Bad performance habits are the most common root cause of underperformance, yet they are rarely considered in performance turnarounds. If you want to create high-performing teams, you must ensure their habits are well-tuned.
Ants can teach us a thing or two
As always, a Primed to Perform article delves into the nerdiest corners of science, and this article is no exception. Biomimicry involves taking inspiration from nature to engineer solutions, like how Velcro was inspired by burrs sticking to animal fur.
When aiming to build high-performing organizations, ants are a great source of inspiration. Ants, after all, are organizations. They must collaborate and cooperate to thrive. And thrive they do: ants have a biomass higher than all the world's wild mammals and birds combined. In other words, they are more effective at turning nature into themselves than two entire classes of creatures.
Sometimes, ants need to work in teams to solve problems.
Here's the interesting thing: when ants are carrying objects, they are functionally blind. That's because the object blocks their antennae, which ants use to detect the pheromone path that leads back to their nest. So how do ants manage to carry objects back home when they cannot see?
The answer is that they have good habits! In this case, every now and then, an ant breaks off from the pack to find the trail and returns to pull the team back on track.
What a great metaphor for leadership. Teams, when they are in the weeds, can easily lose sight of the right path. So a team needs the right set of habits to ensure they are always heading toward growth.
Growth by learning loops
The ant loop above is pretty simple: break off from the pack, find the path, come back to the pack, and drag them over. In the realm of human work in companies, the loop is just a little bit more complicated.
Human work in organizations has two dimensions:
- Creative-oriented or execution-oriented?
- Creative work is where teams figure out their path. There's a lot of waste in creative work, and sometimes it lacks the satisfaction of simply getting things done.
- Execution work is about following the path. The problems to solve are more focused on breaking through everyday obstacles.
- Collective or individual?
- Collective work has to be done together (which presents its own challenges and can often feel frustrating).
- Individual work can be done alone (which may feel too solitary sometimes).
Combining these two dimensions, you get Vega loops—the way organizations drive performance through learning and problem solving.
- V = Visioning: The first stop in this infinite loop is visioning. This is where teams come together to:
- align on a shared understanding of the future,
- build shared mental models to help with all future problem solving,
- and prioritize the next problems to solve.
- E = Exploring: Next comes exploring—the individual work of discovering ideas. This step is figuring out how we should climb that mountain.
These two phases loop until the team has ideas worth executing. That's when the work shifts gears into execution mode.
- G = Galvanizing: The first phase in execution mode is galvanizing—making sure teams have everything they need to succeed: the right structure, skills, and processes. It's like checking that everyone has clear roles and the right equipment before starting the climb.
- A = Achieving: And finally, achieving—the individual work needed to execute adaptively. This is the climb itself, where the team still has to solve everyday problems.
The basis of a team's habits is Vega loops. Teams need to learn how to habitually run these loops to keep themselves motivated and high-performing.
Learning loops need to become habits
The habits of high-performing teams come from breaking Vega loops into smaller actionable pieces.
- Inspiring vision, strategy & goals
- Aligning the team through a shared vision and prioritized problems to solve, versus focusing solely on tasks.
- Open & transparent problem solving
- Solving problems and challenges openly and collaboratively, versus through slow, private discussions.
- Customer & market-centric feedback
- Studying customers and competitors deeply, versus assuming you already know the market's needs.
- Continuous ideation & experimentation
- Generating and testing ideas daily, versus relying on infrequent, large-scale projects.
- Well-crafted roles, processes & meetings
- Structuring and coordinating teams for clarity and efficiency, versus allowing disorganization to cause stress and waste.
- Team norms & belonging
- Building a cohesive team with a strong sense of belonging, versus being overly task-focused and neglecting human dynamics.
- Dependable planning & task execution
- Executing plans reliably and adaptively, versus losing track of commitments or rigidly following tasks regardless of outcomes.
- Skill-based apprenticeship
- Developing skills through on-the-job practice, versus relying on retrospective, less actionable feedback.
Take a moment now and reflect: which of the habits above would you most want to improve on your teams?
Use Factor Habit Checks to continuously improve your habits
Think about the healthy habits in your life. Every now and then, a shock to the system breaks your habits, and they need to be rebuilt. Moving, new jobs, having kids, or global pandemics can all throw your habits off. So habits are not set-it-and-forget-it. They do take discipline to maintain.
Team habits are no different.
Teams often face shocks to the system, like critical deadlines or fire drills. Moreover, teams often get new members. Each new person is a shock to a team's habits. The average team completely turns over every four or five years, making its habits even more fragile.
Teams need a motivating and easy accountability workflow for their habits. That's what Habit Checks are for.
Habit Checks in the Factor.AI platform are a simple way for a team to check in on its habits and take ownership of them.
Three times a year, teams spend 90 minutes together.
In the first ten minutes, the team's members individually take a brief diagnostic where they measure their motivation and reflect on their team's habits.
Teams conduct a forward-looking measurement of their motivation.
Teams also assess their performance habits.
Once they are done, the team immediately receives an AI-generated report that they use to guide their meeting.
First, the AI helps the team learn how to talk about its own habits and identify root issues.
Second, the AI helps the team develop ideas to improve their habits.
The team progresses through the AI-guided report and ultimately lands on ideas they will implement to improve their habits in ways that are specific to their context.
Organizations that use Habit Checks can also optionally add Habit Boosters.
Habit Boosters are practical leadership programs each quarter that help leaders implement the ideas from their Habit Checks. They replace legacy leadership programs that are often too theoretical and too distant from the work to be helpful.
Excellence comes from habits
Jerry Seinfeld, the famous comedian and sitcom star, once described his creative process. He said that every day he has to write jokes. It doesn't matter if they are funny or not, but he has to do it. He uses a calendar to track his unbroken streak. From that, he finds, he's bound to find something funny to say.
Often, when you see people who create incredible impact in the world, it isn't because they had a lightning strike. It is because they had great habits.
- Yo-Yo Ma is well known for his habit of daily practice.
- James Dyson (of Dyson vacuum fame) is known for his habit of constant experimentation.
- Stephen King is known for his non-negotiable habit of writing every day.
Teams are no different. It's their habits that make them excellent. So if you want to build a high-performing organization, make sure every team is improving their habits. With Factor.AI's Habit Checks, it couldn't be easier.
Learn more
- HBR: Three ways to build a culture that lets high performers thrive. Discover how to create a culture that focuses on nurturing high performers rather than controlling low performers. Learn strategies to reduce meetings, measure motivation, and mentor top talent.
- Building high-performing teams with Habit Checks. Explore how Factor Habit Checks can empower teams to enhance performance, motivation, and retention. This article explores the importance of regular team check-ins and the role of Habit Checks in building high-performing cultures.
- HBR: How company culture shapes employee motivation. Understand the profound impact of company culture on employee motivation and performance. This article explains the six primary motives for work and how leaders can cultivate a high-performing culture by aligning these motives effectively.
