Enclosed please find your first monthly edition of the Simon Alliance Newsletter, "Standing Ovation Performance."  I hope you enjoy this investigation into creating extraordinary leaders and teams.  Let me know what you think.

Mitchell Simon, Director, The Simon Leadership Alliance

As I work with CEOs who are challenged with building high-performance teams, we continually are in the question, "what is the Magic of a high-performing team?"
 
I believe that the essential ingredients to achieving Magic in your teams are the following:

· Honesty with Commitments
· Courage with others
· Conversations of Honesty and Courage

(1) Honesty with Commitments
 
As a team leader, achieving extraordinary results depends on your ability to articulate your commitments and act as your commitments.  I see many leaders who say they are committed to building a team, yet do not act according to that commitment.  For most of these leaders, they are not honest when expressing their commitment.  It is not that they are intentionally kidding themselves, it is that they have not taken the time to deeply discover what 100% commitment to leading a high-performance team would look like.
 
When was the last time you asked the question "What is the commitment to my team?"  For most of you, you have just decided not to read this newsletter further.  You are saying, come on, I live fully committed to my team.  Well then, Bye.  You are amazing.  But is your commitment to your team members showing up as your team members committed to each other?  If not, you are not committed.
 
The question of whether you are being fully honest with your commitment to your team or organization is threatening.  You don’t want to answer this question.  I dare say that the reason many of us don’t answer the question "are we fully committed to the team" is that if we answer it fully, we would HAVE TO live up to that answer.
 
If “commitment to team” is holding your team members to the highest standard, holding them accountable to each other, holding them to metrics without any excuses, then you must take full responsibility for your team to act fully committed and responsible for the results.  If you dared to declare a full-on commitment to team, you fear that you will fall short of your declaration.  You don’t ever like to fail, so why bother making that commitment?
 
Your key to extraordinary leadership, team and results is to ask yourself whether you declared a commitment to leadership and team.  Was this commitment spoken?  Are people on your team committed to you keeping this commitment?  Are you creating a commitment so large, that ultimately you won’t be able to keep this commitment?  If it isn’t large enough, your commitments won’t lead to extraordinary results.  Yet, small commitments lead to small results.  What is a leader to do?  Read on...
 
(2) Courage with others
 
Do you have the courage to share your commitments with others?  A powerful leader has the courage to share everything he or she stands for with team, colleagues, family, and friends.  Courage is sharing your commitments, such that others hold you accountable to complete on your commitments.  It takes courage to put yourself out there with others in such a way that they are watching you live into who you are. 
 
Frankly, if you are not sharing your commitment to leadership and team on a consistent basis, you are not committed.
 
(3) The Conversation of Honesty and Courage
 
What is the essential ingredient in a high-performance team?  A high-performance team engages in the conversation of Honesty and Courage.  It is the conversation of living according to what you say, and expecting to be called out when you are not living according to the words that come out of your mouth.  The greatest part of a high-performance team is that if you declare that you will live in integrity with other members of your team, then you must act in accordance with that integrity.
 
The Magic of being on a high-performance team is that you have the opportunity to have a group of people commit to something BIG in your life.  The high-performing team makes YOU a high-performer.  You have the opportunity to challenge and be challenged.  You have the opportunity to have the conversations that you might never have without team. 

It is through "Corporate Conversations" of this nature that your potential can be truly unleashed, and your company can excel in areas you never thought possible.  High-Performing teams that excel over time have one additional ingredient, and that is alignment.  More on alignment next month.

Until then, I will be busy waiting for the next leader of the Simon Alliance, who is expected to come into the world on May 26!

Because of our acquaintance and your commitment to leadership, you have been selected to receive "Standing Ovation Performance."  If you would like to be removed from the list, please send an e-mail to msimon@simonalliance.com.  Thank you.