A lot of people ask me about how to cultivate high performing teams and culture. I assume they ask me because I worked in McKinsey for many years and we’re known to be these self-motivated creatures that many managers hope for in their teams?
There is no magic wand and often it requires structural mechanisms such as KPIs and performance management but there are indeed many soft methods (with no implication that soft is in any way less important than the structural methods) that I have seen to be very effective during my time at McKinsey. Known to have some of the most high performing teams, McKinsey consultants have many quirks they like to use in improving their ways of working, such as having “team talks” at the beginning of each engagement, knowing everyone’s MBTI types by heart, and being almost cultish in terms of how much we like to give and receive feedback. Here are a few that I find the most effective which any manager or team can try out to build a stronger working relationship and achieve higher performance.
Frequent pulse checks. Pulse checks are essential to understand the engagement level of teams, and there are many ways to do this without having to launch a formal survey. Sometimes a quick Fist of Five (everyone gives a score of 1–5 with their hands on the count of three to demonstrate their approval/engagement level) can be a super easy but transparent way for managers to gauge the happiness of their team. There is one method I’ve seen which I really liked, not only because it was simple but more importantly, it was humane. Every Monday morning in our team stand-ups, my manager at the time would ask each of us to rate 1 to 5 on our energy level and our distraction level. Energy meant how pumped we felt about the work we’re doing this week, and distraction is if we had anything outside of work that might take away our focus at work. Whether it’s in-laws visiting, kitchen renovation underway, or school holidays for the kids, it’s inevitable that we have life distractions at some point in time that will take a toll on our work performance, and that’s understandable and can be managed as a team. Managers can use this to reassess work allocation and most team members will be happy to lend an extra hand because there will also be times when they have a sick child at home.
Early input and fast iteration. One of the biggest cultural shocks I experienced when I first joined McKinsey from the corporate world was the way of seeking input on my work. In my previous jobs in government and in the financial sector, when I was handed a task from my manager, I would never seek input until I thought it was in pretty good shape; asking for input or feedback before it was 90% ready is somehow a sign of incompetence or over-dependency. But this was not the way of working at McKinsey. Given the tight deadlines we often had to work with, there was little room for one to complete their work, present to their managers to realise they’ve gone the wrong direction, then go back and start from scratch. So I’ve learned that the best approach was to get input early and iterate fast. As a manager, the best thing you can do is to invest time up front to give clear directions and encourage your team members to have constant checkpoints to make sure you are aligned with wherever the direction is leading to. And no, this is not micromanaging — asking for a progress update everyday is a micromanager — but co-creating and giving input along the way while allowing full ownership is not.
Feedback, feedback, and more feedback. Many organisations do feedback conversations only as part of their formal performance management process, but McKinsey does it like breathing air. Almost every consultant would have formal weekly or fortnight feedback sessions with their team members, team leadership, or even clients when they’re on a project, and would often just pull each other aside after a meeting and say “Hey, can I give you some quick feedback on what went on in there?” Feedback is often given following a simple framework (of course there’s a framework!) that not only points out the facts of the behaviour, but more importantly, constructive suggestions on how to improve those behaviours. People often perceive feedback as criticism of something done wrong, but it can be super valuable and well-received if it actually offers advice for improvement. Feedback should be given not only when there is room for improvement, but also when your team member has done something well which is equally important to acknowledge. Most people find it very uncomfortable to give or receive feedback, but once it becomes as common as asking your colleague how their weekend went on a Monday morning, it can become very natural and no hard feelings are attached.
Which of these tips will you start rolling out today?
