15Five's Guide To Creating High Performing Teams

GUIDE TO
CREATING
HIGH
PERFORMING
TEAMS
15Five’s

INTRODUCTION
Managing a team has never been more complex. Knowledge-based workers are challenging
status-quo leadership at every turn. Many of them work from home or are distributed across
time-zones, and sometimes across continents. Even at companies where everyone works
under one roof, the unique demands of the modern workforce are evolving. Millennials (who
will comprise nearly half of the workforce in the next few years) seek purpose and meaning in
their work. They want the right mix of challenge and autonomy and crave strong relationships
with their managers and co-workers.
Many managers mistakenly believe that employees are just like any other company resource
-- they must be maintained, catalogued, and put to use in a way that proves their worth or
they are quickly replaced. Like any resource, they believe that employees have fixed abilities
and a fixed value.
But your people are much more than that. They have complex emotional, physical, and mental
systems that must be understood and nurtured in order to perform at their potential today,
and to be able to grow into even greater potential tomorrow. Once you do that, you actually
have the ability to transform each employee into the effective, creative contributor you want
them to be.
Here’s to you the people manager who has the greatest influence on the success of your team.
This guide contains helpful management tips on everything from building better relationships
with employees to supercharging meetings and performance reviews. I hope that you find the
insights contained herein useful as you continue to support your people to do great work and
live great lives.
Sincerely,
Founder & CEO, 15Five
Your employees are people.
David Hasell
I have put together this guide to answer those
critical questions, but everything you do as a
manager depends on this one basic premise:
That may seem obvious, but just ask yourself
how you interact with employees. How do you
treat them? Do you genuinely care about them?
Are you helping them to live a more meaningful
existence?
How will you keep
your A-players,
ensure their
happiness and call
forth their best
week after week?

CHAPTER 1
THE
POWER OF
INQUIRY

Scientific evidence over the last decade in the field of Neuroplasticity shows that the brain
(and the entire human being) is not fixed, as previously thought, when we reach adulthood.
People can be rewired, by creating new neural pathways and weakening old ones. Changes
in behavior, environment, intellectual stimulation, physical activity, and emotional stability all
play a role in enhancing people’s abilities at work.
Give your employees an opportunity to celebrate and even brag a little about all the
positive stuff that’s happened recently. You will also discover what they consider to be
a triumph relative to the goals of the team and organization.
When people identify where they are stuck and then bring someone else’s attention
to the challenge at hand, they’re in a position to receive the coaching and guidance
that helps them think about an issue in a fresh new way. Often just writing about where
they’re stuck begins the process of getting clear on how to resolve it themselves.
People want to grow; it’s in our very nature. But the mindset that people are fixed assets,
tools, and resources is one of the biggest barriers to that growth. The best way to shift out
of this mindset and elevate the performance of your team is to communicate with them
regularly. Start initiating key conversations by asking these 2 questions on a regular basis:
The best managers
facilitate these
shifts with repeated
and directed
attention towards the
growth that they want
to see in employees.
What’s going well in your role? What are you proud of?
What challenges are you facing? Where are you stuck?
1
2

People problems are the biggest barriers to the growth of any company, but the real problem
is that your team is likely performing way below their potential. By talking to your people
regularly and asking them questions, you capitalize on the opportunity to trigger their
incredible innate capacity for learning and growth.
Asking questions inspires self-reflection and encourages action. This is a central pillar of the
15Five product. Inquiry allows managers to acknowledge successes and offer support to help
people learn, grow, and eventually become their greatest selves. (And as an added bonus,
you will likely create genuine loyalty with your people, which translates into long-term trusted
relationships and very low turnover.)
Remember that when your team performs well, you perform well. And it all starts with
communication.
Questions
are the sparks
that ignite the
imagination,
and light the
way towards
desired results.
He who asks a question is a fool
for ﬁve minutes; he who does not
ask a question remains a fool forever.
~Chinese proverb

CHAPTER 2
BUILDING
LOYAL
RELATIONSHIPS
WITH TRUST

Relationships are vital to the success of any company. In fact the word company originally
meant companion or friendship, not business. Without your skilled and intelligent people,
your company is little more than a good idea.
According to the 2012 Society for Human
Resource Management Employee Job
Satisfaction and Engagement Report,
2 of the 5 most critical factors that
contributed to employee satisfaction were
communication between employees and
senior management, and the relationship
between employees and their direct
supervisors.
Employees want to communicate and
have relationships that go beyond the
occasional water-cooler conversation
about the game that weekend. But
managers often fear that employees
will then treat them as friends instead
of remaining accountable for producing
quality work. Employees feel that if they
let their managers in, whatever they share
might put them at risk.
“We live in an age of extraordinary transparency,
which is reason enough to always be true
to your core - your mission will be revealed,
your motivations will show by your behaviors.”
How important are
these relationships?
One element of trust is the understanding that transparency will benefit rather than
undermine the working relationship. With trust firmly in place, employees can feel freedom
to share aspects of their lives that are hindering or supporting their performance. Without
knowing the reason for disengagement, managers are rendered powerless. But in trusting
relationships all the details naturally rise to the surface. That is why workplace relationships
must be founded on trust and transparency.
~Meghan M. Biro, TalentCulture

Trust is a natural human instinct, yet we tend to over-complicate it when we try to apply it to
the business world. Here are two simple ways to inform employees so that they feel secure in
their jobs and perform at their highest levels:
Likewise, managers can be
vulnerable with employees in
a way that helps their success.
For example, a 15Five employee
shared that he felt like his skills
were lacking. When I shared
my similar struggles early in my
career, he felt empowered to
grow. Today he is a vital part of
our core team. Instead of taking
advantage of our relationship,
he does his best work from a
place of genuine loyalty and
commitment.
Encourage open communication to infuse transparency into all aspects and all levels
of the business. Invite people to communicate about their triumphs and struggles at
work and even about their personal lives. This can feel rather daunting for employees,
who can perceive a higher emotional risk...
Request Feedback.1
...but in time that risk will pay off.
Don’t walk away when employees share problems and challenges. This includes
constructive criticism about you. Let employees know you appreciate the feedback
and solidify the relationship by stepping-in with support and mentorship.
At it’s best, work can be a place where people are supported in stepping into their
greatness, and businesses that adopt this frame of mind are far more successful than
they would be otherwise. I recommend scheduling an open conversation with each
of your employees to discuss how you as a manager are truly invested in learning
about and improving their experience, and supporting them in being the best they can
be. This might seem obvious but communicating this explicitly lets employees know
your intentions for collecting candid information and providing support in all of their
professional and personal endeavors.
Show that you are taking an active stand for your
team’s growth, development and satisfaction.
Always Respond.2

CHAPTER 3
SHIFTING
FROM
MANAGER
TO COACH

manager - [man-i-jer] n.
(1) a person who has control or direction of an institution,
business, etc., or of a part, division, or phase of it.
(2) a person who controls and manipulates resources
and expenditures, as of a household.
Wow, that sounds scary. Who wants to be controlled or manipulated? Not your employees.
The best way to run an organization is not to view the employees in service to the company,
but to view the company in service to its employees. Today’s highest-performing teams and
companies realize they need to serve all stakeholders equally, not just shareholders, which
includes their employees.
Given the right structure and environment, people have an incredible innate capacity for
learning and growth. But with barely enough time to get your own tasks completed, you may
be tempted to just let challenged employees figure things out for themselves. Employees
wither in overly-stressful and unsupportive environments. Their performance will most
certainly suffer and they will likely eventually seek employment elsewhere.
Unless you have experience as a mentor or coach, you may be intimidated to step into that
role. It’s actually not as hard as you think. In the introduction to Harvard Business Review’s
Guide to Coaching Employees, leadership coach Ed Batista discusses that a leader’s impact is
not in telling people what to do but in empowering and motivating them.
Batista believes that the simplest place to start is by asking questions.
A manager
can best
serve by
adopting the
role of coach
or mentor.
Use the following practice to “help them fulfill their
immediate responsibilities more effectively and advance
their development as professionals over time.”

Effective growth requires some stress, but not too much. Eustress, or positive stress,
is what creates growth (think about lifting enough weight at the gym so that your
muscles are sore, and they are able to grow back stronger). On the other hand distress,
or negative stress, can push people into failure. Just imagine trying to lift so much
weight that you quickly throw your back out, and now it takes you weeks or months
to heal.
For your people to grow, they have
to be both allowed and encouraged
to move beyond their comfort
zone. Whenever we move beyond
our comfort zone (but not too far
beyond) we may experience being
challenged, enjoy some positive
stress, and of course may make some
mistakes. It’s through this process
that we’re able to learn and grow,
and allows us to be better tomorrow
than we are today.
Give people leeway to make mistakes.1
Don’t give someone so much autonomy beyond their capabilities that they are going
to make really big mistakes that will negatively impact the team or the company.
If the task is way outside the employee’s comfort zone but they are excited about
contributing, have an honest conversation. Tell the employee, “this is a really big deal
& I want you involved, but I am concerned about you having full autonomy. Let’s work
together and let me have your back.”
Ask the team questions every week so that the right conversations regularly take place,
employees can self-reflect on their accomplishments, and managers can support them
in achieving their true potential. Pretty soon you will have a staff that is equipped to
handle new tasks and responsibilities with confidence. They can train others as they
step into more advanced roles and help up-level your entire organization.
Take calculated risks.2
Working hard for something we don’t
care about is called stress. Working hard
for something we love is called passion.
~Simon Sinek

CHAPTER 4
CREATING
ACCOUNTABILITY
FOR EVERYONE
ON THE TEAM

The more a job resembles a game – with variety,
appropriate and flexible challenges, clear goals and
immediate feedback — the more enjoyable it will be
regardless of the worker’s level of development.
~Mihaly Csikszentmihaly
from his bestselling book Flow
I often hear people-focused management described as “soft-skills”. But most leaders will
report that people issues are one of their top barriers to growth, performance, and ultimately
success. They don’t realize that their current staff are operating well below their potential.
That doesn’t sound very soft to me. In fact, one of the most important people-focused
management skills is far from soft -- holding people accountable.
Discuss all of the rules and expectations at the outset. When people know what is expected
of them and what their priorities are, they can work steadily towards achieving goals.
This has to be done very
explicitly. Each week, every
employee should share
what they accomplished
over the preceding 7 days
and catalogue their goals
for their upcoming week.
Managers essentially create
a contract with employees
that they will then strive to
live up to.
Set employees up for success.1
The benefit for them is that
they get to see steady progress being made
and feel good about the work they performed.

Establishing clear goals is like getting an alignment for your car. You pull out onto
the street and your car drives beautifully. But just like at work, the road is not always
smooth. Before too long your team will hit potholes and they will continually need
input from their manager to stay on course.
The 15Five Team lives the value of “hold and be held accountable”:
When the organization values personal responsibility and integrity, people work with
focus and autonomy. But accountability only works if everyone agrees to it and holds
others to their own commitments.
When employees don’t know what is expected of them, or what success looks like, they
will fail. Poor managers fire those people and get upset about the time and resources
that were wasted. Good managers empowers employee to be their best and hold
them to the highest standards.
Provide immediate feedback.
Enroll everyone at the organization.
2
3
When you have
a big mission
and vision,
anything less than
excellence is not
acceptable.
Nothing works without personal integrity and responsibility and
a culture of accountability. We not only commit to hold each
other accountable to our word, commitments, objectives, and
duties, but we also commit to being held accountable by our
peers when we fail to deliver on what we have committed to.

CHAPTER 5
EMPLOYEE
RECOGNITION
LEADS TO
BETTER RESULTS

Ignoring the performance of people
is almost as bad as shredding their
effort before their eyes.
~Behavioral Economist, Dan Ariely
from his TED talk, What Makes Us Feel Good About Our Work
As organizations grow, hard work can go unnoticed. Some employees are good at making
themselves look good, while others put in plenty of effort but don’t self-promote. Regardless
of how they appear, every employee wants to be seen and appreciated for his or her efforts.
Appreciation does not mean just recognizing someone. By definition, the word also
indicates that you are adding value to them. Letting employees know that you are aware
of their efforts drives them to achieve through intrinsic motivation, which is scientifically
proven to provide more sustainable drive than an extrinsic motivator like a bonus.
We are often our own worst
critics, and many of us work
each day with no objective way
of knowing how we are doing.
One might think that this is a
good thing, since an employee
who is worried about his or her
performance will always strive to
do better. But people who work
in perpetual fear get stressed
out and frustrated, which locks
up the flow of creative ideas
and lowers motivation.
Regular recognition of a job well done unwinds this tension for the individual and boosts
morale collectively. You can generate more revenue and increase productivity and
efficiency across the board by simply complimenting specific examples of excellent work.
Appreciate your employees for what they do.1

People are driven by extrinsic motivators like recognition and compensation, or the
intrinsic achievement of mastery. Managers who openly acknowledge employees for
who they are becoming empower them to do their best work and encourage them to
step into expertise or leadership roles. All these share the common theme of positive
transformation.
When managers highlight the strengths of people at a company, those people are
far more engaged, productive and creative. There are clear and measurable positive
impacts to the bottom line. Yet the highest level of personal fulfillment is attained when
people become something better. This is when the extrinsic and the intrinsic meet.
That’s when your employees’ focused work has led to a position of mastery, and you’re
telling your employee that, beyond having performed well on a task or having increased
revenue, you see this transformation in him or her. The easiest way to recognize and
motivate is to stop in the hall and say:
Acknowledge people for who they are becoming.2
“It’s time to give yourself permission to be fully
present at work. Why do I say ‘permission’?
Because we need it. Many of us crave permission
to be our whole selves, our real selves.”
“I see who you were,
respect who you are,
and I am excited for
who you are becoming.”
~Ted Coine

CHAPTER 6
MAKING
THE MOST OF
FACE TIME

There are essentially two types of performance-based meetings:
all hands or team, and one-on-ones.
This one is great for your employees who will discover new ways of concealing social
media usage while you the manager attempt to gather relevant information. This is the
most expensive of the two varieties since everyone is on the clock. The team meeting is
simultaneously loved by your lackluster performers for its distractabilty and hated by your
A-players for the same reason.
Meetings and ideation are important, but here’s the problem. Brainstorming and planning
sessions take time away from execution, AKA getting things done. A recent survey of over
38,000 employees in over 200 countries discovered that people spend 5.6 hours each week
in meetings; 69 percent feel meetings aren’t productive (U.S.: 5.5 hours; 71 percent feel
meetings aren’t productive).
Instead of wasting precious
meeting times updating
differentstake-holdersabout
cross-team productivity and
challenges, how great would
it be if people were already
up to speed on important
information?
When valuable people are
brought face to face, that
is the time to focus on
promises and decisions.
Using software to collect
and share status updates
beforehand will streamline
your meetings.
When you regularly communicate with employees about their performance, productivity, and
challenges, you don’t have to waste meeting time on status updates. Use the bulk of meeting
time to debate, problem-solve, and take decisive action.
Type 1: The all hands/team meeting.

There is often too much going on during a team meeting for managers to have in-depth
conversations about each person’s role. And employees may be reluctant to discuss
everything they are experiencing at work in that open environment. One-on-ones are the
perfect opportunity to realign individual employees with team goals and also to build stronger
relationships.
Managers cannot set something in motion and then simply walk away. They need to get into
a weekly communication rhythm -- have the right conversations and maintain employee focus
on the most important objectives and issues. Managers are also more likely to uncover personal
and professional challenges and coach employees towards solutions (see Chapters 2 and 3).
When everyone arrives at the table fully informed, meetings don’t have to be the eye-rollers
they are now. Use team meetings and one-on-ones to have important conversations and
make decisions.
Type 2: One-on-ones.
Have you ever had an incredible meeting where your employee
was clear on all initiatives and was even excited about it?
What happened to that initial excitement a month later?
Did the initiative come to life as beautifully as was planned?
Then everyone can get back to their work with
a clear understanding of goals and with
the tools to achieve them.
If you aren’t doing these and your team is still successful, please send me an email and let me
know. I would love to hear about it. But for the rest of us in the management 99%, one-on-
ones between a manager and each employee are critical.
Your effectiveness as a leader is significantly
impacted by the intention, energy and
presence you bring to the table.
~Anese Cavanaugh

CHAPTER 7
EVALUATING
PERFORMANCE
MORE THAN
ONCE A YEAR

So much ink has been spilled lately about how performance reviews are outdated, pointless,
painful, and loathed by managers and employees alike. And who can blame the detractors?
Do you enjoy your review process?
First of all, without an accurate record of year-long employee performance you have no idea
how employees are doing. So you evaluate them based on the last 30-90 days. This is due to
something called the recency bias, and this information is completely inaccurate:
If you wait to do a review once every year, you miss a huge opportunity to have your team
operating at its peak potential. Priorities and shifts in the market occur all the time, not just
every December. By neglecting regular check-ins with talent, leaders are unable to collect
valuable information that could mean the difference between success and failure. Checking-
in quarterly, monthly, and weekly will provide valuable information that can be acted upon in
time to make a difference.
At the end of each week and each quarter, discuss performance with the team and with each
individual employee.
This gives people an understanding of where they stand
relative to their work so that they can improve,
and it gives managers the ability to realign the team.
You have an employee who is an average
or below-average performer all year. In
the last two or three months leading up to
the review, he starts to step it up. Recent
memory colors your judgment and you
will likely tend to rate that person highly.
What you fail to account for is accuracy
in assessment over time at the moment
you sit down to write their report.
The employee is a solid performer who
is suddenly encountering challenges.
Perhaps these are job related or maybe
they are personal. Trouble with a
relationship, children, finances, health
problems… there are a multitude of reasons
for diminished performance. These recent
issues have tainted an otherwise stellar
work record. Again, you run the risk of
seeing through too narrow of a lens.
Scenario 1: Scenario 2:

Let me tell you a little story about the power of alignment...
According to a 2014 study, birds position themselves and time their wing beats so perfectly
that, according to aerodynamic theory, they minimize their energy use. The V configuration
allows individual birds to catch the rising air generated by the flapping of the bird in front of
it. By capturing this rising air, or “upwash,” the bird stays aloft more efficiently. It’s a task that
requires each bird to monitor subtle changes in its wing mates’ flight and alter its own path
and stroke accordingly.
When employees are all working on individual tasks without an awareness of the efforts of
colleagues, they are essentially all flapping their wings randomly and ignoring the power of
the collective. Don’t risk everyone running out of steam and falling to the ground.
Check-in every week instead of once a month or just once each year at review time. This will
provide you with an accurate record of performance. But more importantly it allows you to
re-align employees around goals while having the conversations that build relationships and
inspire people to do their best work.
HAVE YOU EVER
WONDERED WHY BIRDS
FLY IN A V FORMATION?
That shape is the most energy-efficient and that type
of natural alignment strategy can work for any team.

Good managers have the ability to become great, and great managers can become
exceptional. All it takes is the right information, tools, and the time necessary to build
relationships and invest in the success of your team.
Encourage employees to become the best versions of themselves and support them as
whole human beings. Ask them questions, respond with support, and empower them to do
their best work. Lead by example, and you’ll inspire employees to strive toward your vision-
whatever it might be.
Leadership has always been more of an art than a science, but experts agree—proactive
communication is essential. The secret to long-term success is about asking questions, really
listening to the answers, and then using that information to guide your business decisions.
Along your journey, we’re here to help. 15Five elevates the performance of employees,
managers and entire organizations by consistently asking the right questions and having
conversations that matter.
To learn more, visit www.15Five.com
Sources:
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/careers/millennials-
hungrier-more-well-educated-past-groups-n345406
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroplasticity
http://www.shrm.org/LegalIssues/StateandLocalResources/
StateandLocalStatutesandRegulations/
Documents/12-0537%202012_JobSatisfaction_FNL_online.pdf
https://hbr.org/product/hbr-guide-to-coaching-
employees/13990-PBK-ENG?referral=02560
http://www.15five.com/goals/
http://www.danpink.com/ac/ted-talk/
http://news.microsoft.com/2005/03/15/survey-finds-
workers-average-only-three-productive-days-per-week/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/15/
birds-flying-v-formation/4475687/
Image Credits:
Oscar Rethwill
TedX Pioneer Valley
Allan Ajifo
Philip Leara
Joi Ito
Woodley Wonderworks
Bernard Goldbach
Tec_Estromberg
Iain Farrell
TDLucas5000

15Five's Guide To Creating High Performing Teams

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