Team Performance and Morale

How can you bring out the best in people? I’ve been in leadership for over 20 years, and I’ve tried just about every approach—some were great, some flopped spectacularly. But there’s one formula that Frances Frei and Anne Morriss shared in the book Unleashed that works: Deep Devotion + High Standards. (Frances and Anne are amazing btw). Get the combination right, and you unlock the best in your people. Miss the mark, and your leadership falls into traps. High Standards, Low Devotion = Judgment You push for excellence but don’t offer the support needed to reach it. Your team feels crappy. High Devotion, Low Standards = Indulgence You genuinely care but fail to challenge. I’ll admit, I’m sometimes guilty of this with my kids 🙂 Low Devotion, Low Standards = Neglect You don’t expect much, and you don’t provide much. You will not get much. ✅ High Devotion, High Standards = High Performance You’re fully invested in people’s success while holding them to a high bar. This is where great leadership happens. So how do you make sure you’re leading with both deep devotion and high standards? Here’s what’s worked for me: 1. Set clear expectations (and don’t be vague) People should always know exactly what’s expected of them—no guessing, no surprises. Regularly communicate goals and hold your team accountable. 2. Give real, direct feedback No sugarcoating, no waiting for annual reviews. Be honest, be specific, and do it often. The best feedback helps people course-correct before things go off track. 3. Go to bat for your team If they need resources—more staff, better tools, your time—make it happen. Deep devotion isn’t just a phrase; it’s action. This isn’t easy, but leadership rarely is. The best leaders challenge and support in equal measure. How do you bring out the best in your teams?

If your one-on-ones are primarily status updates, you're missing a massive opportunity to build trust, develop talent, and drive real results. After working with countless leadership teams across industries, I've found that the most effective managers approach 1:1s with a fundamentally different mindset... They see these meetings as investments in people, not project tracking sessions. Great 1:1s focus on these three elements: 1. Support: Create space for authentic conversations about challenges, both professional and personal. When people feel safe discussing real obstacles, you can actually help remove them. Questions to try: "What's currently making your job harder than it needs to be?" "Where could you use more support from me?" 2. Growth: Use 1:1s to understand aspirations and build development paths. People who see a future with your team invest more deeply in the present. Questions to explore: "What skills would you like to develop in the next six months?" "What parts of your role energize you most?" 3. Alignment: Help team members connect their daily work to larger purpose and meaning. People work harder when they understand the "why" behind tasks. Questions that create alignment: "How clear is the connection between your work and our team's priorities?" "What part of our mission resonates most with you personally?" By focusing less on immediate work outputs and more on the human doing the work, you'll actually see better performance, retention, and results. Check out my newsletter for more insights here: https://lnkd.in/ei_uQjju #executiverecruiter #eliterecruiter #jobmarket2025 #profoliosai #resume #jobstrategy #leadershipdevelopment #teammanagement

Your leader may be the reason you have a culture problem. It’s only one game in the college football season, but the University of Colorado football team had a losing record of 1-11 last season and today just upset the #17 ranked TCU team to kick off the year! How do you turn a losing culture into a winning one? Start with the Leader! Deion Sanders AKA "Coach Prime" was hired this winter and is only a few months into the job as head coach but his influence and presence has immediately turned the program around. What did he do? — 5 observations 1 - Set the vision for the team. Where there is no vision people will fail. 2 - Built a core leadership team by surrounding himself with successful coaches and identifying players who model the right values & behaviors. 3- Instilled confidence in the team collectively and individually by creating visual monikers, slogans, and giving personal time attention to players. 4 - Identified opportunities to strengthen each player and position on the roster to improve the overall team. Practice makes permanent. 5 - Inspired, motivated, and hyped his team through his words in presentations and speeches. He made it all about them: He believed in them, he corrected them and he praised them. #leadership #employeeengagement #culture #coaching #football

Before I was a CEO, I was a VP. And before that, a director. And then a VP.  Before I was first a founder. Those management teams weren’t perfect, and I wouldn’t copy everything they did. But at least I got to observe how a few seasoned CEOs managed their executive teams. For better and for worse. So … just one bit of advice. There are two things you just gotta do, even if you don’t see the point or want to. 1️⃣ First, you have to have weekly Executive Staff (“eStaff” or just plain “Staff”) Meetings. Every week. At a set time. and 2️⃣ Second, you have to find a way to do 1-on-1 meetings with all your direct reports. At least every two weeks. And once a week in some cases. These aren’t meant to be mini-performance reviews. In fact, I don’t care if you do performance reviews ever with your VPs and direct reports, at least. But here’s the thing. Neither of these meetings are about you — or what you need. It’s about them. 👉 First, if you don’t do it now, start a weekly, 30-minute (at first — then later, longer) staff meeting every Monday afternoon at 2pm. Starting next week. All your VPs and direct reports in each functional area (Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Product, Support, Success) should be there. And everyone should provide a 5-minute update on how they are doing versus goals. And then, share what you are doing this week yourself. So everyone knows. And yes, you need an agenda. Which you need to circulate before the actual meetings. This won’t help you much. You sort of already know what everyone is doing. But trust me, your team — they don’t really communicate with each other as much as they should. This will force them to. You can tease out a status update from every functional area. Every week. And make sure whatever the agenda is, what it means is there are No Surprises. Wherever any functional area is coming up short, it will be seen well ahead of time. When everyone else still has time to help. 👉 Then, second, find a way to do 1-on-1s with each VP and direct report. Yes, I know you do not have time for this. But remember, it’s not about you. Your VPs and reports need an unstructured time with you, at least every 2 weeks, where they can provide updates. Vent. Share their fears and concerns. Their anxieties. And you can help them. Pump them up. Or just be their psychiatrist, sometimes. You won’t learn a lot from these conversations either, per se. Not from the facts. But you’ll learn what your team needs help with to do Even Better. And once you have a real management team, that’s your job. To back-fill the team. To help them — not where they are strong. They can do what they are good at without you. But you need to back-fill where they are weak. Sometimes, without them even realizing it completely. eStaff meetings once a week, and 1-on-1s every 2 weeks. That enables you to make sure the team communicates. And to make sure you are helping the best on your team where you really, truly, actually can help.

Early in my career, I took over a team that couldn't deliver. Everyone was working hard, but we were always behind. This company was a meeting-heavy culture. The last thing we needed was another one. What we needed was... - More focus - More improvement - More mutual accountability That is when I asked my team to try out this two-minute daily habit: "Calling their shots." The process is simple: - Commit to the 3-5 things you'll complete that day - Reflect on what you did or didn't accomplish at the end And we made it all public. - A simple email to start the day - A quick response to wrap it up At the end of the week, we asked people to look for patterns: - Where were they thriving? - When were they getting stuck? - How could they improve next week? Within weeks, we started to outpace other teams. More surprisingly, team morale skyrocketed. And it wasn't because I "held them more accountable."  It was because they did it for themselves. And each other. Eventually, we moved past the emails to a simple template.  I recreated it for the readers of my MGMT Playbook. https://lnkd.in/eiPgBNB6 Subscribe for free to download it and dozens more. If you like this practical approach to management, follow Dave Kline for more. And please repost to help other leaders figuring it out as they go. 

Teams are often dysfunctional. For six reasons, not five. In his 2002 book "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team," Patrick Lencioni suggested that genuine teamwork is rare, and that organizations often unknowingly fall prey to five interrelated dysfunctions that hinder team effectiveness. These dysfunctions form an inverted pyramid, each one leading to the next: - Absence of Trust: Team members are unwilling to be vulnerable, leading to... - Fear of Conflict: Inability to engage in unfiltered, passionate debate of ideas, leading to... - Lack of Commitment: Feigning agreement during meetings, leading to... - Avoidance of Accountability: Hesitation to call peers on actions and behaviors that seem counterproductive, leading to... - Inattention to Results: Putting individual needs above the collective goals of the team. Lencioni emphasizes that while these concepts are simple in theory, they require significant discipline and persistence to overcome in practice. He also writes that the leader plays a crucial role by demonstrating vulnerability first, setting the tone for the team to follow. I very much agree with his take. Based on my experience working with diverse teams across the globe, though, I would add another dysfunction: 6. Misunderstanding the Power of Difference: Diverse teams bring unique perspectives and strengths, but misunderstanding or underestimating these differences can lead to missed opportunities and great resentment. Here's how to address this dysfunction: - Acknowledge, understand and value differences. - Foster inclusive, candid communication. - Don't blame difference when things go wrong (since difference is usually not to blame). Whatever the line of difference—identity, role, or geographical location—effective teams manage differences proactively and thoughtfully. When they don't, misunderstandings and misinterpretations due to differences in language, cultural norms, and communication styles can hinder their effectiveness. When we recognize and harness differences, we unlock the full potential of teams, driving exceptional results. #Collaboration #Teams #HumanResources #Leadership #Innovation #Difference #Communication

A positive culture is built,  not bought. Real culture isn’t perks—it’s how people are treated daily. Here’s How to Build (and Sustain) a Positive Work Culture: 1️⃣ Stop Forcing Positivity  ↳ Toxic positivity kills real trust.   ✅ Encourage honest feedback, not fake smiles. 2️⃣ Reward the Right People, Not Just the Loudest Ones  ↳ Your best employees aren’t always the noisiest.   ✅ Recognize contributions based on value, not volume. 3️⃣ Replace “We’re Like a Family” with Clear Boundaries ↳ Boundaries create healthy workplaces.   ✅ Respect personal time and avoid guilt-driven commitments. 4️⃣ Address Toxicity, No Matter How Talented the Person Is ↳ One bad attitude can undo great leadership.   ✅ Culture over talent—always. 5️⃣ Make Work-Life Balance Real (Not Just a Talking Point) ↳ If people feel guilty taking breaks, your culture is failing.   ✅ Leaders should take and encourage real time off. 6️⃣ Leaders Should Be the First to Follow the Culture ↳ Culture is top-down, not bottom-up.   ✅ Set the example—don’t just enforce the rules. 7️⃣ Measure Culture, Not Just Performance ↳ Numbers don’t tell the whole story.   ✅ Track employee engagement and take action on feedback. 📌 PS...A great workplace isn’t about “fun”—it’s about trust, respect, and real leadership. ♻️ Share this with your network—bad workplaces won’t fix themselves. 🚀 Join 70,000+ leaders reading my daily science-backed tips on leading high-performing teams using mindset, habits and systems. No vague recommendations. All backed by science and experience. ➡️ Follow me here Harry Karydes

The most dangerous hire you’ll ever make won’t raise red flags on day one. They’ll come in polished. Good numbers. Good talk. Good references. But underneath it? No trust. No real ownership. And a subtle pattern of looking out for themselves. The Navy SEALs call them high performers w/ low trust. They’d rather have someone less talented who the team believes in. Same. I’ve seen what happens when you hire the wrong kind of “top talent”: → They create silos, not systems. → They protect their image, not the team. → They win short-term, but you lose long-term. These days, when I’m hiring, I filter differently: → Do they raise the energy in the room, or drain it? → Do people speak freely around them, or tighten up? → Are they building trust in the small moments, or angling for credit? Trust doesn’t show up on a resume. But your team feels it immediately. And if they don’t feel it? You’ll pay for it. Quietly at first, then all at once. So yeah, performance matters. But trust is what makes performance sustainable.

Managers come to me frustrated: "My team member is underperforming." So I ask them just two questions: "What are they spending time on vs. what they SHOULD be spending time on?" "Do they know what is EXPECTED of them to deliver for each priority?" The uncomfortable silence says everything. It's not a performance problem. It's an alignment disaster. Your "underperforming" employee is grinding away on tasks that are not a priority. Your "failing" team member is delivering the strategy, thinking they have done their work, not realizing they are expected to lead the delivery. Stop the performance theater. Use your next 1:1 to: • Perform a priorities audit • Align on expected deliverables • Define what good looks like • Write these down for clarity Then do it again next week. And the week after. And when priorities shift. And when projects change. The harsh truth? Most managers would rather label someone "underperforming" than admit they failed to create clarity. Performance without alignment is like archery in the dark. Your team isn't missing the target. They're shooting at a different one. What alignment conversation are you avoiding right now?

Let’s face it - current headlines spell a recipe for employee stress. Raging inflation, recession worries, international strife, social justice issues, and overall uncertainty pile onto already full work plates. As business leaders, keeping teams motivated despite swirling fears matters more than ever. Here are 5 strategies I lean into to curb burnout and boost morale during turbulent times: 1. Overcommunicate Context and Vision: Proactively address concerns through radical transparency and big picture framing. Our SOP is to hold quarterly all hands and monthly meetings grouped by level cohort and ramp up fireside chats and written memos when there are big changes happening. 2. Enable Flexibility and Choice: Where Possible Empower work-life balance and self-care priorities based on individuals’ needs. This includes our remote work policy and implementing employee engagement tools like Lattice to track feedback loops. 3. Spotlight Impact Through Community Stories: Connect employees to end customers and purpose beyond daily tasks. We leveled up on this over the past 2 years. We provide paid volunteer days to our employees and our People Operations team actively connects our employees with opportunities in their region or remotely to get involved monthly. Recently we added highlighting the social impact by our employees into our internal communications plan. 4. Incentivize Cross-Collaboration: Reduce silos by rewarding team-wide contributions outside core roles. We’ve increased cross team retreats and trainings to spark fresh connections as our employee base grows. 5. Celebrate the Humanity: Profile your employee’s talents beyond work through content spotlight segments. We can’t control the market we operate in, but as leaders we can make an impact on how we foster better collaboration to tackle the headwinds. Keeping spirits and productivity intact requires acknowledging modern anxieties directly while sustaining focus on goals ahead. Reminding your teams why the work matters and that they are valued beyond output unlocks loyalty despite swirling worries. What tactics succeeded at boosting team morale and preventing burnout spikes within your company amidst current volatility?