There’s something really beautiful, even joyful, about a team of people finding their performance flow.
We see it watching an orchestra, a ballet, a live band, a game of elite football, chefs at service a 3-hatted restaurant, or even an emergency response team.
It doesn’t matter if that team is young or old, experienced or novice, many or few. When individuals each with their unique personalities, quirks, fears, hopes and dreams – find formation and click into place to collectively produce an exceptional result – it’s nothing short of joyful.
These are flourishing teams – teams who leverage complementary skills sets to deliver exceptional results, while at the same time growing from the experience.
I regularly meet CEO’s and their leadership teams who know they have all the components to flourish but can’t quite click into gear. They often start with the same question… “I know we are capable of more. How do we show better results for our efforts?” But simply throwing a bunch of talented people into a bowl isn’t enough. Leadership is the enzyme that activates team synergy – where the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
Liz Wizeman, author of “Multipliers; How the best leaders make everyone smarter” talks about two types of leaders – leaders who drain intelligence, kill ideas and sap energy. These are the diminishers of talent. Then there are leaders who amplify the smarts and capabilities of people around them. Who inspire employees to stretch themselves to deliver results that surpass expectations. These are multipliers.
I agree with Liz, and I think that the best leaders do more than just multiply talent.
They are more like Alchemists. They transform potential. Like magically turning metal into gold; inspiring leaders transform teams from a group of individuals to a luminous, high performing collective.
While it sounds magical, performing team alchemy is deceptively simple. There is a code and a formula to how it works.
The trick is mastering the codes as part of your leadership DNA and applying them consistently over time. None of us are born with these codes downloaded – leadership is a learned skill.
How your team performs comes down to how you’re leading them. If you’re a Founder, a CEO, or a manager of people – ask yourself – how are you transforming potential?
If you love this, ask me about my Team Alchemy program.