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Mastering The Metrics Of Team Success · The Science of Leading

• 0:00
  Okay Edwin, let's jump right in-so,
• 0:02
  "team effectiveness" is one of those terms people throw around,
• 0:05
  but almost no one actually defines.
• 0:07
  I mean, so many leaders just... look at the results and say,
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  "Hey, the team's effective, we hit the deadline,
• 0:12
  right?" But there's more under the hood,
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  isn't there?
• 0:14
  Absolutely, Claire.
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  You know, you see it all the time-teams that rack up the short-term results
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  and everyone thinks, "Excellent,
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  we're high performing." But real effectiveness is not about sprinting
• 0:26
  to the finish line once.
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  It's about reliably producing strong results time after time,
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  and-just as importantly-doing it without burning people out or letting
• 0:36
  quality slip through the cracks.
• 0:36
  Right,
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  and that feels so relatable for me.
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  I-I mean, early in my career, I led this product team.
• 0:43
  We shipped so much.
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  But honestly, if I'm being blunt,
• 0:46
  a lot of us were kind of dying inside?
• 0:48
  Like, we hit every goal but at the cost of,
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  like, insane hours, people skipping vacations,
• 0:53
  reworking things over and over... We looked "high performance" on the surface,
• 0:57
  but underneath-there was burnout,
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  snappy Slack threads, people not talking to each other.
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  That's a classic
• 1:03
  pattern.
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  The mistake is mixing up team performance-the results you see in the
• 1:07
  moment-with long-term effectiveness.
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  Sustainable teams can adjust quickly when priorities change,
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  they handle conflict without blowing up trust,
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  and the wheels don't fall off if one key person is out.
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  If you only track the outcome,
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  you'll catch the problems too late.
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  So we're really talking about three
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  pieces, right?
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  There's outcomes-what actually got delivered-then the processes,
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  like how the work really happens... how decisions are made,
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  what the handoffs look like, how clear everyone's roles are.
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  And then there's staying power: Can that team keep it up,
• 1:41
  or is everyone, you know, propped up by adrenaline and last-minute heroics?
• 1:41
  Exactly.
• 1:47
  And you're spot on-the tragedy is when teams "win" in the short term
• 1:52
  by breaking themselves.
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  They hit the number, then next quarter,
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  it all unravels.
• 1:57
  That's why, as a leader, if you only measure the outputs,
• 2:00
  you're really just guessing.
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  Teams are systems, not just a sum of busy people.
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  If you don't see how they interact,
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  you'll keep missing what's really breaking when the pressure's on.
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  And
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  honestly, I think leaders can fall for what feels visible-you know,
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  the person who's always talking in meetings or the team that just looks
• 2:18
  super busy.
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  But like, that doesn't mean the engine under the hood is healthy.
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  There's this big difference between surface activity and true effectiveness.
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  Right.
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  Some teams have all the traditional signals-everyone looks busy,
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  meetings run long, people respond quickly to messages-but that doesn't
• 2:36
  mean the underlying system is healthy.
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  True effectiveness shows when a team can keep quality high,
• 2:42
  make smart decisions fast, and,
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  well, avoid the constant drama that comes from everything relying on
• 2:48
  one or two people.
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  So before we even get into the numbers and frameworks,
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  like, it all starts with defining what "good" actually means for each
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  team.
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  And knowing that, you know-just hitting the goal once doesn't mean it
• 3:00
  can be done again next quarter with the same energy-or sanity-for that
• 3:04
  matter.
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  So, let's talk about how you actually measure this stuff,
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  beyond just crossing your fingers and hoping.
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  The simplest model is the Input-Process-Output framework.
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  You look at what goes in: the team's skills,
• 3:16
  tools, clear goals.
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  Then at the process: how the work flows-communication,
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  handoffs, how decisions get made.
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  Finally, the output: what's produced,
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  like deliverables, service levels,
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  or sales.
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  It's tempting to focus just on output,
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  but-well, that's a lagging indicator.
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  By the time you see it, the damage is probably done.
• 3:36
  Yeah,
• 3:40
  that makes sense.
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  And I feel like metrics can get so overwhelming so fast.
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  Everyone wants to measure everything-the outputs,
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  the quality, how happy customers are,
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  how people are feeling, how many meetings everyone's in... How do you keep
• 3:53
  from drowning in all the data points?
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  It's about balance.
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  Output is great, but alone, it incentivizes cutting corners.
• 4:01
  Quality metrics, like defect rates or rework,
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  help you spot the "ship now, regret later" pattern.
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  Customer satisfaction connects what you do to whether it actually matters.
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  People metrics-like engagement or turnover-flag when you're burning through
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  the team's goodwill.
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  Then, collaboration metrics: handoff delays,
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  meeting load, and how long key decisions take.
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  That's where a lot of teams trip up,
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  and honestly, most folks totally ignore those.
• 4:28
  Yeah,
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  and I've seen that-where teams go all-in on just tracking the number
• 4:35
  of tickets closed or lines of code shipped but nobody's talking about
• 4:39
  how often work bounces back and forth... or how long it takes just to get
• 4:43
  a simple decision.
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  Can you share an example where tracking only output led a team straight
• 4:48
  into trouble?
• 4:48
  Absolutely.
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  I worked with a client-well, I'll keep it anonymous,
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  but they were pretty obsessed with output numbers.
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  They'd point to the surge in features shipped and say,
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  "We're crushing it." But buried under that,
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  their process was a mess-constant decision bottlenecks,
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  people waiting days for answers,
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  work stuck in handoffs.
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  Productivity looked high by the numbers,
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  but all these delays built up until the team hit a wall.
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  New projects were piling up, but nothing was truly finished.
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  When we looked deeper, the real bottleneck wasn't effort-it was the
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  system:
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  slow decisions, unclear roles, meetings upon meetings.
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  It was classic.
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  They fixed it by adding leading indicators-like how fast decisions got
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  made-and, surprise, things really started to move.
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  So,
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  if I'm hearing you, you want a mix of leading and lagging indicators-some
• 5:45
  tell you what already happened,
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  some give you that early warning.
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  And, not all activity is good... like,
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  more meetings might mean things are broken,
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  not that they're getting done faster.
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  Right,
• 5:55
  Claire.
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  If meeting hours start spiking,
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  it's more likely a sign of trouble than progress.
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  It might mean no one's sure who owns what,
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  or decisions keep bouncing around.
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  In high-interdependence teams,
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  those signals matter even more-it's not just about who's working hardest
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  or longest, it's about how well the system runs.
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  And,
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  I have to say-I love this idea of "pulse" surveys,
• 6:19
  just checking in on psychological safety or role clarity now and then.
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  Because it's so easy for a team to think they're fine... until suddenly,
• 6:26
  trust takes a nosedive or decisions stall for weeks.
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  Short and steady
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  really does it.
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  It doesn't need to be a big annual "performance theater." A handful of
• 6:35
  metrics, tracked for trends, is usually enough to see if you're sliding
• 6:38
  or getting stronger.
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  And, as a reminder for our listeners-if your team relies on one person,
• 6:44
  constant urgency, or repeating "we'll fix it next sprint," you're already
• 6:49
  trending toward ineffectiveness.
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  You just haven't felt the full cost yet.
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  Ugh-been there.
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  So, I think what's big here is not just tracking data for data's sake,
• 6:59
  but picking the right signals so you can catch problems before they blow
• 7:02
  up.
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  Not just stack up dashboards for the heck of it.
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  That's what separates proactive from reactive teams,
• 7:08
  right?
• 7:08
  Absolutely.
• 7:10
  And that leads right into cadence-how often you're checking in and what
• 7:15
  you actually do with the data.
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  Weekly scorecards, monthly pulse surveys,
• 7:19
  annual strategy reviews... the important thing is making measurement drive
• 7:24
  action, not just another checkbox.
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  Yeah-and I've seen it so many times:
• 7:29
  Teams track endless metrics but nothing ever changes.
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  It's like-they put all the data on a slide,
• 7:34
  nod, and move on.
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  Why do you think that happens?
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  Why collect all this info if no one's going to act on it?
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  Honestly,
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  it's cultural.
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  There's a fear of making the data "feel" like surveillance,
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  so people tiptoe around it.
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  Or leaders think collecting metrics is the same as solving problems.
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  Measurement should be about learning and improving,
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  not policing.
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  If every review ends without a real decision or someone owning the next
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  step, people stop believing in the entire thing.
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  You don't need 25 metrics, you need a few signals that guide clear action:
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  Are we getting better at delivering with less friction-or just spinning
• 8:11
  our wheels?
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  And I love that you said "trend,
• 8:14
  not ritual." Like, it's not about filling up time with measurement for
• 8:18
  measurement's sake.
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  Sometimes teams confuse individual achievement with actual system health.
• 8:23
  Do you have thoughts on that?
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  That's a subtle but damaging trap.
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  Individual stars are great, but if the handoffs keep failing or one person
• 8:32
  is always the fix-it person, you haven't solved the root issues.
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  Teams outperform individuals only when the system itself-the roles,
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  the workflows, the trust-is working.
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  Otherwise, you just reward the person who's best at firefighting,
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  not the team for steady, reliable progress.
• 8:46
  That so resonates,
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  especially with remote or hybrid teams.
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  It's easy for problems to stay invisible or for people to look "busy"
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  but be out of sync.
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  And, if measurement feels like spying,
• 9:01
  people will just hide the real issues or give you the answers they think
• 9:05
  you want.
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  That's... not improvement, right?
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  Exactly.
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  The best teams treat measurement like an early warning system,
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  not like a cop on patrol.
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  Trends matter more than one-off numbers.
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  It all comes down to using the data to prompt honest conversations,
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  spot patterns, and-here's the kicker-actually do something about it each
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  cycle.
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  It's those small, steady adjustments that lead to better outcomes over
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  time.
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  Otherwise, you just create more paperwork and skepticism.
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  So,
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  if we were going to leave listeners with just one takeaway today-it's
• 9:39
  that true team effectiveness isn't a mystery metric or a dashboard full
• 9:43
  of vanity numbers.
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  It's about having the right rhythm and habits,
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  so your team is improving-not just reporting.
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  Exactly,
• 9:51
  Claire.
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  And when you make it simple, transparent,
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  and actionable, you build real trust and continuous improvement.
• 9:58
  That's the science-and the art-of leading effective teams.
• 9:58
  Alright,
• 10:03
  Edwin, I think that's a perfect spot to wrap.
• 10:05
  Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom-it's always such a privilege.
• 10:09
  And thanks to everyone listening for joining us again on The Science
• 10:12
  of Leading.
• 10:12
  It's my pleasure, Claire.
• 10:14
  Looking forward to our next round-there's always more to explore.
• 10:14
  Exactly!
• 10:18
  We'll be back soon with more real-world tools and strategies.
• 10:22
  Until then, take care of your teams,
• 10:24
  and take care of yourselves.
• 10:25
  Bye Edwin!
• 10:25
  Goodbye, Claire.
• 10:27
  Goodbye everyone.