Dysfunctional teams

What makes a team effective? And what interferes with good cooperation?

• Don’t commit to appointments
• Say yes, but doing the opposite
• Avoiding responsibilities (if it is unclear who should do what, roles/tasks ..)
• focus too much attention to own profit
• have fear of failure

Patrick Lencioni has studied the topic of team development and identified five factors that distinguish high-performance teams from “normal” teams.

1. lack of trust: A strong team is characterized by a good basis of trust. This means that both the strengths and weaknesses of the team and its individual members are clear and can be discussed openly.
2. fear of conflict: The ability to dissent, i.e. to deal with differing opinions, promotes the achievement of better results. In contrast, conformist behavior slows down creativity and thus a team’s ability to innovate.
3. lack of commitment: In good teams, everyone supports each other and everyone knows and pursues the common goal. If not, this can have a negative impact on performance of a team and the teamclimate.
4. avoidance of accountability: Where mutual accountability is lacking, the quality of the joint work becomes increasingly poor. The result is dull mediocrity. Top performers are demotivated and individual responsibility is assumed only reluctantly.
5. inattention to results: Status and self-centeredness are components of the team structure that should not be neglected. For some, securing one’s own position is more important than achieving the company’s goals.

The five team dysfunctions help you identify resistance and obstacles and work to eliminate them.

Real teamplayers sacrifice their own position for the endresult of the team. That starts with the leader who also dares to take the risk of faillure. As a manager, show desired behavior, live by example.

Want to read more about this topic?

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (Patrick M Lencioni)