Turning The But Into And

Every now and then I get a little confused!

There have been some instances of late when working with some CEOs when the opening request has been " I really need some help with my Leadership Team - they are really capable but....." and that sentence could be completed with "they have gone flat" or "we have missed budget again", or "we no longer deliver under pressure"....

So - what starts to confuse me? The use of the word capable.

Highly capable teams have no "buts".

One of the key principles with the StandOut Team Performance model, is that capability is that vital combination of both competence and an agreed set of behaviours that drive peak performance.

Hence, a highly capable Leadership Team is highly skilled, delivers, and does it in a way consistent with the organisations or teams values.

Consequently, my response to that CEO lamenting about the "highly capable team but...." is often along the lines of "firstly - we might want to be careful about calling the team capable - it sounds like they are highly competent, but have lost sight of the fact that behaviour drives performance, and may have stopped delivering on some of the key behaviours.

Conversely, it may well be they are making every effort to deliver on the behaviours, but need an new skill set or strategic plan or lack the experience to deal with the new or changing environment.

Either way, the team will not be capable until both elements are brought together.

Make no mistake, this is not an easy process. Quite often, especially if the team has delivered in the past, we assume ( sometimes hope ) that the team will simply quickly realign and get back on track.

The key to addressing the shift in performance is to identify quickly which of the two elements need attention in order to return to being a highly capable team.

So - should your team not be at its best right now then ask your self this question - "how do I turn the "but" into an "and"?

Which of the two elements need to be addressed in order for my team to be both highly competent and deliver on the behaviours that we have agreed drive performance?