Putting High Performance, Teamwork and Leadership into Perspective

Contributor: Wayne Pearce
Posted: 07/15/2010  12:00:00 AM EDT  |  0
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Alliance Contracting IQ recently interviewed Wayne Pearce and discussed his experience with respect to leadership and teamwork and how that relates to alliancing.

Could you put into perspective your experience with high performance team cultures?

I’d be happy to. As a former professional league player I have played in a number of outstanding teams and also some pretty ordinary teams too.  As a result I was able to identify some behaviours that were contrasting between them.  I also coached after I finished playing; at both national and representative levels and I took a lot of lessons from that time in my life.

After I finished coaching ten years ago, I wanted to branch out into the corporate world as I believed there were a number of improvements that the corporate world could make with regards to team work and productivity.  I’ve worked with a whole range of businesses over the last ten years and I’ve seen – as with league teams – some pretty good and some pretty ordinary cultures and to this day I still work with businesses to try and activate the discretionary effort of their people.  I have realised that a significant part of that discretionary effort is dependent on getting a team motivated but more specifically it is about actually getting them to work together as a team.

NB:At IQPC’s recent Bi-Annual Alliance Contracting Summit, Barry Harrison presented about the links between high performance sporting teams and alliancing teams. Listen to that presentation here 

What’s the gap between an outstanding versus an ordinary team culture?

The really good cultures I have worked with have a number of defining features; clear expectations and individuals have a desire to do their best at their job instead of simply doing an ok job that meets basic requirements.  In high performing cultures the team members are motivated to want to give their best everyday and that becomes infectious and becomes an attitude that permeates the whole environment.  That particular culture construct is aspirational for a lot of businesses; they never quite get there.  However, there are a lot of cultures who are also realising that dream.  Achieving this results in significant and ongoing productivity returns to the business.  These returns are not just in terms of the usual financial productivity gains but also in spirit, morale, less turnover of staff, less sick days etc.

Why is the psychology of high performance team work something that you are so passionate about?

It really goes back to my rugby league career. I wasn’t necessarily the most gifted player on the pitch but what I did try to do was to extract as much out of my ability as I could; which meant I went on to represent my country and captain Australia.  It was about getting the most out of my physical body but also about focusing my mind as well. I studied psychology at university and that gave me a real insight into human needs.  I believe that business leaders need to understand more about these human needs which in turn will enable them to be more proactive rather than reactive in the workplace. A productive leader doesn’t have to deal with bushfires; rather they have a high performing business that is going forward. Teamwork is the cornerstone of any high performance culture and for me I believe that the fundamental cornerstone of teamwork is trust.

When you talk about trust you mention the need to ‘take off your mask’, can you share further detail about what that entails?

I think the best way to demonstrate that is probably by example. Consider a representative sporting team, such as the State of Origin, when players are picked from a whole number of clubs to play together for a specified period or number of matches. Mid season you are asking players to park their allegiances to their own side and come together to play for NSW or QLD. Their competitors are now their teammates.  That’s an enormous task for any coach and the first 48 hours of establishing this new team is critical. Players go into a camp for 7-8 days and the first two days of that camp is based around the players and the coach creating an environment where the players can get to trust each other.  

To get back to your question, a large part of that process is providing a safe environment for players to ‘take of their mask’.  This ‘mask’ is the facade by which they want to appear to everyone else.  In order to remove the mark you need to put your cards on the table and be honest about a number of things; what makes you tick, what drives you, what motivates you and so on.  When people can better understand those things about others they immediately tend to experience increased understanding of each other and this naturally leads to greater opportunities to develop high levels of trust.  

What do you do if your alliancing team isn’t taking off their mask and aren’t aligned?

It’s a situation a lot of businesses find themselves in.  It’s about creating an environment in the first place. Often you have to take it out of the actual workplace to establish this as it’s difficult to create onsite. Often because people do not feel comfortable in the workplace to remove this mask and a social environment can facilitate this. First of all give them an insight as to what the benefits of high trust levels are. One of the biggest sticking points I’ve observed in businesses is the lack of free flowing conversation, a lack of feedback and a lack of holding each other accountable, and this all related  to poor trust levels.

If you can overcome this problem you will see the difference in terms of energy, spirit, morale and tangible changes that people can feel and that people will buy into. Once you have established the benefits you can get people talking in 1-1 situations or in small groups about what is important to them.  Some people have a huge issue with removing their mask but that’s only a small percentage of overall workforce.  Most people are willing to share if they are in a ‘safe’ environment.  The desire to understand each other is compelling as it enables people to feel as if they have some insight or control over a situation. If I know someone a bit better I feel as if I can be a little more proactive with that person and trust that person more.

What constitutes a safe environment and how important is it?

The importance of the environment is huge. If you can’t create a safe environment then people aren’t going to disclose. The important thing is that people are empowered to disclose what they feel comfortable disclosing. Firstly there is a no-go zone for everyone. There are certain things that people simply do not want to talk about. For some people this zone is broader than for others. Most people are happy to disclose more stuff in the workplace than they currently do but they simply don’t have the opportunity. They are too busy and their discussions are usually about work or surface level personal information that doesn’t actually give any insight into what makes that person tick.

To create a safe environment means you have to be quite clear about the fact that no-one is expected to talk about their no-go zone; simply communicate around the stuff you are more comfortable with.  It comes back to how much trust you have previously facilitated with your team as a boss. If you haven’t established reasonable trust levels with team members then they aren’t going to trust your intention of holding such a session.

AllianceContracting IQ thanks Wayne for his time and his commentary. More information about Wayne is available at his website: http://www.waynepearce.com.au/

 For the full audio interview please visit the media / podcast library at: http://www.alliancecontractingiq.com/mediaindex.cfm