# Elevate Your Team by Robert Glazer - Blinkist

What’s in it for me? Discover a new way to sustainably drive company and employee growth.

As a company leader, do you sometimes wonder why your team’s professional capacity doesn’t increase, despite your investment in it? Your star performers start to plateau or you lose them to competitors, your internally promoted managers flounder, your teams lose motivation or everyone cracks under the pressure of your company’s swift growth. You wish there was a way to upskill your people so that they could drive growth, rather than chasing after it, like a bus they’ve just missed.

If this resonates with you, it’s time to try a new strategy that’ll deliver the results you’re looking for. That new strategy is called capacity building.

In this Blink, we’ll explore a four-step framework you can use to create sustainable company growth while optimizing team performance. This framework isn’t a quick fix. It represents company-wide cultural change – including how you and your fellow leaders operate. But it’s well worth it. The time and effort will transform your workplace for the better and allow your people to thrive. Ready to reap the benefits of capacity building? Let’s get started!

To successfully develop talent, you need a holistic approach

If you’re a business leader, you’re probably familiar with the “death valley” phenomenon. You might have observed how, after a period of exponential growth, a company stagnates. The star performers and managers that have been key to that growth move on – often to competitors. There’s no one ready internally to take their place and the remaining employees flounder under their new leadership, or become resentful that they’ve been passed over for promotion. Suddenly, a company pegged as the latest big thing is on the brink of collapse.

This scenario is all too common for companies experiencing growth. In fact, every time a company’s size doubles, half of its processes and its staff need to be overhauled. This intimidating fact represents a huge loss of talent. Plus, there’s the resources needed to recruit new hires, overhaul systems and retrain existing employees. Just think what else could be done with that time, money and energy, if a company wasn’t scrambling to reestablish itself.

Luckily, there’s a way to avoid ending up in this predicament. You can do this by incorporating a talent development strategy into your company’s culture.

“I’ve already done that!” you might be thinking. Well, you might have professional development opportunities and team building workshops. But activities like these are rarely enough to support company growth and retain talent. If you truly want to optimize performance and safeguard your company from falling into death valley, you need a strategy that helps your employees thrive in all aspects of their lives – not just professionally. That’s where capacity building comes in.

Capacity building is a holistic development strategy that extends beyond professional development. Its framework supports the growth of your business by fostering the development of all your employees at the same rate, so that everyone grows together – from the rising stars to the less ambitious players among your ranks.    

Capacity building helps people identify what they want in life, and what they need to achieve it. This fuels company growth, as employees work towards attaining their goals.

There are four core pillars to this transformative framework – which we’ll be exploring in this Blink. These pillars speak to everyone’s professional and personal lives, since the most successful employee is the one who can bring their whole self to work.

To achieve the best outcomes, all four of the framework’s pillars must be activated company-wide. That means you and your fellow leaders must embrace this new strategy by making it an organizational priority. But the benefits you’ll reap will make the time and effort worthwhile. Once capacity building is ingrained in your company’s culture and processes, you’ll retain talent, reduce turnover and have the resources you need to drive continuous growth. Let’s take a look at each of the pillars now.

Pillar One: Spiritual capacity – creating a foundation for growth

Take a moment to think back to how you approached your first leadership role. You may have emulated a manager that you admired in the past, or fervently done the opposite of one you didn’t.

This is how many newly minted leaders choose their management style. But there’s an issue with this approach. It isn’t authentic, which limits a manager’s growth and their ability to lead.

To be a successful leader you need a North Star to guide you. That North Star is your values. These are what drive you, help you make tough decisions, and instill your team with confidence, since authenticity inspires trust.

Spiritual capacity – the first pillar of our framework – is all about knowing your values. These are what make you who you are, help define your goals and often point to your strengths and weaknesses. For instance, if you grew up with parents who were socially domineering, you might value self-awareness. And valuing self-awareness might make you impatient in meetings if a team member is monopolizing the discussion, causing you to snap at them. By better understanding your driving forces, you can gain insights that will help you lead more effectively.

There are two steps to building spiritual capacity in your organization. Firstly, every leader must understand their values, so they can lead authentically. Secondly, managers must support their team members in discovering their own values and developing their own leadership style, whether or not an individual has been flagged as a leader of tomorrow.

Think about it. Isn’t an empowered, goal-oriented employee who knows their strengths and weaknesses exactly who you want working for you? And wouldn’t you rather upskill the team members of today, so that everyone is primed to potentially become a leader? And won’t someone who’s happier in their personal life because they’re values-driven perform more effectively at work? Building spiritual capacity will set your whole organization up for success.

So how exactly do you identify what your values are?

This is an activity that needs time and reflection – something you should communicate to your team. It starts with pinpointing the activities that most excite you – professionally and personally – and when you’ve been most proud of yourself.    

Think about the situations people seek your guidance on, as well as the ones you struggle with. Then, consider the qualities in other people that get on your nerves.

Put aside some time to journal about these different points. Once you’re done, look back through your notes and circle any recurring concepts or keywords, like honesty, creativity or learning new things. These will hint at your values. Once you’ve come up with some potential core values, test them out by evaluating your reaction to their opposites. For instance, if authenticity is a value, you’ll find it difficult to stomach insincerity.

Guide your team in identifying their core values, then share these with each other. People do their best work when their job aligns with their values. So, understanding what’s driving each of your team members, means you can create an environment that speaks to those values, so people can reach their full potential.

Pillar Two: Intellectual capacity – optimizing performance

All managers dread one particular scenario: a high performing employee asks for a word, then hands in their resignation. They love their job but feel they’ve plateaued. It’s time for a fresh opportunity where they can learn something new. This loss of talent and organizational knowledge is a huge blow that can jeopardize company growth.

For most people, the desire to continuously learn is hard-wired. If an employee becomes stagnant, this desire will motivate them to find another job. In fact, a 2019 LinkedIn survey found that 94 percent of people would stay in their current job for longer if it provided quality learning opportunities. That’s why building intellectual capacity is a crucial talent retention strategy.

Intellectual capacity – the second pillar in our framework – is the ability to think, gain new knowledge, strategize and execute a plan effectively. Since these skills are unilaterally beneficial, every employee’s intellectual capacity should be expanded. And what’s more, it’ll help employees in their personal lives too – from organizing households to planning vacations.  

Creating a culture of learning is one of the best investments you can make in your company, since it will increase engagement and support employee growth at every level. It leads to employees who know how to optimize their work habits, increasing productivity while mitigating burn-out, and it supports creative thinking so you can outperform your competition.

To establish an environment that builds intellectual capacity, don’t just train employees for their existing roles. Equip them with the skills they’ll need for their future career. For instance, invite all team members to participate in quality management training, whether or not they’re on your radar for future promotion. Everyone benefits from learning management skills, like communicating effectively, delegating, empowering others and giving and receiving feedback. It also ensures that those who do step up into leadership roles have done some learning before their promotion, not after it. 

Also ensure that everyone receives training in time management, goal setting and managing inboxes and correspondence. When all employees know best practice in these areas, productivity rises across the board.

And don’t forget to encourage continued learning in personal passions too. Pursuing mastery in any form – be it creative, intellectual or athletic – exposes people to new ideas and creative solutions that can lead to breakthroughs in the workplace.

Pillar Three: Physical capacity – honor well-being

Did you know that people who only sleep five hours a night have the same cognitive capacity as someone who’s drunk? If your employees are chronically tired, stressed and reliant on caffeine to get them through the day, how can they perform at their best? As their leader, it’s up to you to create a culture that builds physical capacity in the workplace, so that everyone can thrive.

Physical capacity – the third pillar in our framework – doesn’t mean training your employees to be athletes. It means fostering well-being so that employees are energized, calm and firing on all cylinders. In this state, they’ll be able to make quality decisions and perform well in all circumstances, even stressful or demanding ones.

A high level of physical capacity is associated with sustained, high-quality performance and lower turnaround times. And this is where the pillars start to come together. People with high intellectual capacity work more effectively, which creates time and space for fostering physical capacity. The days of relentless overtime and working through lunchtime are over. By embracing capacity building strategies, your employees and leaders alike can work smarter – not longer – preventing burnout.

To support your team in building physical capacity, start with yourself. Don’t ever brag about working late or on weekends. This subtly suggests to your team that they should do the same. To reinforce this, avoid communicating outside business hours. If you like to clear your inbox on Saturday mornings so you can free up your headspace and relax, use the delayed delivery function, so that emails arrive on Monday morning.

Role model the importance of taking breaks, like blocking out one-hour each day to eat a healthy lunch and exercise or meditate. Share with your team what you enjoy doing for fun and where you’re planning to go on vacation, so that leisure has a presence in your workplace.

It’s always tempting to push through in high-performance organizations, especially if people are ambitious or new to the company. But this can lead to unhealthy habits, like being available 24/7. Counter this by clarifying the importance of physical capacity during the induction process. Make it clear that outcomes and results are what matter, not hours at the desk. This encourages people to work smart, rather than wasting time on low-priority tasks that don’t move projects forward. And with the extra time available, your employees can recharge and recuperate, so they’re ready for the next challenge.

Pillar Four: Emotional capacity – cultivating quality relationships

You’re no doubt already familiar with the concept of psychological safety. Effective managers know that innovation and growth aren’t possible unless employees feel comfortable sharing their ideas, discussing opposing views and having the opportunity to learn from mistakes. To achieve this level of safety, people need to feel comfortable with each other. And that comfort comes from being vulnerable. This is what our fourth pillar – emotional capacity – helps you achieve.

Emotional capacity is your emotional mindset and how you behave in challenging situations. It also reflects the quality of your relationships – professional and personal. Trust is the bedrock of good relationships, so your emotional capacity directly relates to how openly and effectively you connect with others.

Trust is built when people make themselves vulnerable by sharing what’s important or deeply personal to them. We all know how uncomfortable and intimidating it can be to share in this way – which is why this capacity can be difficult to build. But when we find the courage to do it, we experience inner peace and acceptance, and this supports growth and performance in the workplace.

As a leader, it’s your role to support your team through the discomfort, so that you can all reap the benefits, like improved communication between colleagues. When people feel they can be honest and open, they’re more likely to find mutually beneficial solutions that dissipate tension quickly, so that everyone can get back to the business at hand. It also empowers employees to provide constructive feedback, including to managers who might not be supporting them in the most effective way.

Building emotional capacity is an activity best handled gently and slowly, so that team members don’t feel confronted and shut down. Start by asking everyone to share their personal highlight of the week in regular meetings. This offers a glimpse into everyone’s life beyond the workplace, creating points of connection and building trust.

During one-on-one meetings, make a point of learning about your team member’s personal lives, offering support where appropriate. Again, this builds trust so that if a challenge arises, your employee feels comfortable discussing it with you.

Finally, set up a Slack channel where people can post non-work updates – like photos of pets and family gatherings, and vacation or recreation tips. Never forget that your workforce is made up of people whose lives are whole and nuanced. When these people don’t feel they must repress who they are at work, you get the very best from them. And that’s what will make your company grow and thrive.

Final summary

Taking a holistic approach to capacity building equips employees with the skills and knowledge they need to align their growth with that of your company. This type of alignment is what fuels success and consistent growth – on both individual and organizational levels. It ensures that your future leaders are primed for the roles they’re aspiring to, your innovators have the opportunities and support they need to achieve breakthroughs and that your talent is stimulated and engaged, with no notion of looking elsewhere for new professional challenges. This is how you’ll create a company that’s continuously growing without the risk of collapse.