Don’t tell smart people what to do. Give them autonomy and allow them to take risks.

Your team’s purpose must be concrete and inspirational. Here’s a way to define it.

Thank and recognise people openly. This is a small, low effort task that helps build team cohesion.

If you have direct reports who manage other people, you must meet these people directly, without their bosses. This helps you keep your “ear to the ground”.

You won’t know if your changes make a difference, until you have indicators and metrics in place. Use the leading and lagging indicators in this method, as your sensible default.

Identify your team values using a short, one hour workshop. By the end of this exercise, you’ll have a list of values and rough notes about what they mean to you.