Do you believe in your team? Strategies for confident growth in 2024
Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash
The notification on my phone lock screen was expected and almost inevitable. Flight delays seemed to be my destiny over the holiday season. A short trip to DC was about to get longer as an hour delay turned to cancellation. The weather wasn’t getting any clearer - with more storms in the forecast, I no longer had any certainty that American Airlines would be able to get me home.
Meteorology is a science, and yet a ten day forecast is only correct 50% of the time. I don’t trust my weather app any more than I believe flights over the holidays will take off on time.
Trust is a rare commodity these days inside businesses too. The outside pressure of a continuously volatile market has collided with a post pandemic performance panic. Convinced that remote working has been a failed experiment, 9 out of 10 companies will be mandating a return to the office this year, with managers losing faith in folks actually doing any work at home. Presenteeism is becoming the answer to ensuring accountability and driving results. Layoffs and rightsizing continue as businesses attempt to stabilize, creating fear and self preservation that gets in the way of teams collaborating at their best.
Perhaps you’ve felt things are turbulent outside the workplace too. Half of Americans mistrust the media, with GenZ believing TikTok to be a more reliable news source. Public trust in government is at an all time low; people don’t believe that lawmakers will do what’s right - from bipartisan meltdowns to shutdowns, we cannot be confident that our leaders have our collective best interest at heart. And while indicators show that the economy is looking brighter, with unemployment at its lowest in decades, there seems to be a lack of optimism about our collective long range forecast.
We can’t control the weather any more than we can confidently predict the future. And as leaders, we also can't just “trust” our way out of continued storms of uncertainty. We need to give our people assurance on where we’re headed, with the conviction that we can get there together. And perhaps, even give folks a glimmer of hope that the outside world isn’t so bad after all.
Believe in your team’s ability to succeed
Trust is essential to effective teamwork. It’s built on the strength of relationships between individuals. We grow confidence when we gain skills and experience. We have confidence in each other when we can see that something can be done.
“Belief doesn’t just happen because you hang something up on a wall” - Ted Lasso
Over the last 6 months many of our clients have said they feel there’s a lack of trust in their teams, which has been causing a breakdown of collaboration. Many of them have resorted to mandates to get people back to the office, and yet performance issues still prevail. I see a different source issue - an erosion of confidence, based on a lack of experience in dealing with continued volatility. Water cooler moments in a physical office aren’t going to solve the issue.
Leadership, like great coaching, requires us to believe in our people. Our workplaces have to create the conditions for everyone to continuously build confidence in their ability to do their best work. Inner confidence is essential when the outside world feels chaotic, and alignment on where you’re going and the possibilities for how to move forward become even more critical.
Here are four practical steps that every leader can take to have confidence in your team’s ability to deliver results this year - no matter what the weather throws at us.
1 - Refocus: Establish a direction of travel
You may have a strategic plan for the year ahead. Holding a rigid plan might feel like confidence, but will quickly turn to arrogance if there isn’t enough flex in the way teams can move forward toward goals. Reflecting on last year will give some data on any need to course correct your strategy, but we recommend a more creative approach based on imagining a desired future further in the distance, and working backwards to recalibrate the goals for 2024.
Remember - A vision is a picture of a desirable destination. Without a shared idea of where you’re going, the business can pull in different directions - no matter how confident you are in your planning process.
2 - Realign: Get commitment
Your vision needs buy-in from those who need to lead the charge. Get diverse leaders together who can identify what needs to shift to reach your goals - it’s the surest way to reinforce accountability for any plan going forward. Without leadership alignment, no one can be confident in where you’re going or how you'll get there.
Remember - Alignment does not mean agreement. Getting commitment involves compromise and asks leaders to consider what’s best for the business over their own area of responsibility. We have trust and confidence when we feel we’re on the same page, even if we don’t always agree with each other.our vision needs buy-in from those who need to lead the charge. Get diverse leaders together who can identify what needs to shift to reach your goals - it’s the surest way to reinforce accountability for any plan going forward. Without leadership alignment, no one can be confident in where you’re going or how you'll get there.
3 - Recalibrate: Have clear expectations of success
Any plan is dead in the water without clear goals. Establish outcomes that allow individuals and teams the freedom within a framework to bring their passion and talents. People feel more confident in their performance when they know what they’re aiming for, believe in their ability to deliver, and understand what “good” looks like.
Remember - Leaders set direction, but don’t need to dictate how teams deliver. We erode confidence when it feels like we don’t trust individuals to live up to their responsibility.
4 - Repeat: Share the story of the journey (again and again)
Growing a business in a time of uncertainty requires leaders to be exceptional at inspiring teams to engage with your vision. Confidence grows when we believe in our purpose, the impact we create with our products or services, and in everyone in the team. Sharing stories is a form of learning, it creates a mantra that connects teams around your culture and common goals. Tell the future story of where you’re going and what it means to take the journey together.
Remember - Stories must be authentic and truthful, not internal PR designed to protect your people from the realities of growing a business. We build confidence through vulnerability and by demonstrating that we trust each individual in the team.
Retreat to advance
We’ve found the best way to advance into the year ahead is actually to retreat. Slowing down and taking time by gathering your team together to identify the performance required for growth, and establishing a vision of a resilient business ready to take on the challenges of 2024.
It involves getting out of the business to look objectively at the bigger picture, with coaches who can guide the process. It's the work we love to do - and having just established our own vision for the next 10 years of Within, we know how this approach can help you too.
Within designs and facilitates strategic retreats in creative ways. We help bring leaders together so they can imagine, explore, debate and relate - building a pathway forward for their business all while building trust within their group.
Get in touch to talk about how we can help your exec unlock 2024 for your company.