“One day I had a breakthrough,” said Benjamin Zander, the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. “I realised that the audience would judge me by the performances of the orchestra. As a conductor, it was therefore up to me to get the best from my team.”

Benjamin’s realisation sounds obvious, but the implications are far-reaching. Many leaders say things like: “I am only as good as my people.” But few understand what it means in practice. One VP explained what happened when he crossed this threshold. “Previously I acted like a super cop, but this realisation changed my approach to leadership. Certainly I must communicate a compelling story and strategy. But it is the team that actually does the work. I will be judged by their - not my - performance.” Imagine you are a leader. Here are three ideas for translating these principles into practice.

1) You can ensure the team is set-up to achieve success.

Start by making sure the team has a good chance of reaching its goal. Great teams get the right people implementing the right strategy in the right way. So make sure you have the mandate to do whatever in necessary to take these steps. Explore the following topics before even taking the leader’s role.

a) Clarify the sponsors’ picture of perfection.

Identify the people who can hire or fire you - such as your manager, their boss, etc. Clarify the specific results they want delivered. Make clear contracts with the sponsors about the agreed the picture of perfection.

b) Clarify the ‘controllables’.

Identify what you can and can’t control. Clarify the resources you will need to ensure the team reaches its goals. You will certainly be accountable – so make sure you also have the autonomy and authority required to deliver the goods. The people element will be crucial – so ensure you have the power to get the right team members.

c) Clarify the team’s chances of success then, if appropriate, do whatever is necessary to increase the probability of success.

Bearing in mind the answers to the previous questions, rate the team’s chances of success. Do this on a scale 0—10. If it is less than 7, forget it. If it is 7+, clarify you must do to increase the chances to get closer to 10/10. Then, if appropriate, take those steps.

Imagine you are taking over a team. Describe how you can create the right conditions for success. Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to ensure the
team is set-up to achieve success are:

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2) You can encourage, educate and enable the team to achieve success.

Great leaders enable people to achieve the goals. Here are three suggestions for making this happen.

a) Encourage people to achieve success.

Start by creating a encouraging environment and providing an inspiring vision. Communicate ‘What’ the team will be aiming to achieve and ‘Why’. Explain the reasons for pursuing the goal and outline the benefits. You are working with adults, so also describe the possible minuses involved in the journey.

b) Educate people to achieve success.

Describe the principles for achieving the goals – the ‘How’. Explain what is happening in the ‘market’ – or in the world - and the reasons for pursuing the chosen strategies. Show how each person – or each team or department – can help to achieve the goals. This calls for outlining, in broad terms, ‘Who’ will deliver what and by ‘When’.

c) Enable people to achieve success.

You have outlined the story, the strategy and everybody’s part in delivering success. Invite each person to show how they would like to contribute toward achieving the goals. Make clear contracts and give them the support they need to do the job. You are providing ‘empowerment within parameters’, but ensure that people stay on track. Hold monthly team sessions where each person presents three things. First, the concrete things they have done in the past month towards achieving the goals. Second, the concrete things they aim to do in the next month. Third, the challenges they face and the support they would like to do the job. Provide ongoing coaching and help people to deliver peak performance.

Imagine you are leading a team. Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to encourage, educate
and enable the team to achieve success are:

*

*

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3) You can equip the team to achieve ongoing success.

Encourage people to stay hungry, continue learning and manage future challenges. One approach is to embrace the Japanese concept of Kaizen - constant improvement. This was all the rage in the 1980s, but few organisations actually practiced it. Great teams make it a way of life. Educate people to develop this habit by asking them to focus on two areas:

The things we are doing well – and how we can
do more of these things in the future- are:

*

The things we can do better – and how – are:

*

Ask people to include their improvement plans in the monthly presentations regarding their progress towards the goals. Finally, get the team to look ahead to future challenges. Invite them to focus on:

The possible challenges we may face in the next 3 months are:

*

The things we can do to manage these challenges successfully are:

*

Lao Tzu wrote that: “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: ‘We did it ourselves.’” That highlights the educational role of a leader, but some great leaders also provide the vision that energises people to achieve the goal. They then face the task of equipping people to achieve ongoing success. How can you do this in your own way? Your skill as a leader will be judged by the performance of your team. Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to equip
people to achieve ongoing success are:

*

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