Success lies in getting everyone on the same page

For most CEOs, how to align their team is a never-ending challenge which produces frustration, anger and despair.

After working with CEOs of over 2,000 companies, I’ve found these five simple dynamics to effortlessly create self-managing, self-governing, high-performance teams.

Energy dynamics

Contrast this with most CEOs who are upset when the result isn’t achieved. They use feedback as a tool to find fault to vent their frustration.

To create a culture of commitment, your people need to feel safe to say “no” to unrealistic requests and share their criteria that prompts them to say “no”.

This reveals gaps in resources, information and support they require. Your team feels supported and independent and will take on bigger challenges automatically.

Your team shifts to operate from commitments and promises as opposed to stories, excuses and justifications. You enable this shift by allowing them to say “no”.

Consequence dynamics

In many organisations, consequences are not clearly defined, which causes a mediocre performance culture. You can easily create a culture of consequences with your team through a democratic process.

Create two columns with five rows. Mark the columns as “Slip” and “Harm”. Mark the rows as Level 1 to 5. In each column write three “offences” and decide consequences.

You will be left with ten types of offences with corresponding consequences. A slip is like a civil offence and has a lighter consequence — eg, delayed deadlines.

A harm offence is like a criminal offence and has stricter consequences — eg, harming the company’s reputation, insulting clients etc. This framework enables your teams to interpret the consequences of each type of behaviour.

Meeting dynamics

Keep it simple and maintain the rhythm. Just get each person to answer these questions and then allocate sufficient time for your teams to solve whatever comes up.

This rhythm helps your team work in coordinated action to produce the result you want.

Rajesh Nagjee is founder of The CEOs Business Growth Program.