Clarity is Everything

What can go right: A team that knows exactly what success looks like will move faster, collaborate better, and make smarter decisions. Leaders who set clear goals, define roles, and align everyone behind a shared purpose create momentum.

What can go wrong: Vague expectations, moving goalposts, and lack of alignment lead to frustration. If your team is constantly second-guessing what they should be working on, you have a clarity problem.

If you asked every team member today, “What does success look like?” would they all give the same answer? If not, time for a reset.

Trust Makes or Breaks a Team

What can go right: High performing teams operate with trust as their foundation. People speak up, challenge ideas, admit mistakes, and support each other. When trust is high, so is accountability.

What can go wrong: When trust is missing, people play it safe, avoid difficult conversations, and work in silos. Worse still, they start protecting themselves instead of pushing for the best results. If your team is full of unspoken tensions, you have a trust issue.

Build trust by leading with vulnerability. Admit what you don’t know, invite feedback, and show that it’s safe for others to do the same.

The Wrong People in the Room

What can go right: A well-balanced team brings the right mix of skills, mindsets, and energy. Get this right, and you have a team that challenges each other, plays to strengths, and grows together.

What can go wrong: A team full of the wrong skills or personalities creates tension, stagnation, or dysfunction. If you have too many ‘big picture’ thinkers but no detail people, you will never execute. If you have too many ‘doers’ but no strategic minds, you will never scale.

Regularly assess your team’s strengths and gaps. Sometimes, a simple shift in roles—or bringing in fresh talent—can be the game changer.

The Feedback Loop you need

We read a lot these days about feedback loops in the way the climate is evolving. But feedback loops are in teams too and you need to pay attention to them.

What can go right: In high performing teams, feedback flows constantly. It’s not a once-a-year exercise; it’s embedded in everyday conversations. Teams that embrace feedback grow faster and outperform the competition. They celebrate what goes right and investigate what goes wrong.

What can go wrong: Teams that avoid feedback end up stuck. Silence doesn’t mean things are fine—it means people have given up on improvement. If feedback only happens when things go wrong, your team will fear it rather than embrace it.

How to deal with the challenge: Start by making feedback normal. Ask, “What’s one thing I could do better?” and show that growth is part of the culture.

The Culture that Keeps Teams Performing

What can go right: A high performing team isn’t just about skills—it’s about the environment. The best teams have cultures that balance ambition with well-being, accountability with support, and urgency with thoughtfulness. When people feel valued and stretched in equal measure, they thrive.

What can go wrong: Burnout, politics, or a culture of blame will destroy even the most talented team. If people are afraid to take risks, or feel they are just ‘getting through the week’, performance will suffer.

Culture isn’t a ‘nice to have’, it’s the engine of performance. What kind of culture is your team building every day?