Every team can perform at higher levels!

1. Leading Your
Team to Higher
Levels of
Performance
A WORKING SESSION
Dr. Jim Bohn
Pro/Axios
Minneapolis, MN USA

2. My Experience
Led
multiple
underperforming teams to
award winning levels of
performance.

3. Describe
Your Team
1. Capabilities?
2. Achievements?
3. Gaps?
4. Greatest Strength?
5. Greatest Need?

4. What influences team performance?

5. The key to improving your
team is Tapping Intrinsic
Motivation.
 External
IM
rewards: helpful for a while,
but not effective over the long haul.
 Intrinsic motivation is sustainable and
powerful.
 Extrinsic motivation must be repeated
again and again.
 Every team member will RESPOND
differently.

6. How are we perceived by
the organization? Our
customers? Our peers?
their satisfaction
with our performance. DATA!
 Knowledge of their
perceptions drives changes in
our behavior.
 No one wants to be a
member of a losing team.
IM
 Measuring
L

7. Why does this team exist?
 What
 Set
do we want to be known for?
the context – where does this
team fit into the Organization?
IM

8. Common Goals
IM
He whose ranks are
united in purpose will
win.
~ Sun Tzu
 Does
everyone know where we’re
going?
 How
do we measure performance?
 What
will it take for us to make a major
improvement?

9. The power of common
goals …
IM
 “It
is rare to discover anything in the
realm of human behavior that occurs
with great consistency…Therefore it
was surprising to find that in every
case, without exception, when an
effectively functioning team was
identified, it was described by the
respondent as having a clear
understanding of its objective.”

(Larson, C. E., LaFasto, F. M. J. 1989. Teamwork: What must go right, what can go
wrong. Newberry Park, CA: Sage.).

10. HOT
SPOTS!
IM
What concerns do people have?
Are they
ever
going to
fix this
system?
Hidden factors prevent people
from performing at maximum
levels. You need to find out
what’s on people’s minds.
Solve chronic problems –
Evidence of your leadership
activates team motivation to
persist.

11. Set an expectation
for excellence…
IM
“We will have a white hot team.”
Leaders must back up
these words with actions.
Expect team
participation in
problem solving.

12. State the not-soobvious
are a team … not
just a bunch of
individuals.
IM
We
 Watch
for personal favoritism.
 Use all the members of the
team.
 HOW? In today’s world,
everyone must contribute
not just a few.
The
Big
Mistake

13. Develop confidence
and competence.
 “When
IM
strong technical skills are
combined with a desire to contribute
and an ability to be collaborative, the
observable outcome is an elevated
sense of confidence among team
members. This confidence in turn,
translates into the ability of a team to
be self-correcting in its capacity to
adjust to unexpected adversity and
emergent challenges.” (p. 71)

14. Develop confidence
and competence.
 “When
IM
strong technical skills are
combined with a desire to contribute
and an ability to be collaborative, the
observable outcome is an elevated
sense of confidence among team
members. This confidence in turn,
translates into the ability of a team to
be self-correcting in its capacity to
adjust to unexpected adversity and
emergent challenges.” (p. 71)

15. IM
Set the vision – Show where
the team can go.
 Persist
in the vision – the single slide
technique …
 When
leaders constantly change
direction, people lose intrinsic
motivation.
WARNING:
Chronic changes
and distractions cause
confusion and reduce trust.

16. LEADER IMPACT
Leader Impact
 Research
shows that the leader of
a team has the greatest impact on
team performance.
 Think
of the best team leader you
ever knew.
 Think
of the worst team leader you
ever knew.
LI

17. Check your own
leadership blind spots!
LI
The Crescent
Wrench Story

18. Blind Spot #1: Assuming others
know what we know.
LI

We do this to our teams. We spend time thinking
about corporate strategy… a lot of time. We know
what the Crescent Wrench is.

We’re thinking really hard, while our team members
may be completely in the dark to our plans.

Then at a crucial moment, we ask them to be
competent on something they know absolutely
nothing about.
Wrench!”
“Hand me the Crescent

19. Blind Spot #2: We create the
world in our image.
LI

Playing to our strengths may not always
be effective.

Our past successes can become the only
approach we use to solve current problems.

Replicating an old approach in a new
environment can lead to failure.
Willingness to hear a dissenting point-of-view can
open our eyes.

20. Blind Spot #3: We talk and
assume we’ve been effective in
our communications.

LI
Sound byte communication is common
these days due to workload overload.

Sound byte communication is ineffective.

I talk, therefore you should know…
(Cartesian management). And it’s
corollary: I think, therefore you should do.
Take five minutes to ensure team member Comprehension.

21. Blind Spot #4:
The pressures of the job may
cause us to lose patience
with team members.

We use abrupt, terse statements.

We limit eye contact.

We disconnect with our listeners.
Remembering our experience with
impatience can open our eyes.
Think candor without edges.
LI

22. Blind Spot #5: We (sometimes
unwittingly) categorize team
members..
LI

As leaders we often struggle through heavy
workloads and MBA graduate courses to reach the
top of the ladder.

It is tempting to dismiss those who have not
accomplished what we’ve achieved.

People sense (and remember) dismissive and
condescending behavior toward them.
Everyone wants fundamental respect.

23. Blind Spot #6: We send
conflicting signals.

We say one thing, yet do another.

LI
We tell one team something,
another team something else.

We drive people crazy.
A willingness to receive corrective feedback about our
style can open our eyes.

24. Blind Spot #7: Forgetting to
check the rear view mirror.
LI

Some leaders are so intelligent they’re moving so
fast others simply cannot follow.

Hint: They have no idea where we’re going
(but we’re sure they do!)
Other leaders believe they have
convinced their teams to follow them …
but that may not be true!
Checking to see if others are following can open our
eyes.

25. LI
What to do with the naysayers?

Listen – they may provide value. Dissent can
be helpful.

Hear and Acknowledge

Explain the need to get on board

In the worst case - Remove
them

26. Recognition and legitimate
validation
 Put
them on the map!
B-R-A-G!

Legitimate recognition is a powerful force that
supports intrinsic motivation.

Validation – you may be the only leader in this
person’s life who validates the value of their
contribution.

Must be appropriate to the person being
recognized.
IM

27. FIXING A
BROKEN TEAM
Downloadable
Ebook on the
Pro/Axios
Website.

28. Thank you for your time!

29. We
offer plainspoken
guidance for those
who do the work.

Check out the Rapid Diagnostic @
www.ProAxios.com

info@proaxios.com

651-302-1574

Minneapolis, MN, USA
Pro/Axios