One Minute Read Series – from the best selling book The Four Mindsets – How to influence, motivate and lead high performance teams. (Wiley)
By Anna-Lucia Mackay
“Although a variety of words and phrases are used to describe this trait, the core finding was that a manager who behaved inconsistently and was unpredictable severely and gravelyimpacted high-performing team members and the overall performance of their team in a negative way.
The research showed that high performance requires an element of good will, and there is high correlation between good will and predictability.This also forms the basis of the strong psychological contract outlined in the introduction.
A consistent and predictable manager means staff are not ‘on edge’, wondering what mood their manager is in and whether it is safe to tell them something or ask for help. Recent history tells us that many corporate collapses stem from the inability or unwillingness of team members to share knowledge with their managers for fear of what it could lead to.
Your team needs to feel safe with you. This is not about keeping them in their comfort zone and not challenging them; it is about making it safe for people to share the knowledge you need in all situations — good or bad.
As a role model, you should always adopt a philosophy of ‘no surprises’ in any situation.Your people must trust you to respond logically and rationally when pushed to the edge.
That is not to say you must always be happy.Your responses should be congruent with the specific situation, but a positive role model will always manage to apply a rational, non- threatening approach in the face of any adversity so they can deal with the problem and then move on.”
Excerpt from the Best Selling Book The Four Mindsets – How to Influence, Motivate and Lead High Performance Teams. (Wiley)