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In the article The 7 Traits of Highly Effective Teams we discussed what makes teams work and how successful teams share a set of behaviors and beliefs.  The article was written entirely from personal experience and observations gained from being part of a highly effective team.   Interestingly, I was later referred to the excellent book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, and it was very satisfying to find the similarities of the concepts described in the article and in the book.

Lencioni wrote the book in the form of a story of a startup company that was struggling with issues in the leadership team.  When an effective leader was injected in the setting, she was able to turn the situation around by applying the principles shared by the book and the article.

The book approaches the theme of effective teams by looking at issues that prevent teams from being successful and creating a hierarchy of five factors that are characteristics of dysfunctional teams.  Let’s examine each of these factors in more detail:

Trust

Trust is the essence of the success of any group of people.  Be it couples, families, friends, business partners, work teams, or any other group with two or more people.  If the very foundation of trust is not present, the group will be ineffective and will not achieve success.

So what are the symptoms of dysfunctional teams that lack trust?  In the absence of trust team members stay guarded because they are afraid of revealing their weaknesses.  They conceal their mistakes and lose the freedom to think out loud, bouncing ideas off each other, and achieving the kind of synergies that effective teams are known for.

Teams that lack trust hesitate to ask for help and would rather continue going down the path of failure than admit that help is needed.  By the same token teams that lack trust do not offer each other help and are afraid of providing constructive criticism.  They tend to stick to their own area of responsibility.  When this happens, dysfunctional teams fail to tap into one another’s skills and experiences, diminishing the potential of the entire team.

A common trait of dysfunctional teams that lack trust is that they waste a lot of time and energy managing their behavior for effect.  They are more worried about what others think of them then how the team will benefit from their ideas and collaboration.  There is an excessive amount of CYA activity and everyone is afraid of being “exposed” and ridiculed by the team.  These teams dread spending time together and find any possible excuse to avoid being in the same meetings.

Trust is about not being afraid of being vulnerable in front of your teammates.  Trust if the number one trait of highly effective teams and consequently the lack of trust is at the very foundation of the pyramid of the five dysfunctions of a team.

Fear of Conflict

Teams that fear conflict create artificial harmony.  What this means is that they avoid honest, constructive criticisms and ignore controversial topics that are essential to the success of the team.  You can tell if you have a dysfunctional team if you walk into a meeting where people are not actively engaged in lively discussions.  The meetings of dysfunctional teams tend to be boring, and the opinions and perspective of team members are not solicited.  Cynicism is prevalent in these meetings.

Teams that fear conflict spend an excessive amount of time and energy with posturing and interpersonal risk management.  The environment is filled with political maneuvering and back-stabbing.  Any team, even functional ones, will have a certain amount of politics.  It is part of human nature.  But politics can be healthy or destructive.  Destructive politics are characterized by personal attacks and back-channel lobbying.

Conflict itself in not an issue.  In fact, conflict in unavoidable, and is healthy when dealt with appropriately.  In highly effective teams conflict is dealt with upfront and without hesitation.  Fear of conflict is what prevents teams from being successful.

Lack of Commitment

Lack of commitment is a sure recipe for team failure.  It goes without saying that you will not be able to accomplish anything of much value if you are not committed to it.  When team members are not committed it shows.  It is easy to spot the ambiguity in their behavior and when it is time to define priorities the commitment level of team members will be challenged.

Teams that are not committed lack confidence and fear failure.  They tend to spend an inordinate amount of time doing analysis, delaying decisions.  One excuse after another justifies the lack of progress of the team.  When a decision is made, instead of embracing it and moving forward, teams that lack commitment tend to revisit the decision again and again, questioning its validity, wisdom, or resolve.  This type of behavior discourages other team members who may have been committed and encourages passivism.  It creates an environment where nothing gets done.  This adds fuel to cynicism and leads to lack of confidence in the entire team.

In effective teams commitment is never questioned.  Not everyone in the team may agree with decisions made by the team, but once the decision is made, an effective team is committed to the decision.  In dysfunctional teams, ambiguity is the norm, and lack of commitment is clear.

Avoidance of Accountability

In effective teams everyone holds each other accountable, setting a high level of expectation for the entire team.  In dysfunctional teams, deadlines are often missed, deliverables are not completed, and mediocrity is accepted.  No one is made accountable.  There may be a lot of finger pointing, but no one steps up and takes responsibility for the low performance.  This situation puts an undue burden on the team leader who becomes the sole source of discipline.  And when discipline is enforced, resentment becomes the norm, and team members look for every opportunity to disengage from responsibility.

In dysfunctional teams, if there are team members with high performance standards there is usually resentment towards that individual.  Calling out people that are not performing becomes another reason for personal attacks, politicking and back-stabbing, instead of the nudge that effective team members know how to do so well.

Without accountability there is no discipline.  Without discipline, low standards set in, and success becomes an elusive concept.

Inattention to Results

A team that is not focused on results is easily distracted and defeated by competition.  A team that is not winning loses top performers who will look for other teams where they can be winners.  Inattention to results leads to failure and stagnation.

When team members are not focused on team results, they shift their focus to their own individual goals.  This causes further resentment from other team members and exacerbates the problems associated with lack of commitment.

Conclusion

The book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is an excellent reference for anyone trying to build a strong team.  After reading the book, you will easily be able to spot successful teams that are running on all cylinders, and dysfunctional teams that are doomed to fail.  Most importantly you will learn how an effective leader can change a dysfunctional team into a successful team that practices The 7 Traits of Highly Effective Teams.

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