Shared values or individual goals - what's the secret to building a high-performing team? And what 3 words can rebalance your working week?
I knew I would be in for a good conversation as I sat across from Greg Bateman, the founder of People's Captain and former Professional rugby player. I have a lot of admiration for Greg for the public stand he took to highlight the importance of mental health in professional rugby and for the craft beer business he now runs supporting men's mental health and as he puts it - brewing positivity.
Greg shared a wealth of insights on the challenges facing middle managers and the strategies they can employ to build thriving, high-performing teams. Our conversation delved deep into the importance of shared values, group identity, accountability and the role of rituals in fostering a culture of trust and collaboration.
Greg's own experiences in the world of professional sports provided a unique lens through which he viewed the complexities of team dynamics.
"When you're playing rugby, it's such a game that relies on your mate doing his job, you doing your job," he explained. "And it's because it's physical, it feels like it's harder because you're physically putting your body on the line for each other."
This sense of collective responsibility and camaraderie is something that Greg believes is often lacking in the corporate world, where the focus can be heavily weighted towards individual achievement.
"I think that you can feed off each other's enthusiasm and feed off each other's drive," he said. "So that would be my reflection. You do just push a little bit harder for people that you really care about."
At the heart of Greg's approach to building successful teams lies the importance of shared values and a strong group identity, especially when you have mixed cultures in the team.
"The best captains and senior players I have worked with find a way to connect with the lads from the Pacific Islands, find out what's important to them, get that central and let them lead something that's important to them, to open up the lens to the other people in the team. That helps create a common understanding of the way that we view life," he explained.
This emphasis on understanding and embracing diverse perspectives is crucial to creating psychological confidence in teams, and benefiting from great diversity of thought and input, as Greg pointed out.
"You'll have 10 different nationalities in that team, and it's really clumsy to assume that someone from the home county's view and expression of life is the same as somebody from the Pacific Islands that sends 80% of their money home to look after their family."
By fostering a collective set of values and a shared sense of identity, leaders can create an environment where team members feel a deep sense of belonging and investment in the group's success. As Greg eloquently stated,
"I turn this shared value into a challenge when hiring people into my current business. When I speak to new recruits on the way in the door I explain we're effectively a challenger brand trying to be the Patagonia of beer companies. Nobody's done this before. It’s a really tough challenge, but let's figure it out together as we are all learning together on this journey."
Greg certainly has a way of inspiring others. Opening the door with an invitation to share the journey together, bring your game and help build values is a very powerful motivator for new starters.
Alongside the importance of shared values and group identity, Greg also highlighted the critical role of accountability and feedback in building high-performing teams.
Balancing accountability with a positive compassionate culture is a challenge I encounter with many of my clients and it was a topic I was keen to understand Greg's thoughts on.
"I think I've also been in environments where the working culture was great and there was lots of effective trust but the leaders didn’t hold people accountable, and it was the people that took advantage of that and we're just taking the piss, frankly."
He went on to emphasise the importance of clarity and directness in providing feedback, even when it's difficult.
"Sometimes people do just need to be told. And I've been on the receiving end of that myself, so I know what it feels like but I also appreciate when it has to be said."
"I have to work quite hard to not be quite so direct, because not everybody appreciates feedback like that. So I've had to develop learned behaviors to moderate and adjust my feedback accordingly to suit people."
This area of clarity over kindness is an extremely important leadership trait, not to say that you can't still lead with compassion but clarity is ultimately where you will gain the most respect from your team rather than the downside of compensating or shielding team members from feedback that could help their own growth.
There is a fundamental truth that has always stuck with me. “Everyone is assessing you, in particular your team, it's human nature. Why wouldn't you want that information so that you could use it to improve your own leadership. It’s happening all the time. Better out than in.”
As our conversation progressed, the topic of rituals emerged as a powerful tool for fostering high-performing teams. Greg shared his own experience with using a simple system of three words – "connect, enjoy, learn" – to guide and measure his weekly planning and maintain a sense of balance and purpose.
"I used to plan my week and write down every session on, every day, every day off, the time I'd have with my kids, the time I'd have with my partner, when I'd go and practice golf, when I'd go and walk the dogs, everything so that then I could look through and review and reflect against my 3 words - "connect, enjoy, learn". For instance, am I spending enough time with my kids - connect," Greg explained.
This structured approach of creating a data record to self-care and maintain balance not only helped Greg stay grounded but also provided a framework for him to hold himself accountable.
"By having this system in place, I could tell myself, okay, I need to spend more time with my other half, or have I spoken to my kids enough, or I have seen them enough, or I am training enough and so on, I could use the data to reflect accurately"
As our discussion continued it became apparent that this three-word mantra could become a very powerful ritual for team performance, aligning to the earlier points that Greg made about shared values. By ritualizing this 3 word system, aligning to shared values and making it repetitive. The repetitive nature should not be overlooked and as we discussed the science behind rituals, the benefits became even more apparent.
I explained to Greg a research study I had been reviewing where a group of people performed a sequence of arm movements before a performance task vs a control group that had the same amount of movement, but random movement. The study found that the group with the repetitive sequence of our movements performed better in the task that came straight after. What I found very interesting is the lack of context. Just the sheer repetition clearly created a sense of psychological comfort reducing anxiety which is also being proven in rituals before performance tasks enabling the individuals to perform better simply based on a predefined ritual. The study concluded that rituals reduce the neural response to failure.
What three words would you choose?
The insights shared by Greg during our conversation highlight the critical importance of fostering a culture of shared values, accountability and harnessing rituals to install regular practice of behavior for high-performing teams. As the research suggests, the repetition of specific behaviors and actions can have a profound impact on an individual's neural response, reducing stress and anxiety and improving overall performance. Moreover, the emphasis on understanding diverse perspectives and creating a sense of collective identity is crucial in today's increasingly globalised and diverse workplace. By embracing and celebrating these differences, leaders can create an environment where team members feel valued, respected, and invested in the group's success.
Finishing off with four key takeaways from our discussion:
The key to the success of these strategies is making sure there is co-creation and ownership and a firm implementation strategy.
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