Improve team performance with honest dialogue

Six questions every leader should ask to support team success

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2009

Roger D'Aprix

Part of any leader's job is to help their teams see the big picture, how they fit into it, and what's ahead. Especially in unit-based teams, where frontline workers and managers need to align their performance-improvement work with the larger goals of their region, such understanding is essential to success.

That means it's no longer enough for managers to just give directions with occasional scraps of information, says communications consultant and author Roger D'Aprix. Effective leaders provide clarity and context for the work of the team, so people understand what's important and how their work impacts others. In his book Communicating for Productivity, D'Aprix says managers must help their teams understand the answers to six questions:

• 1. What's my job?
  With UBTs taking root, it is everyone's job to be accountable, flexible, and involved in performance improvement.


• 2. How am I doing?
  As KP pursues continuous learning and improvement in the workplace, coaching and feedback must also be continuous.


• 3. Does anyone care?
  People need to see that their work matters; examples of their impact on others and recognition for individual and team accomplishments can show that.


• 4. How are we doing?
  UBTs' small tests of change provide clear measures of success to guide team learning and decision making.


• 5. Where are we headed?
  Teams need to understand what's changing in their department, in their region and community—and what's not.


• 6. How can I help?
  Conversations should include what leaders can do to support the team  and what team members can do to support each other.

D'Aprix reminds managers that they are the most important source of information for their teams. Making time in team meetings to discuss these questions is not a distraction of their "real" work, it is part of their work, and it builds understanding, engagement, and effectiveness—of managers and their teams.