In partnership with
issue #30 | date: 12/17/2025
Editors Note
I inherited a broken team.
Three people had quit in six months. Morale was in the gutter. The two people who stayed were actively job hunting. And I had four critical projects that were already behind.
My first instinct was to jump in and start fixing the work. Better processes. Clearer goals. Tighter execution.
But a mentor pulled me aside: "The work isn't your problem. Your people are."
She was right. I had inherited a team that was burned out, underappreciated, and unclear about their career paths. No amount of better project management was going to fix that.
So I stopped focusing on the work and started focusing on the people.
Six months later, the same team:
Delivered three major projects ahead of schedule
Had zero turnover
Became the team other orgs wanted to join
Here's what I learned: High-performing teams aren't built on processes. They're built on trust, clarity, and relentless investment in people.
In this issue:
The difference between high-performing and high-functioning teams
How to hire for potential, not just credentials
Tactical strategies for developing and retaining talent
Jobs for people who know how to build legendary teams
Let's talk about the only investment that actually matters.
Phedra Arthur Iruke
Editor in Chief
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Featured Job Listings
🏆 Top Picks of the Week (Hand-Picked, High-Impact Roles)
🔹 Executive/Senior Director, Global Program Management
Company: GSK
Location: Remote (Home Worker – USA)
Format: Full‑time (Remote)
Apply: Apply here
As Executive/Senior Director of Global Program Management, you will steer a flagship oncology program from strategy through execution, translating high‑level goals into actionable milestones Acting as the strategic partner to the Medicine Development Leader, you orchestrate complex multi‑tumor plans that integrate clinical, regulatory, CMC and commercial elements, ensuring disciplined delivery and proactive risk managementSuccess requires operational rigor, data‑driven stakeholder influence and the courage to challenge assumptions to accelerate progress without compromising quality or safety
🔹 Program Director
Company: US WorldMeds
Location: Remote (Indiana, US)
Format: Full‑time (Remote)
Apply: Apply here
This fully remote Program Director role is based in Indiana and appears to be a leadership position overseeing program operations across US WorldMedsThe posting lacks detailed responsibilities, but candidates should expect to provide strategic and operational direction, coordinate cross‑functional teams and drive program execution in a remote environment.
🔹 Chief of Staff
Company: Arine
Location: San Francisco, CA
Format: Full‑time (On‑site)
Apply: Apply here
Arine, a healthcare technology company working to improve medication management, seeks a Chief of Staff to partner with the CEO as a trusted advisor and force multiplier. You’ll translate the company’s vision into execution, align leadership priorities, and ensure strategic and operational engines run smoothly across the organization. Candidates must thrive in ambiguity, balance high‑level strategy with hands‑on execution, and collaborate with teams to deliver measurable improvements in patient outcomes.
🔹 Chief of Staff – North America
Company: Revantage
Location: Dallas, TX / Chicago, IL
Format: Full‑time (Hybrid)
Apply: Apply here
Revantage, a Blackstone Real Estate portfolio company, is hiring a hybrid‑work Chief of Staff to support its executive leadership team. The role drives strategic planning, oversees cross‑functional initiatives, manages client meeting preparation and budgets, and improves internal and external communications to enable effective decision‑making and optimized operations. Responsibilities include identifying organizational friction points, prioritizing executives’ time, developing internal communications strategies, preparing quarterly and annual highlight decks, and partnering with leaders on strategic plans.
🔹 Director of Product Operations – Elsevier Clinical Solutions
Company: Elsevier (RELX)
Location: Pennsylvania / Massachusetts / Florida / New Jersey / Georgia
Format: Full‑time (Hybrid)
Apply: Apply here
Elsevier is seeking a Director of Product Operations to lead its Product Excellence team within Clinical Solutions. This strategic role partners with the SVP of Product to define and execute product strategy, drives transformation and scaling of operational effectiveness, and embeds best practices that elevate how product and engineering teams operate. You’ll manage multiple complex initiatives in a fast‑paced, matrixed environment, prioritizing opportunities to improve effectiveness and efficiency while integrating emerging technologies (e.g., AI, analytics) to enhance product delivery.
📌 IC & Manager Roles
Role | Company | Location (City, State) | Format | Apply (with direct link) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Senior Product Operations Manager | Branch Metrics | Remote – Ontario, Canada | Remote | |
Senior Technical Program Manager | Alto Pharmacy | Remote – Texas/South Carolina/Maryland | Remote | |
Technical Program Manager, Antigravity | DeepMind | Mountain View, CA | On‑site/Hybrid | |
Senior IT Technical Program Manager | Cloudflare | Austin, TX | Hybrid | |
Associate, Business Operations | Jerry | Remote (US) | Remote | |
Business Operations Coordinator | LineVision, Inc. | Boston, MA | Hybrid (2–4 days/week on‑site) | |
Business Operations Program Manager | Polly | Remote (US) | Remote | |
Project Manager – Infrastructure | Sally Beauty (SBH) | (Location unspecified – role drives IT initiatives across cloud and on‑premises infrastructure) | Unspecified | |
Project Manager | GSP Marketing Technologies | Media, PA | On‑site/Hybrid | |
Change Management Manager | Ingredion | Westchester, IL or Bridgewater, NJ | Hybrid (3 days on‑site, 2 days remote) | |
Business Change Manager Sr | Elevance Health | Tampa, FL; Atlanta, GA; Columbus, GA; Miami, FL | Hybrid (1–2 days/week on‑site) |
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Read our guide to find out why growth marketers should make sure CTV is part of their 2026 media mix.
Bots Take the Wheel
🤖 Auto-Track Team Health Metrics
The Problem: You don't know your team is struggling until someone quits. By then, it's too late.
The Fix: Automate team health monitoring so you can intervene early.
Real Use Cases:
Slack + Dashboard: Monitor Team Communication Patterns
Logic: Track message volume, response times, and after-hours activity by team member. Flag anomalies (sudden silence, excessive after-hours work, short/terse responses)
How: Slack Analytics API → Pull weekly metrics per team member (messages sent, avg response time, messages sent after 6 PM) → Compare to baseline → If deviation > 30%, flag in dashboard
Impact: Early warning system for burnout or disengagement. Managers can check in before problems escalate.
Jira + Notion: Track Workload Distribution
Logic: Every week, calculate tickets assigned per person vs. velocity. Flag anyone consistently over/under-loaded.
How: Jira API → Query active tickets by assignee → Calculate: tickets assigned, story points, avg cycle time → If someone has >150% of team average for 3+ weeks, create alert
Impact: Prevents burnout from uneven distribution. Ensures work is balanced across team.
Calendar + Survey: Auto-Send Pulse Checks After Heavy Weeks
Logic: If someone has >25 hours of meetings in a week, auto-send a 2-question pulse survey: "How are you feeling?" (1-5 scale) + "What can I do to help?" (open text)
How: Google Calendar API → Calculate meeting hours per person weekly → If > 25 hours, trigger Typeform survey → Responses logged in Airtable → Manager gets weekly digest
Impact: Creates regular check-in mechanism without scheduling more meetings. Shows you care.
TL;DR: Don't wait for exit interviews to learn what's wrong. Build systems that surface team health issues early—communication patterns, workload imbalances, meeting overload—so you can intervene before people burn out or quit.
Visionary Voices
📝 Patrick Lencioni, Founder of The Table Group | Author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team \ Pioneer of the Organizational Health Movement
Patrick Lencioni is the pioneer of the organizational health movement and the author of 13 bestselling books, including The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, The Advantage, and The Ideal Team Player. For the past 25 years, Pat and his firm, The Table Group, have provided leaders with products and services to make their organizations more effective, their teams more cohesive, and their employees more fulfilled.
On What Breaks Teams:
Lencioni's The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, first published in 2002, describes many pitfalls that teams face as they seek to "grow together" and explores the fundamental causes of organizational politics and team failure.
The five dysfunctions he identifies are:
Absence of Trust – The fear of being vulnerable prevents team members from building trust with each other
Fear of Conflict – Teams that lack trust are incapable of engaging in unfiltered debate
Lack of Commitment – Feigning buy-in for group decisions creates ambiguity throughout the organization
Avoidance of Accountability – Ducking the responsibility to call peers on counterproductive behavior which sets low standards
Inattention to Results – Focusing on personal success, status and ego before team success
On Trust as Foundation:
Patrick's first dysfunction—absence of trust—is the foundation everything else rests on. He defines politics as "when people choose their words and actions based on how they want others to react rather than based on what they really think."
His controversial take: vulnerability-based trust is built through personal disclosure, not just working together. Team members need to be comfortable admitting mistakes, asking for help, and showing weakness.
On Productive Conflict:
Patrick argues that teams afraid of conflict resort to "artificial harmony"—everyone nods along, but nobody says what they really think. The result? Bad decisions that everyone privately disagrees with.
He advocates for productive, ideological conflict—passionate debate about ideas, not personal attacks. The best teams argue fiercely about the work, then go to lunch together.
On Commitment:
Lencioni argues that the two biggest obstacles to commitment are consensus and the need for certainty. Instead of trying to find a decision that would please everyone, which is impossible, it is enough to make people feel that their ideas have been considered.
His framework: "Disagree and commit." You don't need consensus. You need everyone's voice heard, then clear decisions made, then full commitment—even from those who disagreed.
On Accountability:
The best teams hold each other accountable—peer to peer, not just top-down. If only the leader enforces standards, the team never truly owns outcomes.
On Results:
Teams willing to address the five dysfunctions can experience meaningful benefits by focusing on collective results over individual status or departmental goals.
What You Can Learn From Him:
Trust is built through vulnerability – Leaders go first in admitting mistakes and asking for help
Conflict is necessary – Healthy teams argue about ideas passionately
Commitment requires clarity, not consensus – Make sure everyone's heard, then decide and commit
Peer accountability > manager accountability – Build cultures where team members hold each other to high standards
Where to Learn More:
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Book) – The classic that has sold over three million copies and continues to be a fixture on national best-seller lists
The Ideal Team Player (Book) – His framework for hiring: Humble, Hungry, Smart
The Table Group – Tools and resources dedicated to helping teams and companies thrive by being cohesive, engaged, organized, and built for long-term success
The Six Types of Working Genius – His latest model for understanding team dynamics
Why He Matters to Delivery Professionals:
Delivery leaders build cross-functional teams constantly—engineers, designers, product managers, operations. These teams often lack trust, avoid conflict, and optimize for individual outcomes over collective results.
Patrick's frameworks give you a diagnostic tool: When your team isn't performing, which dysfunction are you seeing? Then tactical interventions to fix it.
Final Word:
Patrick Lencioni reveals that like it or not, all teams are potentially dysfunctional. This is inevitable because they are made up of fallible, imperfect human beings. But teams that face dysfunction head-on and build vulnerability-based trust, embrace healthy conflict, commit to decisions, hold each other accountable, and focus on collective results consistently outperform more talented teams that don't.
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Professional Development
📚 Decoding Building High-Performing Teams
Let's start with a distinction:
High-functioning teams execute well. They hit deadlines, follow processes, produce quality work.
High-performing teams do all that and continuously get better, innovate, attract top talent, and make everyone around them better.
Most managers build high-functioning teams. The best build high-performing ones.
Here's how.
1. The Foundation: Hire for Potential, Not Just Credentials
The Mistake:
Most hiring focuses on: "Have they done this exact job before?"
The Problem:
You'll only hire people who look like your current team
You'll miss high-potential people without traditional backgrounds
You'll optimize for "safe" hires, not transformational ones
The Alternative: Hire for Trajectory
Ask:
How fast do they learn? (More important than what they know)
Do they seek feedback? (Growth mindset indicator)
Are they self-aware? (Can they articulate their weaknesses?)
Do they make others better? (Force multiplier vs. individual contributor)
Framework: The 70-20-10 Rule
When evaluating candidates:
70% = Potential (Can they grow into the role and beyond?)
20% = Skills (Do they have enough to start contributing?)
10% = Experience (Have they done something similar?)
Most people hire 10-20-70. Flip it.
Interview Questions That Reveal Potential:
Instead of: "Tell me about a time you managed a complex program."
Ask: "Tell me about a time you had to learn something completely new under pressure. How did you approach it?"
Instead of: "What's your experience with Jira/Asana/tool X?"
Ask: "You'll need to learn our tooling quickly. How do you typically ramp up on new systems?"
Instead of: "Have you managed stakeholders at this level before?"
Ask: "Tell me about a time you influenced someone more senior than you without formal authority."
The Pattern: Focus on how they think and how they learn, not just what they've done.
2. Onboarding: The First 90 Days Set The Trajectory
The Reality:
Most onboarding sucks. It's a checklist of accounts to set up and docs to read.
The Result:
New hires feel lost for months
They don't know who to ask for help
They question if they made the right choice
Productivity takes 6+ months to ramp
The Fix: Design Onboarding for Belonging + Competence
Week 1: Belonging
Goal: Make them feel welcome and part of the team.
Tactics:
Day 1: Welcome message from the team (not just you)
Assign an onboarding buddy (not their manager—a peer)
Schedule 1:1s with every team member in first 2 weeks
Share the team's "Operating Manual": How we work, communicate, make decisions
Week 2-4: Context
Goal: Understand the business, the team, the problems.
Tactics:
Shadow key meetings (even if they won't run them yet)
Read past project post-mortems (learn from history)
Meet key stakeholders (build relationships early)
30-60-90 day plan: Co-create with them, don't dictate
Week 5-8: Early Wins
Goal: Ship something meaningful.
Tactics:
Assign a "first project" that's real but not critical
Pair them with a senior team member for the first deliverable
Celebrate the win publicly when they ship
Week 9-12: Independence
Goal: Operating with less oversight.
Tactics:
Gradual handoff: More ownership, less hand-holding
First retrospective: "What's working? What's not? What do you need?"
Career conversation: "Where do you want to grow?"
The Metric: Great onboarding means new hires are productive and confident by day 90.
3. Development: Make Growth Explicit
The Problem:
Most managers say "we invest in people" but have no system for it.
The Result:
High performers plateau and leave
People don't know what "good" looks like at the next level
Development happens accidentally, not intentionally
The Fix: The Growth Framework
A. Career Ladders (What "Good" Looks Like at Each Level)
Create clear definitions for each role level:
IC → Senior IC → Staff → Principal
(or whatever your levels are)
For each level, define:
Technical skills
Scope (individual → team → org → company)
Autonomy (guided → independent → multiplier)
Impact (execution → strategy → vision)
Example:
IC Technical Program Manager:
Scope: Single project
Autonomy: Needs direction on approach
Impact: Executes plans others create
Senior TPM:
Scope: Multiple projects or one complex program
Autonomy: Defines approach, escalates decisions
Impact: Creates frameworks others use
Staff TPM:
Scope: Cross-team initiatives
Autonomy: Operates independently, sets strategy
Impact: Shapes how the org delivers
Why This Matters: People can't grow if they don't know what the next level requires.
B. Individual Development Plans (The 70-20-10 Model)
Development happens through:
70% On-the-Job Experience (stretch assignments)
20% Learning from Others (mentorship, coaching)
10% Formal Training (courses, conferences)
How To Apply:
In every 1:1, ask:
70%: "What's the hardest thing you're working on right now? How is it stretching you?"
20%: "Who could you learn from? Should I connect you?"
10%: "What skill do you want to build? What resources would help?"
C. Quarterly Growth Reviews
Don't wait for annual reviews.
Every Quarter:
Reflection: What did you accomplish? What did you learn?
Feedback: What's going well? Where can you improve?
Goals: What are you working on next quarter to grow?
The Pattern: Growth is a conversation, not a once-a-year event.
4. Feedback: The Breakfast of Champions
The Problem:
Most people avoid giving feedback until performance reviews. By then, it's too late.
The Reality:
High performers crave feedback. Lack of feedback is why they leave.
Framework: Radical Candor (Care Personally + Challenge Directly)
Bad Feedback:
Ruinous Empathy: "You're doing great!" (when they're not)
Obnoxious Aggression: "That was terrible." (no care, just criticism)
Manipulative Insincerity: "It's fine." (you don't care and you're lying)
Good Feedback (Radical Candor):
Care about the person
Tell them the truth
Be specific
Example:
Bad: "Good job on that presentation."
Better: "Your presentation was clear and well-structured. One thing to improve: You lost the room when you went into too much technical detail. Next time, save that for the appendix and keep the main narrative at the business level."
The Formula:
[Specific observation] + [Impact] + [Suggestion]
"When you [did X], it resulted in [Y]. Next time, try [Z]."
How Often:
Real-time: Give feedback within 24-48 hours
1:1s: Every meeting should include some feedback (positive and developmental)
Quarterly: Deeper feedback tied to growth goals
The Rule: Praise in public, criticize in private. Always.
5. Retention: Why Good People Leave (And How To Keep Them)
The Top 5 Reasons People Quit:
No growth opportunity (they've plateaued)
Bad manager (you, specifically)
Not feeling valued (they're underappreciated)
Misalignment with values (the work doesn't matter to them)
Better offer elsewhere (money/title/flexibility)
How To Prevent Each:
1. No growth → Create Stretch Assignments
Don't wait for a promotion to give someone new challenges.
Examples:
Lead a cross-functional initiative
Mentor a junior team member
Represent the team in exec meetings
Own a strategic project outside their normal scope
The Key: Growth doesn't require a new title. It requires new challenges.
2. Bad Manager → Get Feedback On Yourself
Ask your team (anonymously or in 1:1s):
"What should I keep doing?"
"What should I stop doing?"
"What should I start doing?"
Then actually change based on the feedback.
3. Not Feeling Valued → Recognition + Appreciation
Public recognition: Call out wins in team meetings, Slack, or company all-hands
Private appreciation: "I noticed [X]. That was excellent. Thank you."
Compensation: If they're crushing it and underpaid, fix it before they leave
The Pattern: Make sure they know their impact matters.
4. Misalignment → Clarify Purpose
Help them see how their work connects to something meaningful.
Bad: "We need to ship this feature."
Good: "This feature will help 10,000 small businesses manage their finances better. That's why it matters."
5. Better Offer → Compete on More Than Money
You can't always match external offers. But you can compete on:
Growth: "You'll learn more here in 2 years than anywhere else in 5."
Impact: "You'll own [X], which will affect millions of users."
Team: "You're surrounded by people you respect and want to work with."
Flexibility: "We trust you to work how you work best."
The Reality: People leave for money when they're already checked out. Fix the underlying issues before the offer comes.
6. Team Dynamics: The Unspoken Rules That Matter
Every team has norms—spoken or unspoken. High-performing teams make them explicit.
Create a Team Operating Manual
Answer these questions together:
How We Communicate:
Slack for quick questions, email for formal communication, meetings for decisions
Response time expectations: 4 hours for Slack, 24 hours for email
When to escalate: If blocked for >24 hours, escalate immediately
How We Make Decisions:
Who makes which types of decisions (use RACI or similar)
How we handle disagreement (debate, decide, commit)
How We Give Feedback:
We give feedback directly and kindly
We assume positive intent
We debate ideas, not people
How We Handle Conflict:
Address issues directly with the person involved first
If unresolved, involve the manager
We don't let issues fester
How We Celebrate:
We call out wins publicly
We do [team tradition] when we hit milestones
We learn from failures without blame
Why This Matters:
When norms are explicit, people know what "good" looks like. When they're implicit, people guess—and often guess wrong.
7. The Team Health Check
Use this quarterly to assess team health:
Rate your team (1-5) on each dimension:
Trust:
Team members are comfortable being vulnerable with each other
People admit mistakes without fear
Team members ask for help when needed
Conflict:
We debate ideas passionately
We don't avoid difficult conversations
We separate ideas from people
Commitment:
Everyone commits fully to decisions, even if they disagreed
We're clear on priorities
We don't revisit decisions unnecessarily
Accountability:
Team members hold each other to high standards
Poor performance gets addressed quickly
We don't rely only on the manager to enforce standards
Results:
We prioritize team success over individual success
We celebrate collective wins
People aren't protecting their turf
Scoring:
20-25: You're crushing it
15-19: Solid team with room to grow
Below 15: Time to address dysfunction
What To Do:
Pick your lowest-scoring area and focus there for the next quarter.
TL;DR: High-performing teams aren't built on processes—they're built on people. Hire for potential (70%) over experience (10%). Design onboarding for belonging and early wins in the first 90 days. Make growth explicit with career ladders, quarterly development reviews, and the 70-20-10 model. Give frequent, specific feedback using Radical Candor. Retain talent by creating growth opportunities, recognizing contributions, and aligning work to purpose. Make team norms explicit in an Operating Manual. Assess team health quarterly using trust, conflict, commitment, accountability, and results.
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The Delivery Career Decoder shows why you’re already qualified for more—and how to prove it.
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Until next time,
The Business of Delivery
Quiet moves. Bold Careers.