A Healthy Team

Source: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team; Lencioni, Patrick (2002)

The Foundation

TRUST

Absence of trust

• There is no team if members are not comfortable being vulnerable with one another

• Time and energy are then spent managing behaviors and interactions within the group

• Trust is the confidence among team members that their peers’ intentions are good, and that there is no reason to be protective or careful around the group.

Members of teams with an absence of Trust:

• Conceal their weaknesses and mistakes from one another

• Hesitate to ask for help or provide constructive feedback

• Hesitate to offer help outside their own area of responsibility

• Jump to conclusions about the intentions and aptitudes of others without attempting to clarify them.

• Fail to recognize and tap into one another’s skills and experiences

• Waste time and energy managing their behaviors for effect

• Hold grudges and are not genuinely open

• Dread meetings and find reasons to avoid spending time together

Members of Trusting Teams:

• Admit weaknesses and mistakes• Ask for help• Accept questions and input about their areas of responsibility• Give one another the benefit of the doubt before arriving at a

negative conclusion• Take risks in offering feedback and assistance• Appreciate and tap into one another’s skills and experiences• Focus time and energy on important issues, not politics• Offer and accept apologies without hesitation• Look forward to meetings and other opportunities to work as a group

NO TRUST sets the tone

FEAR OF CONFLICT

NO TRUST = Invulnerability

Absence of Conflict

• Team members do not engage in passionate and emotional debate

• Group think and loss of creativity

• Veiled discussions and guarded comments

• ARTIFICIAL HARMONY

• ‘Back door’ politics• Tension and

avoidance• Issues are revisited

again and again without resolution

• Alliances formed outside of the team

Teams That Fear Conflict:

• Have boring meetings• Create environments where back-door

politics and personal attacks thrive• Ignore controversial topics that are critical

to team success• Fail to tap into all the opinions and

perspectives of team members• Waste time and energy with posturing and

interpersonal risk management

Teams That Engage in Conflict:

• Have lively, interesting meetings

• Extract and exploit the ideas of all team members

• Solve real problems quickly

• Minimize politics

• Put critical topics on the table for discussion and do not retreat from healthy debate

NO CONFLICT sets the tone

LACK OFCOMMITMENT

FEAR OF CONFLICT

NO TRUST = Invulnerability

Absence of Commitment

• No confidence that others aren’t quietly harboring doubts whether to support the actions agreed upon

• No clarity, purpose or buy-in: AMBIGUITY

• ‘going along’ or group think

• Invalidating environment, not being heard

• No willingness to rally around the team

• Hedging bets and delaying important decisions

• Ripple effects for clients, uncertainty

• Team is not clearly aligned which causes confusion for clients

• Fear to commit to decisions

A Team that Fails to Commit:

• Creates ambiguity among the team about direction and priorities

• Watches windows of opportunity close due to excessive analysis and unnecessary delay

• Breeds lack of confidence and fear of failure• Revisits discussions and decisions again and

again• Encourages second-guessing among team

members

A Team that Commits:

• Creates clarity around direction and priorities• Aligns the entire team around common

objectives• Develops an ability to learn from mistakes• Takes advantage of opportunities before missing

out; allows for contingencies• Moves forward without hesitation• Changes direction without hesitation or guilt

NO COMMITMENT sets the tone

AVOIDANCEOF

ACCOUNTABILITY

LACK OFCOMMITMENT

FEAR OF CONFLICT

NO TRUST = Invulnerability

Avoidance of Accountability

• No clear plan of action• Fear of calling out

problems (disempowered)

• No clear expectation• Unwillingness to tolerate

personal discomfort• Personal relationships

interfere, alliances are reinforced outside of the group

• Relationships deteriorate and issues become ‘personal’

• Loss of respect for one another

• Loss of motivation• Loss of enthusiasm• Standards of the group

erode- LOW STANDARDS

A Team that Avoids Accountability:

• Creates resentment among team members who have different standards of performance

• Encourages mediocrity• Misses deadlines and key opportunities• Places an undue burden on the team leader as a

source of discipline• Starts to function like a dysfunctional family with

sibling rivalry, discord, and seeking parental (leader) approval

A Team that Hold One Another Accountable:

• Ensures that poor performers feel pressure to be successful by SHARED responsibility

• Identifies potential problems quickly by questioning one another’s approaches without hesitation

• Establishes respect among team members who are held to the same high standards without ‘sibling rivalry’ or seeking ‘parental approval’

• Avoids excessive bureaucracy around performance management and corrective actions / disciplinary actions / paternalistic cultures

AVOIDANCE OF ACCOUNTABILITY sets the tone:

NO RESULTS

AVOIDANCEOF

ACCOUNTABILITY

LACK OFCOMMITMENT

FEAR OF CONFLICT

NO TRUST = Invulnerability

Inattention to Results:

• Members care about something other than the collective goals of the group (or the client)

• Individual needs are more important then collective goals or results for the client

• Ego, career, self recognition and territory • Status and power struggles, competition in

getting own needs met at the expense of the client and the team

• No meaningful results or objectives

A Team that is NOT focused on RESULTS:

• Stagnates / fails to grow

• Rarely achieves positive outcomes

• Loses achievement-oriented employees

• Encourages team members to focus on their own needs and individual goals at the expense of the client

• Is easily distracted

A team that FOCUSES on COLLECTIVE RESULTS:

• Retains achievement-oriented employees

• Minimizes behaviors that are ego-driven

• Enjoys success and suffers failures

• Benefits from individuals who subjugate their own goals/interests for the good of the team (and the client)

• Avoids distractions

A Healthy Team

Collective RESULTS

ACCOUNTABLEFOR

DELIVERY

COMMITS to Decisionsand TAKES ACTION

ENGAGES IN UNFILTERED CONFLICT

TRUST

Teams succeed because they are human, not despite their humanity

• By acknowledging the imperfections of their humanity, members of functional teams overcome the natural tendencies that make trust, conflict, commitment, accountability, and a focus on results so elusive.