How to support your high-performing team

Leading your team in a high-performance culture involves valuing every role and every team member, Australia’s first female Olympic Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller tells QSuper.

Competing around the world as a champion women’s modern pentathlon athlete, Kitty Chiller yearned for the one strength European opponents brought to every clash – the benefit of being in a team.

“When I competed, I’d spend four to five months overseas every year, without a team of coaches around me. And I remember being very envious of the European teams that had a support team around them,” Ms Chiller said.

Ms Chiller competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games as Australia’s first female Olympic modern pentathlete – a complex sport, which involves shooting, fencing, swimming, horse riding and running.

The importance of teamwork resonated most strongly when she became responsible for teams through roles that have included Australia’s first female Olympic Chef de Mission at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and her current position as head of Gymnastics Australia.

“I knew the importance of making sure that everybody in a team feels a part of it and has people around them supporting them, and doing all the constructive, positive things to increase performance,” she said.

Leading a team through cultural change

Ms Chiller said her aim as Chef de Mission was to change the culture of the Australian Olympic team.

Her own experience at the 2000 Games allowed her to recognise that the Olympic team had previously not been brought together ahead of the Games. So, she spent the lead up to Rio bringing potential Olympians together under a common umbrella.

“The commonality was the Olympic values and that was what bound everybody into one team,” she said.

She conducted two national roadshows where Olympians spoke to potential Australian team members of their Olympic experiences.

“It was that you’re not just a member of the 2016 Australian Olympic team, you are adding your name to a 112- year-old team that began in 1896. It’s an honour but also a responsibility,” she said.

She also determined that she needed to truly understand the needs of team members, and how they operate to perform at their peak.

“Prior to Rio, I went to do training with about 15 sports. I did training sessions with the Opals, I went played rugby with the rugby 7 boys, I went down the white water with Jess Fox, I got on a horse with one of the three-day eventers. It was so they could see I was approachable and so I actually understood their needs.”

She said the understanding she developed helped her make decisions in the best interests of the athletes.

How to manage a team to high performance

Ms Chiller said a leader needed to earn the trust and respect of whomever they were leading.

"As Chef de Mission, or team manager, all you can do is provide the environment and the opportunity to allow someone to excel and succeed.”

In any environment aiming for high-performance, it is vital to recognise the importance of culture and getting that culture right, she said.

“Is the leader setting a common vision? And is the leader inspiring everyone to aspire to that vision?

“Every single team member should feel valuable and valued, so everyone knows what their piece of the pie is that contributes to that vision.

“To me, it is easier to teach technical skills than it is teach the ability to be a part of a team and get on the bus with what we are trying to achieve culturally as well as organisationally.”

She said communication was also key. “Unless you communicate what your expectations are, you can’t expect people to adhere to them.”

Learnings for leaders

Ms Chiller said from her experience, her four top learnings for leading a high-performance team were:

• Resilience – know why you are following a path and that your decisions are being made for the right reason.
• Values – know what your values are and stick through them through thick and thin. Demonstrate your values and your integrity.
• Teamwork – collective positivity and collective support can do nothing but create a more supportive, encouraging and challenging environment.
• Vulnerability – vulnerability in a leader can be a huge thing. It makes a leader accessible, approachable, believable and honest. “It’s part of the suite of skills that staff are looking for in a leader these days, it’s the human side of it,” she said.