Building high-performing teams to support your vision: Week 31 Podcast

How do you build high-performance teams to support a vision? In today’s episode, Amanda and Mandla discuss how the pace of innovation and the rapid emergence of new technologies, like artificial intelligence, have made it crucial to have high-performing teams in today’s complex world.

Mandla defines a high-performing team as one that achieves its desired results, fully understands the leader’s vision, and is results-oriented. Such teams have a culture of achievement and possess diverse, complementary skills. In contrast, low-performing teams miss deadlines, consume more resources than planned, and experience internal conflicts, making it difficult to implement innovation.

To create a high-performing team, Mandla emphasizes that it starts with the leader. A leader must introspect, identify barriers to their own performance, and act as a visionary and coach. This involves seeing beyond the horizon, sharing that vision with the team, and being a catalyst for change.

Mandla prefers a visionary and coaching leadership style, which involves communicating the vision clearly and helping team members understand how to achieve it. He also stresses the importance of emotional intelligence in team dynamics, likening it to the chemistry that allows a flock of birds to move in unison.

While team-building activities can sometimes feel artificial, Mandla believes that genuine team chemistry and understanding are crucial for high performance. He concludes with an encouragement from his book “Conquer Your Mountains,” reminding leaders to seek help and strength beyond their own efforts.

Amanda and Mandla wrap up the episode by reinforcing the need for leaders to be agile, visionary, and supportive to build and maintain high-performing teams.

Click here to access the podcast in a platform of your choice, such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts https://tr.ee/Kz8U7B2wiq  

Amanda de Witt is the Senior Editor at the Luca Faith and Inspiration Imprint of Penguin Random House South Africa and Mandla Moyo is the author of an inspirational book called Conquer Your Mountains as well as a science fiction book called The Fallen Angel.