Great teams don't happen by accident - with Nic Tinnion
In technology, we often talk about high-performing teams as though they are simply the product of hiring exceptional people.
Find the best talent. Recruit people with the right technical skills. Assemble experienced individuals and performance will naturally follow.
Yet, after speaking with Nic Tinnion, Senior Director of Technology, on a recent episode of Culture Corner, I was left thinking that we've been asking the wrong question.
Perhaps the real question isn't, "How do we hire better people?"
Perhaps it's,"What kind of environment do leaders need to create for talented people to consistently perform at their best?"
Throughout our conversation, Nic rarely spoke about technology itself. Instead, she spoke about trust, transparency, relationships, collaboration, recognition and understanding people. Listening to her experiences, it became clear that these weren't isolated leadership ideas; they formed a connected philosophy about how great teams are built.
None of these behaviours happen by accident. They are deliberate choices that leaders make every single day, and over time those choices shape the culture, performance and resilience of their teams.
Here are the leadership lessons that stood out most.
1. Trust begins long before people choose to trust you
Many leaders think trust is something that develops naturally over time. In reality, trust is often built or damaged through the everyday decisions leaders make, particularly during periods of uncertainty or change.
One theme Nic returned to repeatedly was the importance of providing context. Too often, leaders become focused on communicating what is happening and overlook the importance of explaining why.
As she put it:
"I always explain the why."
That doesn't mean sharing every confidential discussion or commercial decision. Rather, it means giving people enough information to understand the bigger picture and how their work contributes to it.
When people understand the purpose behind a decision, they're far more likely to support it, even if they don't necessarily agree with every aspect of it.
The opposite is equally true.
When information is missing, people naturally fill the gaps themselves. Assumptions replace facts, uncertainty grows and trust begins to erode. Most leaders have experienced this. A lack of communication rarely creates neutrality; it creates speculation.
Nic spoke about finding the balance between openness and confidentiality. She shares as much as she reasonably can because she recognises that transparency helps people feel part of the journey rather than simply recipients of decisions.
For senior leaders, that is an important distinction. Transparency isn't about telling people everything. It's about sharing enough context to help people understand where the organisation is heading and why their work matters.
Leadership takeaway
Ask yourself:
Does my team genuinely understand why we're doing this?
Have I shared the context behind the decision, not just the outcome?
Am I assuming people understand more than they actually do?
People are far more likely to commit to decisions when they understand the thinking behind them.
2. Listening builds relationships. Action builds trust.
Most organisations encourage leaders to seek feedback.
Far fewer consistently demonstrate that feedback results in action.
One of the strongest insights from our conversation came when Nic reflected on psychological safety and building trust within teams.
She said:
"Building trust has to be on the back of action."
That simple sentence captures something many organisations still struggle with.
Creating opportunities for people to speak openly is important. Running engagement surveys, retrospectives or listening sessions all have value. But if nothing visibly changes afterwards, people quickly conclude that their views don't really matter. Eventually, they stop sharing them.
Nic explained that trust isn't built simply because leaders listen well. Trust grows when people see that their concerns have been considered and that leaders are willing to act where they can. Equally important is being honest when something can't change.
People don't expect leaders to solve every problem. They do expect leaders to acknowledge problems, explain decisions and close the feedback loop.
It's a subtle difference, but one that fundamentally changes how people experience leadership.
As leaders, we often underestimate how much credibility is built simply by coming back to people and saying, "We heard you. Here's what we're going to do." Equally, saying "We heard you. Here's why we can't." demonstrates respect and honesty.
Silence rarely does.
Leadership takeaway
Whenever your team gives feedback, ask yourself three questions:
What are we changing?
What aren't we changing?
Have we explained why?
People don't need every suggestion to be accepted. They simply need to know they've been heard.
3. High-performing teams are designed, not assembled
One of the most interesting parts of our conversation was how little Nic spoke about technical capability in isolation.
Instead, she repeatedly returned to understanding people.
"Know your people. Know how to get the best out of them."
It's a simple statement, but one that carries significant weight.
For Nic, leadership isn't about treating everyone the same. It's about recognising that every individual brings different strengths, motivations, communication styles and ambitions.
She spoke about deliberately thinking beyond technical skills when building teams. Some people thrive with particular stakeholders. Others naturally bring challenge into discussions. Some are energised by ambiguity, while others perform best when given structure and clarity.
Understanding those differences allows leaders to create teams that complement one another rather than simply filling organisational charts.
Nic also reflected on experiences where leadership teams had become too similar. Everyone agreed. Everyone saw problems in the same way. On the surface, it felt harmonious. In reality, it limited challenge and ultimately weakened decision-making.
Healthy disagreement isn't something to eliminate. It's something to design for.
This was a powerful reminder that high-performing teams don't emerge because talented people happen to work together. They emerge because leaders intentionally bring together different perspectives and create an environment where those perspectives can be heard.
Too often, we allocate work based purely on capacity. Who's available? Who has time?
Nic encourages leaders to ask a different question.
Who's best placed to succeed in this situation?
That shift in thinking changes everything.
Leadership takeaway
Before assigning your next major initiative, consider whether you're allocating work based on availability alone or deliberately matching people's strengths, personalities and communication styles to the challenge ahead.
4. Culture is built through hundreds of small leadership moments
Culture is often discussed as though it's something organisations create through values, mission statements or annual engagement surveys. While those things certainly have a place, Nic described culture in much more practical terms. In her experience, culture is built through the small leadership behaviours that are repeated every day. Individually they may seem insignificant, but together they shape how people feel about coming to work, collaborating with colleagues and contributing to the team.
One example she shared was the way she regularly recognises people for specific contributions. Rather than waiting for annual awards or major project milestones, she makes a conscious effort to acknowledge the everyday behaviours that make teams successful. Whether someone has turned around a difficult piece of work under pressure, supported a colleague or quietly solved a complex problem, she ensures they know their contribution has been noticed.
Generic praise quickly becomes background noise. Telling someone, "Great job everyone," rarely has the same impact as saying, "Thank you for turning that presentation around in two days," or recognising someone for stepping in to support a colleague at a critical moment. People remember being seen, and those moments reinforce the behaviours that leaders want to encourage.
The same principle applies to hybrid working. Rather than asking how to persuade people back into the office, Nic encourages leaders to think differently. The question isn't, "How many days should people be in?" It's "What reason are we giving people to come together?"
Some work is naturally suited to remote environments. Deep concentration, planning and administrative tasks can often be completed more effectively from home. However, relationship building, collaborative problem-solving and creative discussions are different. Whiteboarding ideas, debating options and building trust happen much more naturally when people share the same space.
The lesson is that culture isn't created through policies alone. It is built through hundreds of small leadership moments that communicate what matters. Recognition, collaboration and genuine appreciation may appear minor in isolation, but repeated consistently they become the foundation of high-performing teams.
Leadership takeaway
Don't underestimate the cumulative impact of small leadership behaviours. Specific recognition, meaningful conversations, shared problem-solving and genuine appreciation may seem insignificant on their own, but over time they become the foundations of strong cultures.
5. Great leaders create the conditions for performance
As our conversation came to a close, one thought kept returning to me. At no point did Nic describe leadership as having all the answers. She never suggested that leaders should carry every challenge themselves or be the smartest person in the room. Instead, she consistently described leadership as creating an environment where other people could do their very best work.
One story captured this philosophy perfectly. Nic spoke about preparing for an important presentation to senior executives, knowing that every recommendation would be challenged and every technical assumption questioned. Rather than preparing alone, she involved her team throughout the process, asking them to test every scenario, challenge every assumption and identify any weaknesses before the presentation.
As she explained, she encouraged the team to "try everything." They understood the significance of the presentation because she had taken the time to explain why it mattered. They weren't simply completing another task; they were contributing to something important.
When the presentation was successful, the achievement wasn't viewed as Nic's success alone. It belonged to the whole team because everyone had played a part in reaching the outcome.
That story illustrates an important distinction between managing people and leading them. Managers often feel responsible for delivering every answer themselves. Great leaders create ownership. They involve people in solving problems, encourage challenge, build confidence and allow individuals to contribute in meaningful ways. In doing so, they don't simply improve performance on one project; they strengthen the capability of the team for every challenge that follows.
Leadership takeaway
Ask yourself whether you're solving problems for your team or creating opportunities for your team to solve problems with you. The latter builds confidence, ownership and ultimately much stronger performance.
Final thought
Reflecting on my conversation with Nic, I was struck by how rarely she talked about technology itself. Instead, she focused on the leadership behaviours that enable talented people to thrive. Explaining the why, building trust through action, understanding individuals, encouraging diverse thinking, creating opportunities for collaboration and recognising people's contributions all formed part of a consistent philosophy rather than isolated leadership techniques.
None of these behaviours are particularly dramatic, and none produce overnight results. However, when practised consistently they create something far more valuable than short-term performance. They create teams that trust one another, challenge ideas constructively, adapt to change and remain engaged through periods of uncertainty. Those are the teams that continue to perform long after the excitement of a new strategy or transformation programme has faded.
Too often, organisations search for high performance by looking externally for exceptional talent. Nic's experiences offer a different perspective. Great leaders don't simply find talented people; they create environments where talented people can flourish together.
That, perhaps, was the biggest lesson I took from our conversation.
High-performing teams aren't built by having the smartest people. They're built by leaders who intentionally create the environment where great performance becomes possible.