As an NLP Trainer I have worked with many teams over the years, where many stakeholders wanted me to help them create high performance teams.
These were exciting assignments for me. I knew it would be highly visible to see the difference between starting point and end of project. Unleashing potential in an individual was thrilling enough, what more a team!

​Observing team dynamics over many years of consulting, having also been trained to work with the unconscious mind, I realised in many occurrences of miscommunication, that the root cause came from the mis-use of language.
 
So simple and fundamental to this, is the use of positive rather than negative language. As I command someone to “not think of a pink elephant” that can’t possibly happen. You can’t not do something. I have just instructed you (at the unconscious level), to create a picture, sound and feeling of a pink elephant. 

​Conflict in the workplace is a given so it’s time to get comfortable with it. Seeing arguments, disagreements and misunderstandings as run of the mill daily occurrences, will create a mindset that is ready to take anything on.
 
It’s all part of communication problems at work that are to be expected when a group of people get together for a common outcome. The diversity of minds makes me curious and accepting as a team manager. 

In my years of installing NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) tools in the workplace, I have come across a large percentage of team managers possessing inadequate strategies to unleash the best performance from their teams. Often team members are expected to perform and meet KPI’s that have no or little support as to “how to” make goals happen.
For today’s context, it isn’t sufficient to just be a headcount with a title of Team Leader / Manager, if your intention is to produce exceptional  performance. The bigger job is to understand behaviour, elevating teams to bigger outcomes.