over complicate the AAR process. Set a schedule, establish an organization’s AAR standard, train your facilitators and business leadership, and maximize the benefits of a focused discussion on how to improve your business, shape the future, and create a sustainable position of advantage. With a successful AAR program, your team will grow in knowledge, focus, and cohesion, and your business will be in a better position to compete.

Enjoy your time as a leader. Every day, embrace the challenges, enjoy the opportunities, and focus on your team and the business’s success.

Photo Description

On 31 Dec during the Battle of Stones River (31 Dec 1862 – 2 Jan 1863), four Union Army brigades were attacked in an area the troops named the “Slaughter Pen.” After the first day’s tragic losses, the Union leaders identified their failures. They reinforced their units, improved their logistics, moved to favorable ground, and synchronized the actions of the infantry and artillery. With these strategic changes, the Union Army, on the third day, won the battle. 

Que Pasa Nashville- David Briley

Published by
Cristina Oakeley Allen, Senior Adviser
Compass Executives

On today's Que Pasa Nashville, we are joined by Metro Nashville Vice Mayor, David Briley, to talk about the future of the city when it comes to diversity and growth.

Que Pasa Nashville: Voting Rights

Published by
Cristina Oakeley Allen, Senior Adviser

Compass Executives

On today's Que Pasa Nashville, Cristina Allen talks about voting rights for Latinos and the advocacy efforts from TIRRC. Be sure to watch!

Que Pasa Nashville: Ceiba Art Gallery & Manuel

Published by
Cristina Oakeley Allen, Senior Adviser

Compass Executives

On this segment, is all about art. We'll tell you about this unique art gallery that features works of arts from Latin American artists. We will also hear from renowned designer, Manuel, famous for creating clothing masterpieces for Johny Cash, Jack White, Reba, among others, and whose work is being exhibit at La Ceiba.  Be sure to watch to learn more.