A team that can collaborate and works cohesively together can have huge benefits for a business, and research has shown that employers are keen to foster these teams.
Queens University of Charlotte previously revealed that around 75% of employers rate teamwork and collaboration as ‘very important’, while 88% of employees and executives cite lack of collaboration as a contributor to workplace failures, according to Salesforce data.
With these stats in mind, it’s crucial for leaders to think about how they can build a high-performing leadership team. Dean Forbes, CEO of Forterro, explained that to foster this business leaders should look to source an exec team that has great experience, however, he points out that a great deal of success also boils down to how leaders manage them.
“The first thing when I’m building an exec team is I’m looking for people who have solid, great experience[, or ] if not [then I need to be] very comfortable and be really convinced that they’re going to be brilliant. And if that costs me something either in money, equity, time I’m going to have to spend with them – I’m okay with that,” Forbes explained.
Forbes, who joined Forterro earlier this year, also expressed the importance of allowing senior team members to succeed for themselves, as this will encourage those members of staff to put in the extra effort and work harder for the business, as he said: “People succeed for themselves first and then the brand and the business.”
Forbes pointed out that if leaders “connect to the cause of personal success, then you’ll get the person who instead spends eight hours a day, spends nine hours a day because they are working for their own objectives”.
“You get the discretionary effort because it’s meaningful for them. Rather than saying, ‘I need you to pull a late one tonight,’ they are willing to do it because it means something to them,” he stated.
Learn from experience
However, Forbes didn’t come to this conclusion easily. He shared with Executive Grapevine that years ago he did the opposite to his own advice, which was to drive people based on what the company needed to achieve on the basis that it was a “privilege to work there”.
“I didn’t get the results I wanted and ever since then I’ve pivoted to think okay what is it, what’s in it for the individual,” he stated. “I know what it is so I offer a comp plan, bonus plan, incentive structures, all around personalisation, and I’ve done that for the last two and I’ll be doing it in this next role.”
This has also proved successful during the coronavirus pandemic, which Forbes shared has been effective when managing individuals during this time. But he explained that he has changed tactics in that when he catches up with members of the team, he is calling to check that they are coping rather than if they have hit their KPIs. In addition, Forbes notes that it is also critical to ensure employees can meet their own career goals, to help build a high-performing leadership team.
“My rhythm has always been talking to people and managing people to reach their own career goals because they perform better against their own career goals than the KPIs and objectives that I or the business might set,” Forbes revealed.
Promoting D&I
Several studies have showcased the benefits a diverse team can have on a business. In fact, data from Fast Company revealed that companies with above-average gender diversity and levels of employee engagement outperform companies with below-average diversity and engagement by 46% to 58%.
And the same is true when building a high performing leadership team, as Forbes shared that in his experience when “trying to build a high performing team, put as many different perspectives in that team as possible because that’s how you get rich outcomes”.
“I’ve looked at leaders before and said your team is all single gendered – why is your team single gendered, how is it possible that in that role there isn’t a person of alternative gender?” Forbes continued, “and it’s normally the selection process and criteria that’s blocking the diversity.”
With this in mind, Forbes shared that business leaders should work to alter their recruitment processes to ensure they are getting maximum diversity, as this will ensure a business is building a varied team that can become high performing.
Forbes concluded: “I would encourage leaders to gather lots of different perspectives.”
Jade Burke, Executive Grapevine
9th March 2021