Brian J. Elizardi, adjunct professor, teaches the High Performing Teams sprint at Daniels. Elizardi shares why he thinks leadership need to embrace a new style of leadership, and purpose of teams.
In a recent global survey of more than 10,000 workers, 65% of respondents said that team-based organizations are very important, yet only 6% reported that they felt effective at managing such teams. In another study of teams at 25 leading corporations, 75% said that cross-functional teams are dysfunctional.
For some time now teams have been the natural, default state where much of the work in organizations takes place, yet very little is known about what separates good teams from excellent, high-performing ones. Furthermore, with hybrid work here to stay, the landscape around how teams function and get work done has dramatically changed. Add to that a working context that is routinely characterized as VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous), it’s no wonder why some are starting to wonder if we even need teams at all.
These are just some of the questions and challenges we explore during my High Performing Teams sprint in the Entrepreneurship@DU program. I have taught this one-day course for the last few years, and I’m routinely inspired by the excellence and ambition of DU students and alumni in the study of startups and innovation as they seek to in the words of Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chair of the World Economic Forum, “think strategically about the forces of disruption and innovation shaping our future.”
A New Landscape for Teams
As the future of work begins stabilizing in the post-COVID era, it may seem that there are few sacred cows left in how to best lead an effective team. But the research demonstrates that there are steps leaders can take to profoundly impact the bottom line and the working lives of the individuals they serve.
The one-day High Performing Teams class leverages the focused-intensity of the sprint format to transform your mindsets on team leadership while giving you practical tools they can immediately utilize in their startups, athletic teams, and groups across all domains of your life as emerging leaders and founders. Here are some of the lessons we cover to embrace a more expansive and progressive view of teamwork that you can use in your practice as well.
Build your contextual intelligence
In a VUCA world, attempting to apply leadership precepts uniformly regardless of the shifting landscape or context is a lost cause. Macro forces like stakeholder primacy, the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements, the Great Resignation and hybrid work have all fundamentally altered the work of teams and what team members bring to team and workplace environments. There’s a growing consensus that we’re shifting from a centuries old paradigm of leader-driven power that prioritized star-performers to one that is increasingly being defined as peer-driven, open and participative—all of which have an impact on how we think about teams.
This awareness requires a new type of leadership savvy—contextual intelligence, or the consideration of market and cultural forces that routinely shape our work. It’s for these reasons that I recommend that you cultivate a practice of examining their assumptions and generating new data and understanding through self-study and examination of current events and trends.
Put purpose front and center
The Gen Z students in my classes want to work for organizations where purpose and belongingness are the dominant driving forces. Research even suggests that Gen Zs are making choices on which organizations they hope to work for based on alignment with their personal ethics.
Purpose-led organizations are a traditional hallmark of the social and nonprofit domains, but that doesn’t mean you can’t experience some of the same benefits regardless of your sector. Thinking of purpose more expansively by helping workers activate their voice in the defining and executing of the organizations’ mission can build psychological safety, not to mention help with attracting and retaining Gen Z and millennial talent. As a leader, take time to foster a team culture where your team members can grow, share their ideas and bring their passions to life, and fulfill business and social goals simultaneously.
Embrace your role as Chief Energy Officer
Much has been made about our burnout culture and the long-term effects on employee engagement and retention. The pandemic taught us all how to become emotional first responders, taking time out of our schedule to check in with colleagues and offer help and assistance, and maybe it’s time we brought that energy back to our teams.
Routine, high-performance requires that leaders vacillate between challenging team members to exceed beyond themselves while regularly recognizing and rewarding accomplishments and milestones. You can do that by taking time to engage team members as whole people and prioritizing well-being and renewal.
If your culture allows it, permit team members to fully utilize remote work days by moving collaboration and brainstorming meetings to in-person days and encouraging team members to design their remote days to include family, fitness and other hobbies. Start by modeling the way by making your own wellness a priority: set email and communication boundaries, prioritize sleep and good nutrition, and take time to move your body each day.
I designed the sprint to be hyper relevant in a time of great change, which requires routine examination of the learning outcomes and supporting activities to ensure a positive experience for our students. Our time together is highly interactive with opportunities for you to practice the skills you learn and to locate your voice around some of the important considerations for the future of work that you will soon inherit. While this landscape remains uncertain and unpredictable, maintaining an awareness of the environment, harnessing the power of purpose, and investing in the renewal of your team can help students and you gain traction and cut down on team dysfunction.
In the end, my hope for our future entrepreneurs and leaders is that they not only continue to drive innovation with new and exciting products and solutions, but also in how we gather to solve society’s most challenging problems. With these three practices in place, I’m confident that our students will continue to shape the future of work as they have for decades.
Brian J. Elizardi is the operations director at Colorado Universities Innovation Council (CUIC), an adjunct professor at the Daniels College of Business, and a startup operating executive with more than 15 years of marketing, leadership and strategy experience. Brian’s role at CUIC includes building partnerships and teams to increase economic mobility for students across the state.
EVM 3436/4436 High Performing Teams is available this fall to all undergraduate and graduate students who are seeking to increase their team-leadership capacity. To learn more, visit the Entrepreneurship@DU website.