Five tests that accountable leaders do to achieve success
Ever wondered why some managers dodge those awkward performance conversations—and what to do about it?
In this lively chat, Graham Field and Ricky Muddimer dive into the art and science of giving effective feedback that sparks real change.
They walk through seven critical tests to pinpoint the root causes of underperformance, including:
The Expectations Test – Set the ground rules upfront on how (and when) feedback is shared.
The Holy Trinity Test – Ensure crystal-clear goals, a genuine understanding of “why it matters,” and confidence in what’s possible.
The Underperformance Test – Spot gaps in knowledge, skills, environment/tools, or mindset.
The Competence Test – Move beyond “tick-box” training and guard against the Ebbinghaus Effect by reinforcing learning fast.
The Psychological Safety Test – Create a culture where people feel safe asking for help and receiving honest feedback.
If you’re a middle manager, C-suite executive, or HR professional responsible for leadership development, you’ll pick up practical tips you can use immediately. Grab a coffee, sit back, and learn how to have those tough chats that lead to better performance and stronger teams.
Our very own Ricky Muddimer was invited to be a guest speaker on this Workleap webinar. The Workleap team were keen to get Ricky’s perspective on the annual review process.
Ricky is passionate about performance. Helping line managers have a greater impact on their teams is crucial to every organisation’s performance. The relationship with your line manager is one of the key drivers of individual and team productivity.
The lively discussion revealed some real insights. We learned that 78% of those polled said their review process needed improvement. At the same time, 66% were conducting a formal annual review.
Key Takeaways
We discussed how to build a culture where managers embrace performance management and do it well, and team members want time with their manager. We explored Workleap’s experience of transitioning from annual to quarterly reviews with some great hints and tips to consider.
It is arguably the most challenging time ever to be a line manager with many more leader-doers and player-coaches. How do they find the time to do everything well?
Any performance review process, at whatever cadence, needs to be simple for line managers to improve adoption and shift the mindset from task to value-adding activity.
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How do you talk talent with your people (that does not set you up for a tough conversation)?
Talent conversations come in many shapes and sizes. Talent is more than just how good you are today; it also encompasses how well you fit into the plans for tomorrow. Your plans, the organisation’s plans, and their plans….
What could possibly go wrong?
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Ricky and Paul tackle the conversations that leaders need to have to help the people around them understand where they are right now, what is expected of them and where they need to develop. Talent conversations may not be easy, but with a bit of structure and thought, they can be positive and constructive interactions that help people grow.
In this podcast, Paul and Richard tackle one of the questions we have been asked a lot since the pandemic ended – How do you build trust between team members and teams that don’t spend that much time in the office. Building trust between individuals and groups is far more complex than many of us realise because we do it so easily when we are together. We build trusting relationships through the micro-moments we spend together: before meetings, over lunch, getting coffee and in quick informal interactions. We also build trust through working together. It is the combination of both these types of trust that forms the relationships that we need to work together. As leaders, we must change how our teams interact to ensure that the trust we need to achieve our goals is actively built so our teams can leverage trust when things get tough.
Over decades of leading large teams and coaching executives in renowned companies, I’ve learned that trust isn’t just a component of effective leadership—it’s its very foundation. Without trust, strategies falter, innovation stalls and organizations come to a standstill. Today, I want to explore how to build trust within teams from both a leader’s and a team member’s perspective, providing practical insights rooted in real-world experience to help you enhance trust in your own teams.
The Necessity Of Trust In Leadership
Trust acts as a stabilising force in large corporate environments where complexity and change are constants. It’s the invisible thread woven through every interaction and decision, accelerating progress and uniting teams toward shared goals. The impact of trust isn’t theoretical; it’s tangible and profoundly influences organizational success.
Frances Frei’s Trust Triangle
Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei offers a compelling framework called the Trust Triangle, consisting of three critical elements:
Authenticity: Being true to yourself. People can detect inauthenticity instantly; it’s essential to be genuine.
Logic: Having clear and sound reasoning. Your logic should be solid, and you must articulate it effectively.
Empathy: Understanding and sharing others’ feelings. Showing genuine concern for others is crucial in building trust.
These elements interconnect to form two essential types of trust in leadership: cognitive trust and affective trust.
Cognitive Trust: Trust Of The Head
Cognitive trust is the trust of the mind arising from belief in a leader’s competence and reliability. It thrives when team members perceive their leader as authentic and logically sound.
From The Leader’s Perspective
Demonstrate consistency. Align your actions with your words. Inconsistencies quickly erode trust.
Communicate the ‘why.’ Provide context for decisions to empower your team with understanding, not just directives.
Be transparent about challenges. Authenticity includes acknowledging obstacles and sharing your approach to overcoming them.
From The Team Member’s Perspective
Seek clarity. Don’t hesitate to ask questions if something is unclear; this strengthens collective understanding.
Acknowledge expertise. Recognize your leader’s experience, fostering mutual respect and reinforcing cognitive trust.
Affective Trust: Trust Of The Heart
Affective trust is the trust of the heart, cultivated when leaders authentically connect on an emotional level and demonstrate genuine empathy.
From The Leader’s Perspective
Invest in relationships. Take time to understand your team members’ aspirations, fears and motivations.
Show vulnerability. Sharing your challenges and failures humanizes you and creates a safe space for others.
Listen to understand. Focus on truly understanding your team members’ feelings and perspectives.
From The Team Member’s Perspective
Engage openly. Share your perspectives and challenges; building trust is a collaborative effort.
Support peers. Show empathy toward colleagues, strengthening team cohesion and supporting a trusting culture.
Practical Strategies For Leaders To Enhance Trust
Conduct trust audits. Regularly assess trust levels within your team, seeking honest feedback.
Lead with integrity. Uphold ethical standards consistently, even when faced with dilemmas.
Empower decision-making. Delegate authority, showing confidence in your team’s abilities.
Celebrate wins and learn from losses. Recognise achievements and approach failures as learning opportunities.
Empowering Teams To Build Trust Among Themselves
Foster collaboration. Encourage cross-functional teamwork to build trust naturally.
Encourage peer recognition. Implement systems for team members to acknowledge each other’s contributions.
Promote transparency. Facilitate open communication channels across the team to reduce misunderstandings.
Navigating Trust Erosion
Despite best efforts, trust can sometimes erode due to factors like organizational changes or external pressures.
For Leaders
Address issues directly. Confront trust issues with honesty and a commitment to resolve them.
Rebuild through actions. Restore trust through consistent, trustworthy actions | over time.
Stay committed. Continue performing at your best, contributing positively to the trust environment.
The Synergy Of Cognitive And Affective Trust
Authenticity links cognitive and affective trust. By aligning your genuine self with logical reasoning and empathetic understanding, you create a powerful trust dynamic that resonates both intellectually and emotionally with your team.
Case Study: Trust In Action
I once led a global team through significant organizational change. Initial trust was low due to past leadership missteps. I addressed this by:
Being Transparent: Sharing challenges and the strategic plan openly (Authenticity + Logic).
Collaborating On Solutions: Incorporating team feedback into implementation plans.
Over time, we not only navigated the change but emerged stronger and more cohesive, demonstrating the impact of building both cognitive and affective trust through authentic actions.
Conclusion: Trust As The Catalyst For Excellence
In the vast corridors of large corporations, trust humanizes the workplace. It’s the catalyst that transforms strategies into successes and groups into unified teams. As leaders, embodying authenticity, logic, and empathy is imperative.
Action Steps
Reflect on your trust triangle. Identify which element—authenticity, logic or empathy—you need to strengthen and develop a plan to enhance it.
Engage your team. Initiate dialogue about trust, encouraging open sharing and collective growth.
Lead by example. Your actions set the tone and embody the trust you wish to see.
Final Thoughts
Building trust requires consistent, intentional actions and a willingness to grow alongside your team. From my experience, the dividends of trust—in engagement, innovation and performance—are well worth the investment.
By focusing on both cognitive and affective trust and recognizing authenticity’s pivotal role in bridging logic and empathy, you position yourself and your team to exceed objectives, turning challenges into opportunities for greatness.
Embrace the journey of building trust. Your leadership will inspire your team and leave a lasting impact on your organization’s culture.
This article first appeared on Forbes.com on 3rd January 2025
Ricky has been a regular contributor to the Forbes Councils since 2023, where he shares his perspectives on all things leadership, change, culture and productivity, all with Thinking Focus’ unique perspective on metacognition, or as we prefer to say, thinking about thinking.
Despite its potential to significantly enhance growth and efficiency, many organisations struggle to make cross-functional collaboration work. The obstacles—ranging from competing agendas and egos to miscommunication and untested assumptions—can derail even the best intentions. However, by prioritizing stakeholder engagement early, fostering diverse perspectives, and addressing challenges proactively, organizations can unlock substantial improvements in performance. This executive summary highlights the critical importance of collaboration, offering actionable strategies to navigate common challenges and achieve greater cohesion and productivity.
Improving cross-functional relationships and collaboration arguably represents one of the most significant organisational growth and improvement opportunities – why, then, are organisations not addressing this?
Perhaps it’s not so surprising when you consider the layers of competing agendas, egos and infighting, conflict, misinformation, and backchannelling. Added to that, there are the self-imposed elements of assumptions, personal limitations, and poorly articulated business cases that, despite having merit, never see the light of day.
I remember my first major change programme, where an entire team was ignored because we didn’t think the change would affect them. We overlooked their wants and needs for this significant change. We assumed they’d be fine and would get on with it. The decision was a mistake; the Department Head used their influence to block the change for their team. The project team had to regroup and rethink. This delayed the project, and chunks of the scope had to be removed to hit the delivery date.
Over the years, we have built and delivered countless leadership programmes for organisations across the globe. We include a business challenge to help with the application of learning, exposure to the wider business, and delivery of value back to the business. I love working with leaders, yet it astounds me that they never seem to grasp the importance of engaging stakeholders. We even share the experiences of previous groups’ successes and failures. Yet despite these warnings, they still trip over the same things as those that have gone before.
Business Challenge in Action
We see it constantly; take a recent business challenge we ran. One project group identified a business-wide project that could transform employee engagement. They formulated compelling business benefits: increasing productivity, boosting employee retention, and promoting the brand in local communities.
The group got their plan together and ran it by their mentor; they were all set and approached a large department representing a third of the workforce. Having them on board would make a wider rollout easier. When they presented their ideas to the Head of Department, they assumed their excitement would be shared, but they hit a brick wall. The Head of Department highlighted obstacle after obstacle, insisting they go away and fix it. The group were understandably disheartened.
In the learning review, we explored what they could have done differently. How might they have engaged the stakeholders differently, gaining the department’s perspective? What assumptions did they make? How might they have felt had the boot been on the other foot?
This experience is a microcosm of how organisations do business every single day, and there is immense learning on offer. Failing to collaborate and engage stakeholders causes unnecessary delays, missed milestones, wasted time, effort, and resources.
We are all guilty of making assumptions, from whether someone will get involved or not to whether someone has the time, knowledge or skills, or not to be able to help. We may not even like them or want their help, even though this may be us cutting our noses off to spite our faces. Our egos can get in the way.
We avoid ‘difficult’ personalities; we circumvent them or bury our heads in the sand, hoping they won’t be an issue. But inevitably, they are, and this creates roadblocks and wasted time. If someone ignores your needs or fails to engage you, you will feel like making things difficult.
Learning from Experience
No one likes changes imposed on them; we want to be involved, to feel that you have listened, heard and understood our perspective. Involving me in change in this way helps to gain my buy-in and increases your chances of success. The ‘people factor’ is a major cause of change programmes failing to achieve their intended outcomes. So, what’s the answer?
When the business challenge group reflected, they quickly realised they should have engaged and involved their stakeholders earlier, making buy-in easier. They recognised their excitement for their project, but it was not matched by the department head because they had their own issues and priorities to focus on. They weren’t excited; instead, they felt ambushed. Involving them earlier would have helped them feel the time had been taken to understand their department’s challenges, and they might have offered solutions. They may still have resisted, but the plan could have been adapted much earlier. Instead, they lost time, had to replan, and took longer to realise the project’s benefits.
Consider my experience of large-scale projects. If we had not cut corners, we could have explained what was happening, understood stakeholder needs and engaged others in making it work. This would also have avoided us delivering a substandard result.
In my experience, not engaging stakeholders well or, worse, ignoring them will catch you out when you least expect it. It’s far better to be proactive; you may as well spend more time getting them on board early rather than trying to recover later.
There are no shortcuts to involving people, so why not do it early and confront the issues up front? This way, you can engage with them on the solution and find ways to modify your approach for mutual success.
For many businesses, the ability to collaborate and execute effectively is underwhelming at best, and yet they still get results! Imagine if they got their act together and collaborated better—they’d be unstoppable!
My key learnings over the years are:
Explore who could help and who could get in your way.
Engage stakeholders early, be proactive and build relationships.
Start every interaction from their perspective – ‘seek first to understand’, as Stephen Covey says.
Have a plan to influence others and mitigate potential blockers.
Focus on the ‘why’ when presenting your ideas and goals/ Don’t get hung up on the how; be flexible and bring any conflict back to the ‘why’.
Don’t do all the work; involve stakeholders in solving problems; they probably have a better view.
Test, test and test assumptions, beliefs and biases.
Be aware of your self-talk; your mindset, if not managed, will trip you up.
This article first appeared on Forbes.com on 5th September 2024
Ricky has been a regular contributor to the Forbes Councils since 2023, where he shares his perspectives on all things leadership, change, culture and productivity, all with Thinking Focus’ unique perspective on metacognition, or as we prefer to say, thinking about thinking.
Use Cialdini’s six weapons of Influence for the B2B arena to supercharge your sales skills and close deals like never before. Ricky Muddimer dives into Dr. Robert Cialdini’s six weapons of influence, tailored specifically for the B2B arena. Discover how understanding human psychology and building genuine trust can transform your sales strategy.
Sales Managers: How to Avoid Five Traps Killing Your Performance
Are you a sales manager frustrated by missed actions, lame excuses, and a lack of accountability in your remote or field-based team? You’re not alone. Managing a dispersed team presents unique challenges, but the good news is that these obstacles can be overcome.
In this video, you will discover five of the most common traps that hinder your team’s performance and cost you your hard-earned bonus. Having struggled with these issues, I’ve learned valuable lessons I’m eager to pass on to you.
New Manager Playbook: Mastering Management Essentials
Have you just landed your first managerial role, or are you looking to refresh your leadership skills?
Our “New Manager Playbook” is your ultimate guide to starting strong and steering your team to success! Ricky Muddimer shares our expert strategies, which cover everything from setting the right tone and fostering collaboration to unlocking your team’s full potential.
What’s Inside?
Essential skills for new managers Strategies for building trust and respect Tips for evaluating and adjusting team dynamics Techniques for enhancing team performance Whether you’re navigating your first managerial role or managing a new team, our playbook provides actionable insights and practical tools to make your leadership journey a triumph. Download now and transform your managerial challenges into opportunities for growth and success!
Discover the Power of Involvement: Master Decision-Making & Collaboration
Are you struggling to engage the right people in your projects?
Do you feel like you’re missing out on crucial contributions?
Watch our latest video, “Discover the Power of Involvement: Master Decision-Making & Collaboration”, and discover a powerful tool to revolutionise your collaboration and decision-making approach.
We’ll guide you through a simple yet powerful 2×2 matrix, showing you how to map out potential collaborators and maximize your project’s impact. This tool is perfect for project planning, team management, and anyone looking to boost collaborative efforts.
Psychological safety is the cornerstone of high-performing teams and thriving workplaces, enabling open communication, creativity, and innovation. However, even well-intentioned leaders can unknowingly erode this environment through specific actions or habits. Whether dismissing feedback, micromanaging, or prioritising results over relationships, these behaviours can stifle collaboration and suppress team morale. The resulting impact isn’t just limited to strained relationships—companies face diminished learning, reduced creativity, and a decline in overall productivity. This article dives into the subtle ways leaders may undermine psychological safety and provides actionable insights to help leaders foster an atmosphere of trust and openness where employees feel empowered to contribute and take risks without fear of judgment.
The concept of psychological safety is pivotal in today’s corporate environment, as highlighted by Amy Edmondson’s influential work The Fearless Organization. While its benefits are clear—fostering innovation, engagement and a no-blame culture—leaders often hinder the implementation.
Understanding Psychological Safety
Psychological safety creates a corporate culture that values transparency and sees mistakes as learning opportunities. It encourages individuals to voice concerns and share ideas freely, which is crucial for driving forward-thinking and innovation.
Consider the alternative: a culture of fear and shame that drives problems underground, misses learning opportunities and increases the risk of systemic issues. It is human nature to avoid looking foolish and being shunned. So mistakes are hidden and we let things slide.
Learning From History
In the late ’70s and early ’80s, the global aviation industry faced substantial safety issues, declining consumer confidence and air travel numbers. They had little choice but to tackle their safety issues head-on. This required airlines to come together with a common goal to make everyone who flies as safe as possible.
Introducing a nonpunitive reporting policy required pilots to share incidents and near misses within an agreed timeframe. This policy was pivotal to improving standards, making air travel one of the safest forms of travel.
Why Do Businesses Choose To Focus On It?
Businesses now see psychological safety as a beacon for high engagement and empowerment, unlocking hidden potential while making an environment less risky. This pursuit is admirable and noble, but it needs the courage and conviction of leaders to see it through. It is also a journey, not a destination.
What Causes Psychological Safety To Fail?
Teams constantly change, and therefore, dynamics shift. Our primal responses see new people as threats, unknown entities that cause uncertainty and anxiety. Much of this is subconscious, so we might not even realise it’s happening. When you add in internal competition, ego and misaligned goals, the cracks soon appear, and performance levels drop.
Egotistical leaders who place their needs above the group destroy psychological safety. Their obsession with winning causes people to feel unsafe. A more selfless leadership focused on performance—that faces the facts, sharing thoughts, good and bad—can lead to a better future.
How leaders react is crucial, too. When things happen, is their response disproportionate? Or are they balanced, calm and methodical? The personal pressure level will determine a leader’s response, and their feelings can influence whether it’s in proportion.
The leader’s intent may be to tackle the challenge a-on, embrace the learning opportunity and come together to work through it. However, add in the complexity and demands from boardrooms, stock markets, media and the workforce, and that intent may waver. The scale and nature of these pressures can easily bias any leader’s decision-making.
How leaders intellectually spar with their people can be dangerous. It can be healthy to stretch, test and explore with their people, but if they have to “win” the argument, they will likely intimidate their people, who will probably then stay in their lane and play it safe.
I sympathise with those in public roles who are particularly susceptible to this; the risk of failure is so high personally and professionally that adopting a psychological safety culture, while intellectually sensible, can be risky as mistakes and failure are spun in the public eye by the press with a witch hunt as they demand someone to be held accountable—that’s not conducive to psychological safety and definitely a need for strong leadership.
What Happens When Psychological Safety Is Failing?
The absence of psychological safety causes decline, whether it be an existential problem that causes the leader’s downfall or a slow decline.
Without learning and growth, people don’t innovate, take risks or be creative. People who previously felt safe can now feel exposed and seek new opportunities elsewhere, which means losing talent and recruiting becoming harder.
Employees can become less engaged and feel undervalued, marginalized and underappreciated, so delivering organizational goals becomes much more challenging.
Increased stress and anxiety directly impact decision-making. People play it safe, looking for ways not to lose instead of playing to win. Playing to win means being prepared to lose, but knowing failure means learning and growth. In other words, you either win or learn.
The irony is that a psychologically safe culture surfaces issues and allows for debate, discussion, shared learning and more collaborative problem-solving. All of which raise standards across an organization, decreasing risk and driving up performance.
Why You Need To Hold Your Nerve
The alternative to psychological safety doesn’t bear thinking about; a false harmony pervades, and blind spots grow. It makes no sense only to hear what you want to hear; the reality is that bear traps are lying in wait!
Psychological safety doesn’t guarantee a worry-free journey, but the issues can be in plain sight, and your people will be more likely to want to be a part of the solution.
It takes real effort to remain rational and calm when things around you are failing. However, we can train ourselves to look for the learning in the chaos over time. But you must fight your body’s natural fight or flight response, develop strong self-talk and create a narrative that finds the learning once you let the emotions dissipate.
As Kipling said, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you but make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting.”
Being human means making mistakes. Being superhuman might just mean having the courage to embrace and learn from them.
This article first appeared on Forbes.com on 27th February 2024
Ricky has been a regular contributor to the Forbes Councils since 2023, where he shares his perspectives on all things leadership, change, culture and productivity, all with Thinking Focus’ unique perspective on metacognition, or as we prefer to say, thinking about thinking.
