Choosing Your High Performance Team: What’s In The Way?

Beliefs drive behaviour. People (all of us) mistake beliefs for facts. That’s what gets in the way of choosing the right team.

Many leaders simply accept the team as it is because they believe terrible things will happen if they try to change it. There is no fact base for this. Maybe a leader had a bad experience dealing with a team member once. That can create a belief that that’s the only possible outcome.

Beliefs, not facts, get in the way for all of us. And beliefs are also the opportunity.

There is a very common archetype of team member bringing down performance. Mostly, leaders don’t believe this person’s impact extends to the whole team. Always, that’s wrong.

This person is what I call the toxic high performer. This is the person who makes the money, is great with the clients and has a big presence in the market. They also leave a trail of damage behind them. They behave badly, don’t take responsibility, undermine colleagues or simply don’t engage on anything that doesn’t make them look good. A leader will often let this person do as they wish. After all, the leader is on the hook for results, this person is achieving them and that’s one less thing to worry about. The problem is, the toxic high performer diminishes performance for the whole team.

This person causes interference. Interference is what goes in in people’s heads, creating beliefs and driving behaviour. Interference drags performance.

Mostly the interference here is around the boss allowing this person to behave however they want. Other team members feel vulnerable, believing they won’t be supported if they defend themselves against this person or put limits on their behaviour. So those team members start playing small and safe, protecting themselves, not bringing their full potential.  They are no longer playing to win, they’re playing not to lose.

And all the time, they’re looking at you, leader, and wondering why you’re not dealing with all of this. Simply, you’re losing followership. You’re losing the team. And you're not doing the right thing by the toxic high performer.

Time for belief change.  Leaders have to start believing two truths:
(i) the greatest service you can do for your team, yourself, this person and business performance is dealing with a situation.  
(ii) no one knows what will happen when you step into this difficult conversation (ask for help on how to do it or see my other posts).

Go with intent, clarity and be prepared to learn something.  Do not compromise on behavioural standards. You might be amazed at what happens.

Choose a more powerful path.
Jeff Davis
Melinda Upton
Patrick Jordan
Patricia Ball GAICD
Louise Morris Chartered FCIPD