The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Iulian AntonoviciHead of DevelopmentEndava Iasi

IN YOUR ZONE

What is the biggest problem of your team ?

My guess is : …

Communication

3IN YOUR ZONE

Absence of Trust

The 5 Dysfunctions Model

4

Absence of Trust

Members of teams with an absence of trust

conceal their weaknesses and mistakes

fail to recognize and use another’s skills and experiences

hesitate to offer help outside their own areas of responsibility

jump to conclusions without attempting to clarify them

hesitate to ask for help

Members of trusting teams

appreciate and use another's skills and experiences

Accept questions and input about their areas of responsibility

give the benefit of the doubt before arriving at a negative conclusion

ask for help and provide constructive feedback

admit weaknesses and mistakes

5

Absence of Trust

Members of teams with an absence of trust

waste time and energy managing their behaviors and

being politically correct

Avoid meetings and find reasons not to spend time together

are too proud to apologies

Members of trusting teams

look forward to meetings and other opportunities to work as a

group

focus time and energy on important issues, not politics

offer and accept apologies without hesitation

6

Absence of Trust

Role of a leader

encourage trust by demonstrating vulnerability first

show patience, vulnerability trust cannot be achieved over night

should not punish vulnerability or manipulate team members

in depth understanding of the unique attributes of each team member

7

Fear of Conflict

Absence of

Trust

The 5 Dysfunctions Model

8IN YOUR ZONE

Workplace Conflict

• Task Conflict on a Complex Problem:

• Thrashing out issues of strategic consequence, Divergent viewpoints, Disagreements on the right course of actionPositive Outcome:

Good business solutions and good decisions can emerge. High potential for team. The company can reap the benefits in the short-term as well as over the long-term

• Routine Task Conflict:• Conflicts that crop up between one or

more team member during the course of carrying out an everyday routine task

Unfavorable Outcome:Disruption in the work, hinders team performance. Temporary setback

• Relationship Conflict:• Interpersonal conflict and personality

clashes. Animosity and open hostilitiesNegative Outcome:Strained relationships; Tense atmosphere; Commitment to the team gets eroded.Long-term fall-out; Possible decline in team performance.

9IN YOUR ZONE

Fear of Conflict

Teams that fear conflict

have boring meetings

waste time and energy with interpersonal risk management

fail to take in consideration all opinions

ignore or avoid controversial topics

encourage back-channel politics and personal attacks

Teams that engage in conflict

minimize politics and solve real problems quickly

extract and exploit the ideas of all members

put critical topics on the table

face to face confrontations

have interesting meetings

10IN YOUR ZONE

Fear of conflict

Teams should…

engage in in productive conflict because will produce the best

possible solution in the shortest period of time

not avoid conflict in the name of efficiency , they will revisit

this issue again and again

not avoid ideological conflict just because they don’t want to hurt team members’ feelings. They will end up encouraging

dangerous tension

The Team Leader should…

allow resolution to occur naturally

to personally apply appropriate conflict behavior

should not protect other members from harm

mine for conflict

IN YOUR ZONE

Workplace Conflict ManagementCompetition

Collaboration

Avoidance

Accommodation

Compromise Negotiation

11

Assertiveness

Low

H

igh

CooperativenessLow High

Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Diagram

Classify the above scenarios in Lose-Lose, Win-Lose, Lose-Win and Win-Win categories

12IN YOUR ZONE

Conflict StylesConflict Style Constructive DestructiveAvoidance : Individuals are indifferent to each other's needs, and issues are evaded or ignored completely. Lose - Win

Lack of information or Expertise;No pressing need to resolve differences now or in the future.

If Habitual or Represents Unexpressed Dissatisfaction; Not a useful long term conflict management strategy.

Accommodation: is allowing the other person's needs to be met, usually at the expense of your own. Lose - Win

If you don't care about the issue, or if you have little power in the relationship or situation;Good to build a relationship by letting the other person have their way

Being too accommodating too often can weaken your position to the point where your voice is never heard

Compromise it's about giving up some ground in order to gain other ground elsewhere. Lose- Lose

Useful if time is tight, small issues or if it's not worth exploring things more fully;Useful when one party can't force their solution on the other.

Destructive if is forcedMay reduce later cooperation & agreement

Negotiating is trying to reach agreement with another party when the two parties share an objective, but have a conflict about other matters.

Impartial mediator helps the process; Mutual concessions for satisfactory resolution;Provides important benefits to each side

If you have a conflict with another party and do not share any objectives with them, the correct strategy is avoidance.

Competition it's about making sure your own needs are met, no matter the cost. Win - Lose

Useful if there is an important deadline, or if the relationship with the other party is not important.

Bad for a long term relationship

Collaboration means assuming positive intent and seeing things from all sides, in detail. It's about acknowledging , accepting differences, and exploring alternative solutions that meet everyone's needs and concerns.Win-Win

Useful strategy when the issues are important to everyone, and all sides need to be committed to the solution

13IN YOUR ZONE

Lack of Commitment

Fear of Conflict

Absence of Trust

The 5 Dysfunctions Model

14IN YOUR ZONE

Lack of Commitment

For a team, commitment is a function of two things: clarity and buy-in.

Commitment is about setting the right expectations

Commitments should have closure

The two greatest causes of the lack of commitment are:

Consensus: Great teams understand the danger of seeking consensus, and find ways to achieve buy-in even when complete agreement is impossible. Certainty: Great teams also pride themselves on being able to unite behind decisions and commit to clear courses of action even when there is little assurance about whether the decision is correct

15IN YOUR ZONE

Lack of commitment

A team that fails to commit . . .

creates ambiguity among the team about direction and priorities

encourages second-guessing among team members

breeds lack of confidence and fear of failure

revisits discussions and decisions again and again

watches windows of opportunity close due to excessive analysis and

unnecessary delay

A team that commits . . .

moves forward without hesitation or changes direction without hesitation

or guilt

develops an ability to learn from mistakes

takes advantage of opportunities before competitors do

aligns the entire team around common objectives

creates clarity around direction and priorities

16IN YOUR ZONE

Lack of commitment

Role of a leader

He must be comfortable with the prospect of making a decision that ultimately turns out

to be wrong

force clarity and closure

17IN YOUR ZONE

Avoidance of Accountability

Lack of Commitment

Fear of Conflict

Absence of Trust

The 5 Dysfunctions Model

18IN YOUR ZONE

Avoidance of accountability

A team that avoids accountability . . .

creates resentment among team members who have different

standards of performance

misses deadlines and key deliverables

places an undue burden on the team leader as the sole source

of discipline

encourages mediocrity

A team that holds one another accountable

develops an ability to learn from mistakes

avoids excessive bureaucracy around performance

management

establishes respect among team members who are held to the same

high standards

ensures that poor performers feel pressure to improve

19IN YOUR ZONE

Avoidance of accountability

Role of a leader

to encourage and allow the team to serve as the first and primary accountability mechanism.

(Sometimes strong leaders naturally create an accountability vacuum within the team, leaving

themselves as the only source of discipline)

ultimate arbiter of discipline when the team itself fails

20IN YOUR ZONE

Avoidance of Accountability

Lack of Commitment

Fear of Conflict

Absence of Trust

The 5 Dysfunctions Model

Inattention to Results

21IN YOUR ZONE

Inattentions to results

The ultimate dysfunction of a team is the tendency of members to

care about something other than the collective goals of the group.

People have a familiar tendency to focus on enhancing their own positions or career prospects at the expense of their team.

“The Best for the Group comes when everyone in the group does what's best for himself AND the group.” John Nash - American mathematician that won the Nobel Prize in Economic Science in 1994. He is the subject of the “A beautiful mind” ,Oscar awarded, movie.

22IN YOUR ZONE

Inattentions to results

A team that is not focused on results . . .

stagnates or fails to grow

loses achievement-oriented employees

encourages team members to focus on their own careers and

individual goals

gets easily distracted

rarely defeats competitors

A team that focuses on collective results…

Benefits from individuals who subjugate their own goals/interests

for the good of the team

Avoids distractions

retains achievement-oriented employees and minimizes individualistic behavior

enjoys success and suffers failure acutely

has a high probability to reach its goal

23IN YOUR ZONE

Inattentions to results

Role of a leader

Perhaps more than with any of the other dysfunctions, the leader must set the tone

for a focus on results(If the leader values anything other but results the whole team will

do the same)

He must be selfless and objective and

reserve rewards for those who make a real contribution to the achievement of the group

goals

24IN YOUR ZONE

Suggestions for Overcoming Dysfunction 1: Absence of Trust

Personal Histories Exercise

have the team members answer a short list of questions about themselves

Team Effectiveness Exercise

It requires team members to identify the single most important contribution that each of their peers makes to the team, as well as the one area that they must either improve upon or eliminate for the good of the team

Personality and Behavioral Preference Profiles

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

360-Degree Feedback

Team Exercise, Team Buildings

Recommended for experienced teams, can cause problems to young teams

25IN YOUR ZONE

Suggestions for Overcoming Dysfunction 2: Fear of Conflict

Mining

Someone should have the role of a “miner of conflict”— who extracts buried disagreements within the team and sheds the light of day on them.

Real-Time Permission

Team members need to coach one another not to retreat from healthy debate. One simple but effective way to do this is to recognize when the people engaged in conflict are becoming uncomfortable with the level of discord, and then interrupt to remind them that what they are doing is necessary.

Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument

Understand each other conflict approach style

26IN YOUR ZONE

Suggestions for Overcoming Dysfunction 3 : Lack of Commitment

Deadlines

As simple as it seems, one of the best tools for ensuring commitment is the use of clear deadlines for when decisions will be made, and honoring those dates with discipline and rigidity

Contingency and Worst-Case Scenario Analysis

A team that struggles with commitment can begin overcoming this tendency by briefly discussing contingency plans up front or, better yet, clarifying the worst-case scenario for a decision they are struggling to make. This usually allows them to reduce their fears by helping them realize that the costs of an incorrect decision are survivable, and far less damaging than they had imagined.

Cascading Messaging

At the end of a meeting a team should explicitly review the key decisions made during the meeting, and agree on what needs to be communicated to interested parties. What often happens during this exercise is that members of the team learn that they are not all on the same page about what has been agreed upon and that they need to clarify specific outcomes before putting them into action.

27IN YOUR ZONE

Suggestions for Overcoming Dysfunction 4 : Avoidance of Accountability

Publication of Goals and Standards

To make it easier for team to hold each other accountable you need to clarify publicly exactly what the team needs to achieve , who needs to deliver what and how everyone must do in order to succeed.

Simple and Regular Progress Reviews

A continuous performance review process

Team Rewards

By shifting away the reward from individuals to the team the members will create a culture of accountability

28IN YOUR ZONE

Suggestions for Overcoming Dysfunction 5 : Inattention to results

Public declaration of results

Teams that are willing to commit publicly to specified results are more likely to work with a passionate, even desperate desire to achieve those results.

Results based Rewards

To be used with caution !Relying on this alone can be problematic because it assumes that financial motivation is the sole driver for behavior.Letting someone take home a bonus for “hard trying” sends a wrong message that, even in absence of results, achieving the outcome is not important after all.

IN YOUR ZONE 29

Thank you !

Iulian Antonovici | Head of Development Endava Iasi

iulian.antonovici@endava.comTel +40372363285| Ext 3085 |Skype en_iantonovici

The source of this presentation is Patrick Lencioni’s book:“The five dysfunctions of a Team”