Insights Blog
What does the leader of a High Performance Team do?
High-performing team leaders are flexible, service-oriented, and task-driven. An effective leader quickly adjusts to various situations and personalities, keeps the team's purpose in mind at all times, and remembers that the leadership role is designed to serve, not to be served.
Building, Buffering and Bridging
At the heart of these leadership qualities are Building, Buffering and Bridging.
As we offer a full day workshop on Building and it’s Five Stages, we would like to share the Bridging and Buffering skills required to lead a High Performance Team.
Team identity is formed from three functions: buffering, bridging, and building.
The definition of team identity is defined as the unique way team members interaction with one another and their stakeholders.
Buffering
Buffering involves protecting the team’s resources from unwanted outside influence, distraction, and interference. Without buffering, other teams and individuals can easily cannibalize a team’s resources—whether they be human, administrative, or technical.
The three characteristics of buffering are: building trust, sharing leadership, and being agile.
Bridging
Bridging is the opposite of buffering.
While buffering is an internal defence mechanism to shield the team, bridging involves reaching out to critical people and resources beyond the team.
Having constructive working relationships with key stakeholders enables the team to achieve its goals.
Bridging strengthen alliances within and outside the organization.
There are the two characteristics supporting bridging: creating purpose and managing stakeholders.
The purpose of bridging leadership is to create and sustain effective working relationships among stakeholders whose collective input is needed to make progress on a given project challenge.
By “bridging” diverse, often conflicting perspectives found across the breadth of stakeholders, bridging leaders help forge a common agenda for finding and implementing solutions.
Bridging leadership represents a paradigm shift from more traditional forms of leadership:
Bridging Leadership Skills
Bridging leadership skills include:
- Listening, empathy and self-awareness
- Ability to connect with different audiences/stakeholders
- Self-awareness, with low ego needs
- A capacity to think systemically
- Ability to design, convene, and manage partnership processes.
But remember that what followers crave most is trust, compassion and stability.
And a good leader understands that everything they do affects the people they lead.
