Leadership development can lead to greater promotion potential. This podcast is hosted by Stephen McLain, a U.S. Army-Retired Finance Officer. After retirement, Stephen transitioned to working as a Business Consultant in Corporate Finance and Accounting. Topics will be dedicated to leadership and strategic mindset development for Finance and Accounting professionals, where we will focus on the four key Finance Leader responsibilities: 1) influence, 2) developing our team, 3) achieving results, and 4) seeing the future . Please listen to the trailer so you can check it out. Thank you!
Bonus episode #86: When was the last time your finance team truly worked as a single unit rather than a collection of individuals? In this thought-provoking episode, we explore how leadership transforms independent contributors into high-performing teams that accomplish seemingly impossible goals.
Trust forms the bedrock of exceptional team performance. We delve into how leaders can cultivate environments where team members take calculated risks, collaborate effectively, and support one another through challenges. This trust doesn't happen by accident—it requires deliberate leadership focused on fairness, consistency, and mutual respect.
Clear communication emerges as the essential bridge between leadership intentions and team execution. We explore practical approaches to communication that eliminate confusion and align everyone toward common goals. From structured one-on-one meetings to effective team gatherings, we examine how communication patterns directly impact performance outcomes in finance organizations.
The episode also tackles practical strategies for enhancing team capabilities, including task automation, elimination of unnecessary processes, and delegation frameworks like the Eisenhower Decision Matrix. These approaches help finance teams manage their demanding workloads more effectively while focusing on high-value activities.
Beyond the tactical, we explore the deeper elements of team development—creating individual growth plans, establishing accountability without micromanagement, and fostering an environment where team members hold each other to high standards. These elements combine to create teams capable of sustained excellence rather than merely occasional high performance.
Hi, this is Stephen McLain of the Finance Leader Podcast. This is bonus episode number 86. Leadership, to me, has always been about accomplishing the impossible. Anyone can put together a schedule post. It then sit back to watch people show up or not even show up to their shifts. But what about creating an environment for your team to work better together and collaborate on a tough project that creates a new product or a new line of business, or to create efficiencies, for example, how well does your team work together? How well do they come together in a crisis and how much do they trust each other and you?
Stephen McLain:
I want to share with you all this week a replay of episode number 121, uniting Individuals with Leadership a discussion on improving team performance. Excellent team performance begins with trust. Like it always has, trust begins with you, the leader. What are you doing to build trust, trust that elevates your team to new levels? Please enjoy this encore replay of episode number 121, uniting Individuals Leadership a discussion on improving team performance. You can find more resources at financeleaderacademycom. Enjoy the rest of your week and thank you for listening to the Finance Leader Podcast. Enjoy. Last week, I summarized 10 key leadership principles that we each need to grow and develop, and this week I am expanding on that list by talking specifically about improving team performance. There are so many factors to consider, especially specific conditions for your situation when trying to help your team improve a little better, but we can work to bring our team together to break down the communication barrier and deliver greater results. Through leadership and better team engagement, we can build a team that trusts each other and can perform greater. Beginning today, please enjoy the episode.
Stephen McLain:
Welcome to the Finance Leader Podcast, where leadership is bigger than the numbers. I am your host, Stephen McLain. This is the podcast for developing leaders in finance and accounting. Please consider following me on Twitter, facebook, instagram and LinkedIn. My usernames and the links are in this episode's show notes, thank you. This is episode number 121, and I'll be talking about improving team performance.
Stephen McLain:
Helen Keller said alone we can do so little, together we can do so much. I love leadership, but I also love building teams that work together well and that perform at the highest level. It's a great challenge. It takes communication and it takes investing in yourself and in your team. We grow ourselves, we grow our leadership and we grow our team members, and that will grow our overall performance. Often, improving team performance means a better system, though I do believe this is true. It also means you set up your team through effective leadership, clear and consistent communication, treating people fairly, giving your team members opportunities to grow and excel, and providing a team environment that allows for discovery, risk-taking, growth and learning. We can achieve all of that, and it always begins with us.
Stephen McLain:
In the last episode, in episode 120, I talked about my 10 key leadership principles to help guide you on how you build a team that matters and that can perform at a high level. Leadership is a mindset that helps us overcome obstacles to achieve some amazing things. If you missed the episode, please go back and listen, because I believe it will help you in your own leadership development and journey. You must begin with building trust. Trust is the glue that holds great teams together. When you have real trust on the team, you have people who will take more risk, which results in more growth and development. A team who trusts and appreciates each other will collaborate more and help each other more.
Stephen McLain:
We must be careful on competition, though. You should be competing against a standard, not against each other, and we must show no favoritism when you lead based on accountability, merit, fairness and how well you perform, the team will understand how decisions are made. Team engagement matters because you must be involved with your team to bring out their best and, at the same time, give them the room to do their work without excessive control and supervision. Let them grow. Let them make mistakes, also known as teachable moments. Build a team based on inclusion, merit and opportunity. Give people the opportunity to show you what they can do, based on potential. I always recommend that leaders check their biases as they lead so they are aware how they personally view people and situations. The more you know about yourself, the better you can lead and be an example of leadership. Bring everyone together and give opportunities to show off what they can do. Those who are consistently doing well get more opportunities for greater responsibility and their career will take off.
Stephen McLain:
What can we automate and what can we eliminate? I believe in automating the routine and eliminating any unnecessary task or process. What is your team doing that can go away by automating it or stopping it altogether? I always like to ask my team, especially when you take over a team, what regular reports, emails and data they are sending and what is your current weekly meeting schedule. There is usually something they are working on routinely that can easily be automated or even eliminated altogether.
Stephen McLain:
We talked about communication in the last episode in depth, because it is so important to get right in the beginning. Clear communication eliminates confusion and brings people closer together. There is clarity when your team understands their tasks, the deadlines and the expectations. You will also have more buy-in when you share relevant information quickly, so there is no guessing and no propensity for gossip. Share and communicate what is happening. The moment communication stops is the moment you lose your team as a leader.
Stephen McLain:
Avoid micromanagement and rid yourself of people-pleasing. A people pleaser leader will seek validation from their peers and more senior leaders while simultaneously treating their subordinate team members the worst, and will micromanage and belittle those they lead. Let's avoid both these tendencies, because they will destroy the team dynamics, trust and any chance to perform at a high level. The people pleaser may enjoy short-term results while leaving a path of destruction behind them, meaning their team members will feel used and unappreciated behind them. Meaning their team members will feel used and unappreciated. I want to see this community do better. Lead with integrity, lead with purpose, lead with character and if mistakes happen, make a plan. Don't belittle. Lift others up instead. Please remember to sign up for the Mid-Year Goal Challenge coming in June. I want you all to achieve the goals you have set for yourself this year. The bar is set high and we must follow through on what we want to accomplish. So please sign up at financeleaderacademycom. The link is in the show notes.
Stephen McLain:
Our team's performance is often linked to our leadership and personal investment in the team. We need to positively engage with everyone, individually and collectively, to bring out the best, to create an environment for trust and then on to excellence. Now let's talk about improving your team's performance. Number one building trust and flexibility. Creating a team environment that fosters growth begins with trust. Do your team members trust each other? Do they trust the company leadership and do they trust you? Honesty, fairness, leading with integrity, showing up with the right attitude, enforcing accountability across the team and much more helps to build team trust.
Stephen McLain:
Number two hiring and team alignment. When getting a new leadership role, we often inherit a team in place already. We have to fit in and then begin to create the environment for everyone to win together. We need to learn the critical tasks and requirements and begin to set a standard of excellence. We want to hire and build teams based on inclusion and merit. We provide opportunities for all to excel, but it is up to each person to grasp the opportunities available to grow and to show off their potential. We give more opportunities based on merit, results, achieved attitude and willingness to expand their skill set and abilities. One key task you have to accomplish early is to determine if the required tasks, projects and KPI metric portfolio is distributed properly. Does it make sense?
Stephen McLain:
Number three team engagement. To be a leader means you have to engage with your team. You have several key tools as a leader to engage with your team, to align your expectations and to encourage more collaboration. The routine one-on-one meeting with each person is invaluable. It is precious time to talk over issues. It gives your team members time and opportunity to talk over projects, any obstacles they may have, any assistance they may need and any pertinent personal issues like planned PTO or anything else of significance. If you are not doing the routine one-on-one meetings, please start scheduling them now. You will not regret it. One more important tool is the weekly team meeting. We don't want more meetings, but we do need the most important meetings to align the team, to address issues, to enhance communication, to recognize top performance and many other important issues. The weekly team meeting, when done effectively, actually works to improve overall performance. And then anonymous feedback through employer surveys is another helpful way to know how to better engage and grow our team. Feedback requires us to reflect on our own performance, our attitude and our approach. Us to reflect on our own performance, our attitude and our approach.
Stephen McLain:
Number four task and time management. We are often buried in endless tasks, projects and ad hoc requirements and the everyday fires that must be put out, so it is good to have a few tools to help with managing our to-do list. This is where leadership helps a lot. I mentioned it in the last episode as that you should be setting priorities for your team to help focus on the most important. Automating routine tasks is our first job. Reports that must be submitted on a set day and time can be set up to be run. I recommend working with IT to see what can be automated. Next is to determine what tasks can be eliminated. I found many times over the years that reports that were being submitted on a routine basis were often not even required any longer. This is a huge time saver when you dig into what is being submitted by your team, and another key tool at your disposal is delegation. I personally use the Eisenhower Decision Matrix to help me decide on priorities, when to delegate a task and when to delete or eliminate a task. I recommend it to everyone. There are many styles of tools like this out there, but this is the one that is simple and so easy to use and again, it's the Eisenhower Decision Matrix. Don't forget that you have to delegate so you also can focus on what is important for your level.
Stephen McLain:
5. Development. I believe that every team member, including the leader, should have an individual development plan to identify goals, training requirements, skill developments and any CPEs that need to be earned. The IDP is an investment document for your team, you and the organization is investing in each person to grow that person and to help them achieve their goals. That person and to help them achieve their goals. Development also includes opportunities to excel by way of assignment to key project teams. This can develop key skills and give an opportunity for face time with senior leaders so you can show off your abilities and skills.
Stephen McLain:
Number six accountability. The best level of accountability is when the team holds each other accountable and it doesn't always require the leader to do so. This requires a high level of trust and expectations. What is your team's expected level of performance and does each person buy into that vision? And ensure you keep everyone accountable? No favorites here. Everyone must measure up to the standard. And finally, number seven clear and consistent communication. I talked about this in the last episode. Clear and consistent communication paves the way for excellence. When your team knows what is expected on a task, it is so much easier. Your team becomes more confident and ready to accomplish even more.
Stephen McLain:
Now for action. Today. What are your thoughts on how your team performs? Do they meet deadlines? Do they meet the expectations for the quality of work they are submitting? Does your team work on developing critical skills? Are they ready for greater responsibility? Are they collaborating when they need to, or are they always operating alone? Not everyone is at the same level, so you need to work with each person to help them achieve what you expect them to accomplish and set the standard for excellence, which begins with your own performance and mindset. Please go to Finance Leader Academy for more resources. I offer a self-paced online course called Advance your Finance and Accounting Career, developing a Promotion Strategy that Sets you Apart. You will also find several free resources to help you. Again, that's financeleaderacademycom.
Stephen McLain:
Today I talked about improving team performance. Last week I shared my 10 key leadership principles. This week I wanted to enhance that list with areas to further help team performance. I want to see you grow in your leadership and also your ability to improve how your team performs. It's important that the team works together to achieve common goals and to move in the same direction. When you enhance and improve your communication and set priorities, you have won most of that battle. I hope you enjoyed the Finance Leader Podcast. I am focused on helping this community to become more confident finance leaders capable of transforming organizations. You can find this episode wherever you listen to podcasts. If this episode helped you today, please share with a colleague and leave a quick written review Until next time. You can check out more resources at financeleaderacademycom and sign up for my weekly updates so you don't miss an episode of the podcast. And now go lead your team and I'll see you next time. Thank you.
