The problem is that many visionary leaders lead teams of smart, amazing people — yet they struggle to work together.
They waste time managing conflict and egos that slowly split the organisation into silos. Soon, top leaders are running departments like their own businesses, and it becomes harder and harder to bring your senior team — and your whole organisation — onto the same page.
What went wrong?
I recently spoke with a facilitator working in mining who leads risk workshops that require high collaboration. Her teams are often full of super-smart engineers who lack EQ and relational intelligence. The result? Difficult group dynamics and power struggles get in the way and delay project outcomes.
Here are four ways to help your team unlock the intelligence already in the group — by learning to work better together:
- An explicitly discussed group purpose
- An explicitly discussed group culture
- Regular check-ins where everyone contributes without interruption (being heard)
- Regular clearing up of difficult conversation topics
The gold is in the conversations that need to happen to achieve all four. These conversations create opportunities for healthy storming — which is essential to leading a team towards greatness.
Want to find out where your team is on the path to high-performance?