Understanding High Performing vs. High Performative Teams: Insights from Leadership

Watch till the end.
His face filled with such pure honesty.
Not something you can fake.

He can only do this and be vulnerable because of the people he surrounds himself with.

Just as in teams.

Truly high performing teams play to win.

The moment one person in that team is playing not to lose, your team is no longer a high performing team.

And most leaders still don’t see this because the numbers look good.

But there is a difference between a team that is high performing and a team that is high performative.

One is playing offence.
The other is managing optics.

I have led both. Turned a few around too.

And here is what I learned about spotting the difference.

Highly Performative teams:
🚨are loud about their wins and quiet about their gaps.
🚨protect their numbers before they protect each other.
🚨move fast when someone is watching and slow when no one is.
🚨mistake activity for progress and busyness for ambition.

High performing teams
🏆focus on solving for first principles
🏆tell each other the truth even when it is uncomfortable.
🏆care about the vision, not just the target.
🏆do the right thing even when nobody is watching, especially when nobody is watching.

Most leaders believe that being a leader is to be nice.

Leadership is never soft, it cannot be.

It needs direct, clear communication and courage to have the tough coversations, make the tough decisions.

The gap between where you are and where you could be is not a strategy problem.
It is a culture problem.

And culture starts with one question.

Are your people playing to win, or just playing not to lose?

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👋🏽 Hi! I’m Nina Devouge
📞 Call me when you’re done playing hostage at work.
🪄 I build More Human leaders + workplaces
🔗 Connect to join the mission.

#teamperformance #leadership #highperformingteams #teamculture #effectiveleadership