Leaders: It’s time to prioritize team purpose, mission, and trust.

The impact team members can have on each other is not subtle; it’s significant. The team is the most essential unit of any organization. Teams impact the customer and employee experience and set the tone for culture. If leaders impact every individual they encounter, teams affect every element of the organization’s operation—for better or worse. This is why so much leadership time and mindshare go into team development and why countless books and articles are written about it. 

So why are we spending time, effort, and money enhancing team performance? The usual culprits are misaligned incentives and compensation plans, short-term thinking, and competitive KPIs between teams and leaders, all of which are true and all too evident in many organizations. But let’s go deeper on this because some teams outperform others, notwithstanding the above challenges. This is a clear sign that there is potential for improvement, and with the right strategies, we can boost team performance.

Having participated in and led many leadership teams, I can tell you the fundamental issue that prevents high team performance is more pervasive than we think—it’s more than trust in individual members; it’s trust in the team as a unit. I may trust Lucy or Charlie personally, but do I trust they will have my back when it matters? What will be their primary concern when the stakes are high and the risks are evident? The team or their parochial interests?

The best teams I’ve been part of embody a culture of individual accountability and collective responsibility—weak teams risk failing collectively to succeed individually. With the best teams, there is a straightforward, elevating purpose that matters more to each member than their metrics. They align with a meaningful mission and have the grit to grind through challenges, solve problems, and learn from mistakes.  They also have each other’s back, knowing they can accomplish more collectively than individually. Absent this, members play on the team only to the extent that it contributes to their performance metrics. The WNBA is an example of the team over individual philosophy. The league strives to create a distinctive, exciting, engaging fan experience. Over time, this will drive greater attendance and TV viewership, increasing team payrolls and franchise value.

As leaders, we have the power to rethink the team unit. Reflect on the teams you lead and participate in—what matters most? I’m sure you’ll quickly pinpoint the challenge. What if you started with a clear team purpose, elevating mission and collaboration as a core value and followed with goals, metrics, and compensation aligned to outcomes? How might that change the way members engage with each other and build trust?

If you believe teams profoundly impact the quality of your culture, start by building team purpose, mission, and trust as the primary focus. You will unlock better team performance, customer and employee experiences, and happier capital providers, benefiting everyone.

Let’s unlock better—together.

Kevin McKenzie