Improving Team Communication

This is a case about a team in a large financial services organisation, which was successful, yet unable to improve their performance. They needed to move forward but could not. The CEO was “almost happy” with the performance of his team, but they were not where he wanted them to be in terms of performance.

The team was made up of the CEO and nine of his direct managers and on the surface, the team’s behavioural style make-up seemed to match well with its goals. The team was comprised of task-oriented individuals who were focused on moving at a fairly fast pace, while maintaining high quality standards. However, below the surface a different story began to emerge. It was a story that explained why the team was not really going anywhere fast.

We looked at the individual personal analysis reports of the executives and they indicated that 50% of the team members expressed a deeper level of emotions that were getting in the way of their performance. More specifically, the personal analysis reports of four of the team members indicated that they were unclear about their own role and felt an uncomfortable level of uncertainty and this was likely caused by:

• A gap between the goal(s) and the executives’ understanding of how to achieve them
• Frequent changes, or perceived changes, in the CEO’s vision
• Lack of understanding what the CEO’s vision actually was

In addition, the personal analysis reports of three of the nine executives indicated that they wanted to have clearer instructions, but were not getting them. This too, created increased uncertainty and anxiety. The executives whose personal analysis reports did not express feelings that their performance was being hindered were all very similar in behavioural style to the CEO.

As is often the case, we all get along and communicate comfortably and effectively with people who are like ourselves and this was what was happening to this team. So what caused the problems? The short answer: the way the CEO was communicating in his reporting. He was not doing anything inherently wrong – he was simply communicating in a way that was very natural to him. His direct approach worked well with the team members whose communication style was similar to his, but it caused uncertainty for the rest of his team. For half of the team, his communication came across as inconsistent, lacking clear direction and instructions.

While he had a clear vision for his company and his team, it was not being clearly understood by many of his key executives. This hindered communication of the vision throughout the organisation and, more importantly, impeded its execution. The cascading impact was significant.

The difference in communication styles and the detrimental effects they can have on employee and organisational performance is nothing new. However, being able to detect when they actually occur with validated tools is something that rarely happens.

Are you using the right tools to look below the surface to find out the causes, not just the symptoms?

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