High performing teams have been a frequent topic in the top 10 business watch list for over 40 years. What we know, however, is that a focus solely on high performance is not enough and that a new perspective is needed to help teams evolve through current times. Leading organisations are realising that to sustain performance, a dual focus is required on wellbeing and performance.

The day started well, clear blue sky and the anticipation of a leadership coaching meeting. On the way to the meeting, I stopped at a car wash with the thought to kill two birds with one stone, as they say, to prep for my meeting while the car had a well overdue clean. I had only been there for a short time when all of a sudden there was a flash of movement to my left followed by a very loud bang.  It was a totally unexpected shock and it took a moment to work out what had happened and how witnessing this led me to a sacred moment later.

Much has been written in relation to how COVID-19 has accelerated the movement towards employee’s working remotely. There is no doubt about this. What there does appear to be some doubt about, however, is how best to achieve optimal team engagement and performance when the team is either working remotely or semi-remotely.

Much conflict in organisations is due to polarities that people do not realise exist. One polarity that CEOs need to actively manage is the tension between senior executives being part of the senior executive ‘team’ versus leading their own functional teams within the organisation.