Don’t Skip Steps That Build Real Performance
Welcome to another Toolkit Tuesday! Every week, our goal is to give you a practical leadership tool to put in your toolkit.
So There I Was…
We often use the Maximizing Team Performance tool when we sit down with a potential client to uncover pain points in leadership. Recently, two business partners reached out to us about training their next level of leaders. As we worked through the tool with them, it quickly became clear not only to us but to them that the real issue was not with their employees. It was between the two of them.
One was a Guardian and the other a Connector. Their voices meant they communicated very differently which created friction in their relationship. They were not enemies. They simply struggled to connect in a way that built trust. Halfway through the session one of them stopped and said, “I know we set this call up to talk about training for our team, but I think we just realized we are the ones who need it first.”
That moment changed everything. We spent the next six months helping them strengthen their communication and relationship skills, and the results carried through the whole organization. They discovered that maximizing team performance begins with leaders who are self aware, leading themselves first, and fighting for the highest possible good of the people they lead.
The Challenge
Most teams never reach their full potential. Research shows that most teams operate at about 60 percent. Leaders often skip straight to alignment and execution because they want to get things done. The problem is that without strong communication and relationships first, you will never build trust or engagement. At best you will get compliance. At worst you will get conflict, drama, and burnout.
The Tool: Maximizing Team Performance
The Maximizing Team Performance tool highlights five key drivers of team health: Communication, Relationship, Alignment, Execution and Capacity. Arranged in a flywheel, these components build momentum when they are healthy and connected.
It all starts with communication.
Clear communication builds strong relationships.
Strong relationships build trust.
Trust leads to alignment around vision, strategy and tactics.
Alignment makes execution easier and more effective.
Consistent execution raises the capacity of the entire team.
That is the flywheel of team performance.
When leaders focus only on alignment, execution, and capacity they may get temporary compliance but the flywheel will stall. By starting with communication and relationship leaders create the trust and engagement that fuel long term performance, culture and resilience.
Why This Matters Now
Teams that do not address communication and relationship issues are stuck running harder on the wrong wheel. Leaders end up using fear, pressure or manipulation to push results. This may move the needle in the short term, but it undermines trust and lowers the capacity of the team over time.
When teams use the Maximizing Team Performance tool they get a clear framework to diagnose where the breakdown is happening and a path to rebuild communication, trust and engagement. The result is a healthy flywheel that creates momentum, energy and results.
The Result
The business partners in our story discovered that by first strengthening communication and relationships at the top, the entire team shifted. Engagement increased. Alignment became natural. Execution flowed more smoothly. Their team could handle more without burning out because capacity had expanded. This is the promise of the flywheel.
When each component is healthy, the whole system thrives.
Take Action
Use the Maximizing Team Performance tool to evaluate your own team. Which of the five areas is weakest right now? Choose one specific action to improve it this week.
Schedule a call with us to talk about how we can help you maximize your team’s performance and build lasting momentum.
Closing the Loop
What began as a request for leadership training for employees turned into a breakthrough for the owners themselves. By addressing their own communication and relationship challenges first, they modeled what it means to be self aware leaders.
That single step became the spark that ignited growth throughout their business.
Lead hard!
