High Stakes Suits – Playing Your Cards Right

1. Play With the Full Deck  

Think of your team’s skillset as a deck of cards containing Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds. Clubs represent big-picture thinkers who generate innovative ideas and drive initiatives forward with their compelling vision. Spade are your implementers. The ones who translate ideas into action, manage resources effectively, and drive projects to completion with a sense of urgency. Hearts are passionate about connecting projects with purpose and working to foster collaboration between all key stakeholders. Diamonds are the detail-oriented analysts who make informed decisions by evaluating data and trends.  

The skills ~ suits concept, made popular by award-winning author and entrepreneur, Daniel Priestley can be easily applied in a corporate context to quickly identify where the perceived gaps are within an organisation. But, as the Kenny Rogers’ classic goes, “every hand’s a winner and every hands a loser”, which essentially means that all team members can possess all suits to varying extents and it is all about playing to their strengths. A balanced team is not about having identical cards or an even spread, but about having the right mix to play a winning hand at the right time.  

The role of a leader is to identify and nurture these complementary energies in a way that aligns with the headline objectives to create the most value.  

We constantly challenge ourselves to apply the theories that we put forward to clients in the context of our own business. Having worked together for six years prior to founding MCO Performance , Marie-Claire and I instinctively assigned ourselves to specific suits when we launched and found our new way of working. I’m absolutely Clubs and Hearts, whilst MC is definitely Spades and Diamonds however we recognise that it would be unconstructive to make these roles binary. We know we need to work to continually develop and ultimately as we scale, ensure we are attracting, developing and retaining a team that elevates our collective performance to a metaphorical Royal Flush. We’ve already seen this in action since Broghán has come on board. Her dominant traits of Hearts and Spades mean we’re connecting with our audience on a more meaningful level and building a brand voice that communicates what we do uniquely well consistently and authentically.   

But what about the joker?    

The Gen Z’s among us might associate the Joker with being the personality hire. This is not the case. It is everyone’s responsibility to play the Joker from time to time as this is the card that oils the wheels. It is the camaraderie and craic that make team members look forward to coming to work…even if it means you fall prey to the odd TikTok trend prank 😅     

2. Never Show Your Hand* 

*This applies if you are in a Las Vegas casino. If you are leading a high-performing team, ALWAYS show your hand.  

Radical candour is a core value at MCO Performance but that doesn't mean that the feedback is brutal or we over-analyse to provide feedback for the sake of it. Instead, we preface constructive feedback by simply asking,

“How do you want this feedback?”

This sets a boundary between our intention and the impact, and helps us to view everything through the lens of being ‘even better if’. When working to build a high-performing team, a one size fits all approach doesn't work. There needs to be equality and fairness but that does not mean everyone and/or every situation is treated exactly the same. The spectrum of human variability dictates that different people need different approaches to create the best environment for them to thrive.  

As a small team of three we see this play out in different scenarios including how we replenish our energy stores and set ourselves up for productive work blocks. I need to get up and recharge by wandering around The Kelvin , chatting to our neighbours and meeting new people in the K Lounge. For Marie-Claire, it’s total silence in a private meeting booth whereas Broghán likes to be in a shared space with others wearing headphones.  

We encounter a lot of leaders who have become frustrated in their efforts to build a high-performing team. They and their team members all want to be part of one, but misalignment of expectations and required commitment levels often leads to a chasm between where they are, and where they want to be.  

What does a fully committed leader need to look out for when building a high-performing team?  

• That the team has a shared purpose and a strong reason to work cohesively above and beyond just being a collective group of colleagues performing individual functions in silos.  

• They genuinely care and put the needs of the people as a whole ahead of their own. You can’t please everyone all the time, but strong leadership requires a degree of selflessness as well as the onus to communicate why significant decisions are taken.  

• They meet people on their terms turning the adage of treating others how you would like to be treated into treating others how they would like to be treated. This can mean giving team members between the eyes feedback, celebrating each and every project milestone, or calling rather than emailing to discuss a new brief.  

It's about setting high standards for yourself and others and doing what you say you will. Most importantly it's creating an environment of psychological safety where you have each other’s backs.  

If you are interested in exploring how MCO Performance can support your organisation in building  a culture that enables the Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds to thrive, schedule an online meeting and let’s talk about driving positive action.