How to develop a resilient team
Most of the time when I’m reading about the qualities and skills a great leader needs, the focus is on the leader themselves rather than the needs of the people they lead. And while I often subscribe to what is said, I think sometimes it pays to shift the focus.
This Gallup report I recently read about the four needs of followers does just that. Rather than focussing solely on aspirational, generic leadership qualities, it highlights the benefits of paying attention to your people first when aiming to develop a resilient, effective team.
Mā mua ka kite a muri, mā muri ka ora a mua
Those who lead give sight to those who follow,
those who follow give life to those who lead
And as I read it, it occurred to me that if leaders could change just one of these four needs, it could make a significant difference. So, here’s a mid-year challenge for you. Designed to be completed in just two weeks, not only is this exercise quick and easy to complete, but going through the reflective element will help build resilience both in yourself and in your team, inspiring people to work towards a common goal, and enabling them to collaborate more effectively.
What are the Four Needs?
Before you tackle the following self review exercises, take a quick look at the numbered list below, and consider which are you want to work on first. As you do so, consider the big picture in terms of how each of the four aspects look in your school right now.
For example, at the time of writing, for school leaders in the Tasman District, I would imagine ‘hope’ is being able to support your community with what they need while at the same, still looking after your own hauora. If you are in Auckland, ‘hope’ might be providing reassurance that you can find the right staff for any teaching vacancies you have. Essentially, ‘hope’ will look different for you according to where you are and what you are facing at any particular moment.
The four identified needs in order of importance, according to Gallup’s research are:
- Hope – purpose and vision, growth and development, autonomy
- Trust – transparency, teamwork
- Compassion – to feel cared about and listened to
- Stability – structure, routine and accountability
The research shows that Hope is the dominant need by a mile (56%) with Trust in 2nd place at 33%, and Compassion and Stability coming in at 7% & 4% respectively. An understatement to say that’s a big difference across the board (and these are global statistics), however, when thinking about your own situation, your peoples’ most pressing needs may well be within the 4%.
How do they help make a resilient team?
Regardless of whether your school is performing well, or whether you have challenges to overcome, as the school leader you need to be able to manage change effectively.
From my observation, schools that are most resilient to change (whether to the environment, staffing, or government policy for example), are those with a strongly embedded localised curriculum, and a team who collaborate well.
These schools typically have a strong shared vision and clearly articulated values, fit for purpose systems and processes, and a strong kaupapa. When all of these things are in place, it means people can be effective regardless of what is going on around them. And often, this strong foundation exists because it is built upon particular strength in the four identified areas.
Expanding on the Four Needs
As the research shows everything starts with number one, ‘Hope’. And the way I see it, the precursor to developing hope is having a really strong sense of purpose that inspires people, and galvanises them towards the same end.
The research also confirms that the more senior the leader is, the more important the need for them to provide a strong level of hope to the people they lead. This means if you are the principal, it’s vital that you intentionally work on making sure that everyone knows what you stand for, and what you want to achieve for your school, its people and community.
The next most important need is to build trust, and to do this, you need to not only talk about your vision, you must act upon it, making sure that everybody is intentionally working towards achieving your annual and long term goals.
And of course, as you do so, be sure to lead with compassion (the third highest need in the research). Everyone in your team needs to feel a sense of belonging in terms of feeling heard, cared about and knowing that their opinions and contributions matter.
Fourth on the list, and unsurprisingly, (especially in the ever changing environment of education), it’s important as a leader that you provide a sense of stability in our unpredictable world.
For instance, a leader who responds rather than reacts and who keeps things in perspective can create surety. In practical terms, this can be done by keeping things manageable; having clear routines and processes that help people do their job (such as workable reporting systems), and opportunities to improve in areas that are important to them.
How to measure your performance
So how can you quickly measure how well you stack up when it comes to meeting peoples’ needs? One way is to complete this short Four Needs self-review sheet. You can then reflect on your answers and identify areas where you do well, areas where you might need to improve, and then set one specific goal to work on (remember: Rome wasn’t built in a day).
Once you’ve run through the self-review exercise, it can be very helpful and insightful to undertake it with your senior leadership team. This Four Needs leadership team template looks at the same aspects but from a team perspective. Just as with your individual reflection, it’s a great way to measure strengths, celebrate successes, identify weak spots, and set new goals.
And then, if you really want to go the ‘whole hog’ this Four Needs staff feedback template provides an opportunity for your staff to give your leadership team feedback on how well they feel their needs are met.
Warning!
Because feedback can sometimes feel brutal when it comes out of the blue, I strongly recommend that you work through the self-review sheet and leadership team template first. This will enable you to have honestly identified your strengths and areas for growth and you’ll be better positioned to review the feedback with an open mind!
How to monitor progress
This is intended to be a quick exercise/process, so don’t overthink it (there’s always time for a 360° another day). Once you’ve run through the Four Needs reflection sheets, either on your own or with the team, the next step is to make a plan for the area you’ll address first based on the feedback received.
There’ll be an action plan of attack in an upcoming blog, but in the meantime if you’re keen to get going with your review, this Impact vs Effort matrix is a great tool to get you started.
Hopefully you have similar exercises in your tool kit for when you are preparing your annual plan, but if not, pop this one in there so that you remember to revisit these needs when you’re thinking ahead. And also, remember Rome wasn’t built in a day, so take it one step at a time as it’s over time that improvement will happen for your school.
Reference:
Gallup. (2025). Global Leadership Report: What Followers Want. Gallup. https://www.gallup.com/analytics/656315/leadership-needs-of-followers.aspx
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