What does it take to build a team that consistently delivers exceptional results? How can leaders create an environment where every team member feels empowered to contribute their best work?
Leadership expert Liz Wiseman shares practical strategies for building and nurturing a high-impact team. Her insights focus on creating a safe space for innovation, setting clear priorities, and fostering an environment where everyone feels valued and motivated to excel.
Continue reading to discover proven methods that will transform your leadership approach and take your team’s performance to new heights.
High-Impact Teams
Wiseman explores ways leaders can nurture a team of impact players. To create a high-impact team, you must create an environment where people feel safe to try new things and stretch their capabilities.
(Shortform note: In Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek says you can create an environment where employees feel safe to challenge themselves by prioritizing their needs—making them feel you’re invested in their success. By doing so, you’ll forge an empathetic connection with them and help them feel that you see them as people rather than mere profit-generating assets. They’ll then feel safe to innovate and challenge themselves.)
Wiseman describes several ways leaders can foster a high-impact team.
1) Be clear about top priorities: Team members may want to contribute more, but they may not know what’s valuable to the team and the organization. Telling your team what’s most important helps them put their time and effort into the right tasks.
(Shortform note: In No Rules Rules, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings recommends you go a step beyond sharing top priorities and that you also make sensitive data available to all employees. This includes profit and loss statements and other financial documents. He explains that doing so builds trust, boosts a feeling of ownership, and empowers employees to make the best decisions for the company.)
2) Encourage flexible leadership: Encourage people to take initiative when needed and to provide support when their coworkers lead.
(Shortform note: Some experts suggest that people are less likely to take initiative if they view leadership as risky. To encourage flexible leadership, try to make leadership feel less daunting—for instance, by sharing mistakes you’ve made as a leader. You can also address some common fears that hold people back from taking the lead—like appearing bossy, standing out, or seeming underqualified.)
3) Ask for commitment: Encourage team members to take responsibility for their work and to persevere until it’s finished.
(Shortform note: In The 4 Disciplines of Execution, Chris McChesney, Jim Huling, and Sean Covey recommend you make your requests for commitment precise and regularly scheduled. Consider holding a short meeting where everyone 1) reports on their last week’s commitments and outcomes, 2) assesses metrics and celebrates successes, and 3) makes new commitments for the next week. Commitments should be specific and not contain vague language like “focus on” or “work on.”)
4) Focus feedback on the work, not the person: Feedback should help your team improve, not feel attacked. This way, team members can acknowledge and work on their weaknesses without feeling insecure.
(Shortform note: To focus feedback on the work instead of the person, Kim Scott, in Radical Candor, recommends you frame your feedback around three things: the situation, the person’s behavior, and the outcome. She adds that when you have feedback, you should give it immediately so people have context and concrete examples to work off of. If your feedback is critical, give it in private to help people feel more secure.)
5) Praise good work and behavior: Recognize team members who set a great example. Highlighting positive actions helps people see ways to contribute value that they may not have realized before and encourages everyone to do better.
(Shortform note: In Tiny Habits, BJ Fogg says celebrating good habits (both yours and others’) reinforces them. You can celebrate with triumphant physical movements, words, songs, sound effects, or visualizations. Celebrating taps into your brain’s reward system, and when you feel good, your brain reinforces the actions you performed to elicit that good feeling. To get the best habit-encoding results, celebrate immediately and authentically.)
6) Make sure everyone on your team feels valued. Help every team member feel like their contributions are seen and appreciated, no matter their role. When people feel valued, they look for more ways to contribute value. Make a special effort to listen to team members who aren’t usually in the spotlight or who might not speak up.
(Shortform note: People feel appreciated in different ways. Because of this, some experts suggest using the five love languages as guidance for expressing appreciation for your team members at work. These include words of affirmation (such as verbally expressing approval or gratitude), quality time (which may be as simple as giving people your full attention), acts of service (like helping someone out with a task), gifts (for example, bringing food for people to enjoy), and appropriate physical touch (such as a high five or a fist bump). Considering different ways to express appreciation can ensure all team members feel valued.)
