19 Oct 2019 How To Build An Exceptional Team
How To Build An Exceptional Team
In this series of posts, I will share real-life cases from my experience as an Executive Coach.
If you found this article is of value, please share it with your team and colleagues.
If you would like to explore how you and your team can benefit from Executive Coaching, please contact me at Uri@thewilltochange.com
The Case Story
It was 8:30 on Monday morning. My nine-team leads were seated around the table ready for our all-important Go / No-Go meeting.
“Good morning,” I said. “As you know, today we have to make a Go / No-Go decision for our new global system to go live in two weekends from today. Please take a sheet of paper, write your name and one of three choices: Go, No-Go, or Go with Qualifications.”
Two minutes later I reviewed the responses of my nine-team leads. They all said Go.
“Great,” I said. “You all believe that we are ready to go live. Now let’s go around the table and please describe anything that might go wrong in your area, what will be the impact, and what you will do to mitigate the risk.” The team leads came prepared. They discussed a few minor issues, all of which could be handled after we go live.
An hour later I closed the meeting saying: “It looks like we’re ready. Tomorrow morning I’ll meet with our CIO to let him know of our decision.”
At 7:30 that night, while I was having dinner the phone rang. It was Josh, our Technical Lead. “Uri, I need to meet with you urgently. Can we meet at Starbucks?” He asked with a shaky voice. “You mean now?” I asked. “Yes. Please. It is very important.” He said.
In the eighteen months of our project, Josh never called me at home. So I knew that meeting with me was very important to him.
Twenty minutes later, we were seated at the Starbucks nearby. Josh was very distressed. He was breathing quickly and could hardly contain himself. “Uri, we cannot go live next weekend.” “Why is that?” I asked. “Just this morning you voted to Go with the other leads. What changed?”
“We have not tested our servers at peak load.” He said “We only tested at average load. And I am very concerned that the servers may not handle the peak load.”
“Why didn’t you say so this morning?” I asked.
Josh was almost crying. “They have been bullying me – the other leads.” He said. “Since the beginning of the project – they have been bullying me. I tried to convince them for the last four weeks that we need to do this test, but they dismissed me, and told me not to bring it up at our Leads Meeting.”
Josh was a brilliant technical man. I had a lot of respect for his knowledge and commitment. But he was not a strong person. I knew that the other leads did not respect, but I did not know of the bullying that was going on behind the scenes.
“OK, Josh,” I said in a calm and supportive voice. “Tomorrow morning, we will meet with the team leads. I will tell them that we are postponing our go-live. Then I will ask you to stand up and explain what we need to do and why. I will stand next to you, and will make sure that this time they listen.”
How It Turned Out
As it turned out, the servers could not handle the peak load. But Josh was prepared. The hardware vendor was standing by with more powerful processors. Josh re-tested the system and this time it passed.
We all realized that by mustering his last ounce of courage, Josh saved us from a humiliating failure.
Three weeks later, we went live successfully. At our project team celebration party, I took the time to acknowledge Josh and publicly shared my respect for his technical expertise and commitment.
Upon Reflection
A couple of months later, as I was relaxing on the beach during my well-deserved vacation, I reflected on what happened with Josh.
How did I miss what was going on with my team leads behind the scenes? Clearly there must have been signs. But I was too task-oriented, too engaged in driving activities, meetings, reports. I did not pay enough attention to the people on my team and to the relationship dynamics between them.
There were lessons I had to learn from this experience.
Psychological Safety – The Foundation Of High-Performing Teams
Years later, as an Executive Coach, I came across the work of Professor Amy Edmondson of Harvard Business School.
Professor Edmondson researched the factors that distinguish high-performing teams from average ones. At first, she researched the performance of hospital teams and then extended her work to teams in other industries.
Her conclusion was that the most important factor that affects team performance is Psychological Safety.
Namely, the ability of team members to feel safe in sharing their views and ideas, without the fear of being dismissed, belittled, or ridiculed, even if their views are contrary to those of the senior members of the majority of the team.
It is the role of the team leader in encouraging an atmosphere of psychological safety, by inviting ALL team members to share their ideas, including those who are typically quiet and less confident.
As an outcome of its work on Project Aristotle, Google also adopted Psychological Safety as the foundation for building High-Performing Teams.
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If you found this article is of value, please share it with your team and colleagues.
If you wish to further explore how Executive Coaching can benefit your team, please do not hesitate to contact me at Uri@thewilltochange.com
To read other articles in the Leadership series, please visit https://thewilltochange.com//blog-and-tools/execu-blog/
Best regards,
Uri
