Page 124 - HBR Leader's Handbook: Make an Impact, Inspire Your Organization, and Get to the Next Level

Getting Great People on Board 113

popularity contests. But in the long run, it will be one of the keys to unlock-
ing your own leadership potential and generating the significant impact
that makes a difference for your organization.
But to achieve that impact, you need to enable this motivated team and
staff to generate results. In chapter 4, we’ll talk about how to make that
happen.

Questions to Consider

■ Your team. What skills and capabilities do you need within your team of
direct reports? Does the team meet your expectations, or do you need to
make some changes?
■ Fostering teamwork. Are you satisfied with how well you and your direct

reports function as a team? Do you have shared goals, agreed-on ways of
working, and a common mindset? Do your team members help each other
to be successful, and do they foster a “team of teams” approach that pre-
vents silos from getting in the way of doing good work? Do they work to
promote and extend the right kind of values and performance behaviors
throughout the organization?

■ Performance feedback. How faithfully do you give brutally honest but
constructive feedback to your team members? How well do the members of
your team give candid performance feedback to their direct reports?
■ Developing talent. Are you spending enough time on developing the skills
and capabilities of your team members? What do they aspire to achieve in
their careers? How does each of them need to develop in order to be suc-
cessful, and how you can stretch them to do that?

■ Incentives. Have you made it clear to your team members what it takes to
be rewarded and recognized, both individually and collectively?
■ Culture. What cultural characteristics do you want your team to exhibit?
How well are you modeling this culture with your own behavior?