Connect the five conditions to the OTSP pillars.
High performance in organisations depends on five specific conditions being present, and each of those conditions depends on the leadership team being aligned in a particular area. This session introduces the research, connects it to the OTSP framework, and gives the team a clear and honest picture of where those conditions are strong and where they need attention.
Google's Project Aristotle set out to identify what separates high-performing teams from those that underperform. The findings were specific and replicable: five conditions, consistently present in teams that perform well and consistently absent in those that do not. Psychological safety. Dependability. Structure and clarity. Meaning. Impact. These are what teams need in order to do their best work, and they are what leadership teams are in the best position to create or undermine.
The connection to the OTSP framework is direct. Psychological safety is shaped by culture and by the behaviours leaders model within it. Dependability comes from strong teamwork, clear ownership, and follow-through. Structure and clarity depend on a strategy that is understood, owned, and consistently communicated. Meaning comes from people understanding what the organisation stands for, which is the work of brand. Impact is made visible through leadership: when leaders connect people's work to what matters, people feel it.
The honest diagnosis at the heart of this session asks the team to rate each condition in their own organisation, grounded in what they actually observe. The conversation that follows is almost always revealing. Teams discover that some conditions they assumed were solid are more fragile than they realised. Others identify a single condition that, if strengthened, would have an outsized effect on performance across the organisation.
Creating the conditions for performance to happen is the work of leadership. Once that lands, the afternoon takes on a different quality.
Participants leave with a working understanding of the five conditions that predict team performance, a clear view of how each condition connects to an OTSP pillar, and an honest shared assessment of where those conditions are well-established in their organisation and where they are fragile.
Pivot the day from individual leadership to collective responsibility. Introduce the five conditions for high performance, map each to a pillar of the frame, then run an honest diagnosis of how well established each condition is in the organisation.
Present Google's Project Aristotle research and the five conditions that consistently predict team performance. Psychological safety: people feel safe to take risks, ask questions, and be honest without fear of penalty. Dependability: team members do what they say they will, to the standard required. Structure and clarity: goals, roles, and processes are clear. Meaning: the work feels personally significant. Impact: people see that their work matters and makes a difference. Ask people which of these they find most interesting, and why. Take two or three responses and keep it conversational.
Each condition maps onto a pillar of the frame, and leadership enables all five by making the other pillars real. Psychological safety maps to culture, shaped by the environment leaders create and the behaviours they model. Dependability maps to teamwork, through shared commitments, clear ownership, and follow-through. Structure and clarity maps to strategy, where direction is clear and priorities are understood across the organisation. Meaning maps to brand, where people understand what the organisation stands for and how their work connects to it. Impact maps to leadership, where leaders make contribution visible and connect people's work to what matters. Then discuss whether this mapping feels right: where does your experience confirm it, and where does it complicate it?
In small groups, work on two questions. For each condition, rate it 1 to 5 in this organisation, where 1 is fragile and 5 is well-established, and say what evidence you are basing that on. And which one or two conditions, if strengthened, would make the biggest difference to performance right now? Groups share back, and you capture the picture that emerges, the strong foundations and the fragile ones. Close by naming the implication: if these conditions are what high performance requires, and each maps to a pillar of the frame, then the leadership team's job is to get the organisation on the same page across all five. That is what the afternoon builds on.
Use Leading for High Performance when a leadership team wants a clear, honest read on what drives it. Google's five conditions map onto the OTSP pillars, and the team rates each one to find the strong foundations and the fragile ones.
Using this tool with a skilled facilitator means that discussions are focused, time is used efficiently, and the group moves toward consensus, making the session productive and impactful.
