Team Performance and Morale

If your team isn’t telling you the truth, your business is already in trouble. Alan Mulally saw this at Ford. The company was losing billions, yet every leader reported “all green.” Why? Because under the old CEO, red meant you were out of a job. Mulally changed the culture. He praised candor, not perfection. Red became a chance to rally support—not assign blame. That shift unlocked the truth and helped save Ford. Great leaders don’t demand good news. They create safety so their teams can tell them the truth. Here’s how: 1️⃣ Create safety for honesty. 2️⃣ Keep reporting binary: on track/off track. 3️⃣ Reward the truth, even when it stings. 4️⃣ Rally the team to solve problems together. 5️⃣ Set ambitious goals—some red means you’re pushing hard enough.

87% of the top-5 league players who participated in the Euros or Copa America 2024 did not get the recommended four weeks of off-season and/or pre-season training. That’s an alarming signal! It’s not like during summer break we sit in the sun and lean back; we all work out almost daily. But speaking as a professional athlete, I have experienced that regeneration is essential - for three reasons. 🩼 Risk of injuries: Over the last years, we have seen an increasing number of injuries, from torn muscle fibers to torn ACLs. Of course, in some situations, it is bad luck. However, being overstrained increases the risk drastically. On top of that, with the tight matchday calendar, many players play through pain and don’t get the proper time to cure the injury. ⚽️ Performance: Even when staying healthy, the high workload, combined with little rest, can impact performance. It’s obvious that when players are exhausted and have to play twice a week, it’s difficult to always be at their best level. The off-season is used to build stamina, recharge batteries, and set specific training goals to help athletes endure a season. ⚖️ Mental health: Exhaustion can come from a physical but also from a mental side, and often it’s interdependent. You can only be mentally sharp when you have breaks in between. And as much as we love soccer, having some time off is good. The international player organization FIFPRO has conducted research on soccer's workload and recommend that associations, clubs and players look for a solution to balance games and rest without compromising the attractiveness of the competitions.

How to compare your eng team's velocity to industry benchmarks (and increase it): Step 1: Send your eng team this 4-question survey to get a baseline on key metrics: https://lnkd.in/gQGfApx4 You can use any surveying tool to do this—Google Forms, Microsoft Forms, Typeform, etc.—just make sure you can view the responses in a spreadsheet in order to calculate averages. Important: responses must be anonymous to preserve trust, and this survey is designed for people who write code as part of their job. Step 2: Calculate your how you're doing. - For Speed, Quality, and Impact, find the average value for each question’s responses. - For Effectiveness, calculate the percent of favorable responses (also called a Top 2 Box score) across all Effectiveness responses. See the example in the template above. Step 3: Track velocity improvements over time. Once you’ve got a baseline, you can start to regularly re-run this survey to track your progress. Use a quarterly cadence to begin with. Benchmarking data, both internal and external, will help contextualize your results. Remember, speed is only relative to your competition. Below are external benchmarks for the key metrics. You can also download full benchmarking data, including segments on company size, sector, and even benchmarks for mobile engineers here: https://lnkd.in/gBJzCdTg Look at 75th percentile values for comparison initially. Being a top-quartile performer is a solid goal for any development team. Step 4: Decide which area to improve first. Look at your data and using benchmarking data as a reference point, pick which metric you believe will make the biggest impact on velocity. To make this decision about what to work on to improve product velocity, drill down to the data on a team level, and also look at qualitative data from the engineers themselves. Step 5: Link efficiency improvements to core business impact metrics Instead of presenting these CI and release improvement projects as “tech debt repayment” or “workflow improvements” without clear goals and outcomes, you can directly link efficiency projects back to core business impact metrics. Ongoing research (https://lnkd.in/grHQNtSA) continues to show a correlation between developer experience and efficiency, looking at data from 40,000 developers across 800 organizations. Improving the Effectiveness score (DXI) by one point translates to saving 13 minutes per week per developer, equivalent to 10 hours annually. With this org’s 150 engineers, improving the score by one point results in about 33 hours saved per week. For so much more, don't miss the full post: https://lnkd.in/grrpfwrK

Most people are taught how to be high performers. But too few are taught how to perform in a team. And that’s a problem, because in most roles, you’re not an individual contributor. You’re part of a larger entity, working with others to build something. Yet, I see founders spend hours refining their product or systems,  But don't devote time to team development. At HomeServe, I approached team performance with purpose,  And it was one of the best decisions I made. Here are 7 tools I’ve used (and still use) to build high-performing teams,  Based on real lessons from building a £4.1bn business: 1️⃣ Start With Why (Simon Sinek) ↳ Before you focus on what or how...get clear on why. WHAT – The product you sell or the service you provide HOW – What makes you different WHY – Your deeper purpose or belief Every great team needs a reason to get out of bed in the morning. 2️⃣ The 70-20-10 Rule (McCall, Lombardo & Eichinger) ↳ How people actually learn on the job: 70% from challenging experiences 20% from coaching and mentoring 10% from formal training Most teams over-invest in training, and under-invest in real development. I'm amazed at how few founders or CEOs have a coach or mentor. 3️⃣ The Trust Triangle (Frances Frei, Harvard) ↳ Trust isn’t built with perks. It’s earned in three ways: Authenticity – Are you real? Logic – Do your decisions make sense? Empathy – Do you care? Without trust, you can’t build speed or loyalty. 4️⃣ The 5 Stages of Team Development (Tuckman Model) 1. Forming – Team gets together 2. Storming – Conflicts surface 3. Norming – Ground rules form 4. Performing – Results roll in 5. Adjourning – Project ends or evolves Don't panic during ‘storming’. It’s necessary friction. 5️⃣ The Johari Window (Luft & Ingham) ↳ Self-awareness is a team sport. Open – You know, they know Hidden – You know, they don’t Blind Spot – They know, you don’t Unknown – No one knows (yet) This helps surface feedback, build confidence, and avoid surprises. 6️⃣ The Energy/Impact Matrix (Inspired by McKinsey) ↳ Map every team member’s impact vs. energy. Use it to: Make smart hiring/firing decisions Spot burnout early Retain high performers High-performing teams don’t tolerate drift. 7️⃣ The RAPID Decision-Making Model (Bain & Company) ↳ High-performing teams make fast, clear decisions. Recommend – Suggest the course of action Agree – Those who must sign off Perform – Executes the decision Input – Provides relevant facts or opinions Decide – Final decision-maker This clears up delays, dropped balls, and blame. Building a great team is about building an environment where talent can actually thrive. I go deeper into team-building in my new book. Order it today: https://lnkd.in/eRYDKXdT ♻️ Repost if you believe team performance should be built, not assumed. And for more on how I scaled teams to build a £4.1bn business, Follow me Richard Harpin.

Andy Reid’s leadership is backed by 30+ years of psychological research. He asks his Kansas City Chiefs players one question every week: "What gripes do you have?" He's run this leadership committee for 12+ years. Representatives from each position group voice concerns and propose solutions. The result is pretty darn impressive, with three Super Bowl victories in five seasons. But the impact of his leadership stretches even further than wins. Travis Kelce just revealed this week that during the Chiefs' losing streak, he couldn't even look Reid in the eyes. "I feel like I disappointed him, or I let him down someway somehow. That's my fearless leader." This is a future Hall of Famer, one of the greatest tight ends ever, saying he's more devastated about letting his coach down than about losing games. That's what happens when leaders actually empower their people. Reid's approach is backed by decades of psychological research on Self-Determination Theory, which shows that when people feel empowered to voice issues and solve problems, productivity skyrockets. Reid's leadership committee satisfies what psychologists call the three basic psychological needs: → Autonomy: Players control problem-solving in their domain → Competence: They're trusted as experts on their own experience → Relatedness: They're connected to leadership's priorities Players choose to stay in Kansas City despite bigger offers elsewhere. They play through injuries for him. They feel personally responsible to him, not just to the organization. Your team already knows what's broken. They experience the friction daily: clunky processes, communication gaps, misaligned priorities. The question is whether you're creating space for them to tell you. Here's what Reid-style autonomy looks like in practice: → Position group representatives (not just executives) → Standing meeting cadence (not ad-hoc "suggestion boxes") → Real decision-making power (not just venting sessions) → Leadership accountability (follow through or explain why not) When you build systems that give people real autonomy and connection to something bigger, they stop seeing their commitment to you as just “work.” What are the best systems you’ve seen that have empowered teams?

🚫 Sallie didn’t know there had been another meeting. Her calendar was full. Board prep. Budget review. Performance check-ins. 🔺She was nailing it. Her Q3 forecast was ahead. Her team was stable. She had just been recognized in the regional town hall as a “quiet powerhouse.” But one Monday morning, things shifted. Her team’s largest product portfolio was moved under a different division. ❌ No warning. No heads-up. No explanation. She confronted her VP Arun, “This shift with Horizon AI… when was that decided?” 😑 Arun looked at her like she was asking about the weather. “Oh, that. It was just a chat during the EXCO offsite a month ago. Johan, Mira, and I were golfing before the quarterly and started thinking big picture. It unfolded then naturally.” Naturally... A “chat” that repositioned her entire career. That left her out of strategy, out of scope, and out of power. She was still in the meetings. Still thanked for her work. Still on the org chart. But the center had quietly shifted. And she was no longer in it. 🧠 They didn’t demote her. They just moved the future elsewhere, without her name in it. Visibility isn’t about being seen. It’s about being embedded in the backchannel where decisions form, before agendas are set, before decks are built, before you’re told what’s happening. 💡Here are 5 Power Moves to Never Miss That Meeting Again: 1. 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 "𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘄 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿"    Every org has one! It's not on Outlook, it's who's meeting before the meeting . Find out who plays tennis, who runs, who does charity galas. That’s where alignment gets made. Not in Town Hall Q&As.     2. 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 “𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗿” 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 “𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲”    People don’t invite executioners to brainstorms. Be the one they test ideas on, efore they’re public.     3. 𝗕𝘂���𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗨𝗻𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿    A walking coffee with Mira.    A side Slack with Johan.    Get into the conversations that don’t need calendar invites.     4. 𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀    Stop only reporting outcomes. Share how you think, how you frame decisions. Signal that you can co-create, not just deliver.     5. 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗮 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘄 𝗧𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲    Offer to host a small internal roundtable on a pressing issue. Invite senior players. Curate the room. Build your own visibility circuit.     📥 Ready to stop being looped in after the decision? Join the waitlist for the next cohort of ⭐ 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗛𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 ⭐ https://lnkd.in/gx7CpGGR Because the real power meeting won’t be announced. You’ll have to know how to find it. 👊 And be expected when it happens.

A health tech team had 30 minutes with me last month. Here’s how they used it: Eight minutes of introductions. Too many people in the room. Fifteen minutes on industry trends at the 50,000-foot level. A handful of minutes on their product. Zero minutes asking what I’m actually trying to solve. The strongest part of the meeting was their logo slide. Real customers. Names I respected. I leaned in and asked for a white paper, a case study, anything that showed what they’d actually done for those organizations. Nothing came. Not in the meeting. Not after. That’s the part worth dwelling on. The logos weren’t the problem. The logos were the asset. But an executive asking “tell me more about that one” is the buying signal. If the follow-up isn’t ready, the signal dies on the call. A few things I’d offer to anyone selling into health plan leadership: Treat your logos as doors, not decoration. Every customer name on that slide should have a one-page story behind it, ready to send before the meeting ends. The problem, the work, the result. Cut the room. Two people, maybe three. Every extra introduction is a minute you’re not earning. Replace the trend deck with a question. I already know the macro. What I need to know is whether you understand my specific problem. The vendors who win my time aren’t the ones with the biggest pitch. They’re the ones who show up like they’ve already been hired.

High-performing teams don’t fail loudly. They decline quietly. You don’t notice it until: → People disengage → Momentum fades → Great talent walks away And by then, the damage is already done. In my experience working with teams, I can tell you the real threats aren’t always visible. They show up in silence, inertia, and slow erosion of trust. Here are 7 silent killers that quietly destroy even your best teams: 1. Unspoken tension ↝ A meeting where no one says what they’re thinking? ↝ That’s not “professionalism.” That’s fear ↝ If people can’t speak freely, you’re breeding resentment 2. Invisible overload ↝ High performers won’t always complain ↝ They’ll just quietly burn out ↝ Intervene, otherwise you'll lose them without warning 3. Subtle disrespect ↝ It’s not always loud or obvious ↝ It’s being talked over. Left out. Undermined ↝ These small signals slowly push people out 4. Passive leadership ↝ When leaders avoid hard conversations.. ↝ The team reads it as: “Nothing will change” ↝ Inaction in the face of issues kills trust and engagement 5. Unequal standards ↝ If one person gets away with poor behavior.. ↝ Everyone notices ↝ And they start caring a little less 6. No space for real feedback ↝ If feedback always flows top-down.. ↝ You’re not hearing the truth ↝ No truth → No improvement: Only performance theater 7. Lack of shared purpose ↝ Even the best teams drift if they don’t know.. ↝ What they’re building together ↝ No mission → People lose fire, even if they still show up Great teams don’t die overnight. They die when leaders stop paying attention. What silent killer resonates most with you? ♻️ Share it with someone leading a team right now And follow Andrea Petrone for more of this.

Delegation isn't just about freeing up your time. It's about helping your team grow. The best leaders understand this. They know that: 🎯 Every task is a teaching moment 🎯 Every project builds confidence 🎯 Every handoff grows capability But here's the key: it must be done right. Let me share some frameworks to delegate effectively: 1. The Control Spectrum There's a spectrum from "complete control"  to "full autonomy." → Tell: You decide and inform → Sell: You decide but explain why → Consult: You get input but decide → Agree: Decide together → Advise: They decide with your guidance → Inquire: They own it, you stay informed → Delegate: Full ownership transfer 2. The RACI Blueprint Smart delegation isn't just about "who does what."  It's about clarity in four key areas: → Responsible: Who does the work → Accountable: Who owns the outcome → Consulted: Who provides input → Informed: Who needs updates 3. The Leadership Truth Real delegation is about moving from: → Doing the work → To managing the work → To developing other leaders This is how you scale yourself and your impact. 4. The Game-Changing Habits → Be clear about expectations → Match people to tasks based on potential → Provide context, not just instructions → Set checkpoints without micromanaging → Stay available without hovering → Recognize effort and coach for growth The real power of delegation? It's not about having less on your plate. It's about putting more on others' resumes. Start with opportunities, not just tasks. Because true leadership isn't measured by what you accomplish alone. It's measured by who you help grow. ♻️Find this helpful? Repost for your network. Follow Amy Gibson for practical leadership tips.

𝗠𝘆 𝗯𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗿. Her reason? "She's too quiet. Where's the energy?" I was shocked. This came from a very senior woman executive at the bank. Someone I respected. An extrovert who thrived in the spotlight. But here's what she didn't see: My best direct report - She got her work done—consistently and well. She voiced her opinions, just not in the loud, dominating way that my boss expected. She was a great listener who actually thought before speaking. She shared new ideas with the team, just not in every single meeting. She was willing to lead, she just needed the right support and coaching. She wasn't a non-performer. She was just wired differently. And she wasn't alone. This happened twice in my career—two of my quietest team members labeled as "lacking energy" by senior leaders who couldn't see past their own style. For one of them, I had to fight hard just to clear her probation. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. Leaders who only value people who look, sound, and act like them. As senior leaders, this is unacceptable. A good team isn't a room full of the same personality types competing to be heard. A great team has diversity—different strengths, different communication styles, different ways of showing up. And a great leader? They bring out the best in everyone, however they're wired. Both of those "quiet" team members went on to become top performers. One even stepped into a leadership role. All they needed was someone who saw their value instead of trying to change who they were. 𝗧𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀: Your thoughtfulness isn't a weakness. 𝗧𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀: If you only value people who communicate like you do, you're not building a team. You're building an echo chamber. The best teams aren't the loudest. They're the most diverse. #𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 #𝗗𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 #𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 #𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵