From Stagnation to Excellence
High performing teams are focused on a clear purpose and have great culture.
In this talk Neil Jurd OBE explains what you need to know about creating great teams.
With Neil Jurd OBE
Access all our leadership content from only £20 per month
What's this video about?
Neil Jurd begins the talk by introducing the concept of effective team development, highlighting the importance of engaging members of your team, as leaders need a team with strong foundations to achieve the impact they desire in the world. Neil explains the fundamental importance of developing team performance, offering a model called the Stagnate to Excel model, inspired by Bruce Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development model from 1965.
Neil states the models four stages:
Stagnate, Rebel, Re-contract and Excel.
He begins with the final stage, Excel; a team in Excel is a team where people are united by a clear and compelling purpose, with high levels of trust, and effective communication. He explains that many teams fail to reach this optimal stage, instead finding themselves stuck in the initial stage of Stagnate, an environment of bureaucracy, slow decision-making, and internal competition.
Moving beyond this first stage can be challenging, Neil explains, since as teams enter the Rebel stage, issues begin to be exposed, and the current process is challenged. This can result in insecurities, friction, and resistance to changes. Finally, before reaching Excel teams must enter the Re-contract phase, where they define their purpose, culture, decision-making processes, and roles.
Neil emphasises the leader’s role in guiding teams through these stages, highlighting the importance of a clear and compelling purpose as the driving force toward excellence. He acknowledges the risks that making these changes requires but explains that persistence is needed to reach the optimal final stage of Excel. He encourages applying the model within your own teams to assess progression and discuss improving the team’s place in the Stagnate to Excel model.
