GL MONTHLY e-NEWSLETTER - March 2004
Brought to you by Jeff Thoren, DVM
Teamwork,
when properly understood and implemented, is a powerful and beneficial tool.
There is no disputing that it enables groups of people to achieve more
collectively than they could have imagined doing apart. However, the
requirements of real teamwork cannot be underestimated.
According
to Patrick Lencioni, author of the best-selling book The Five Dysfunctions of
a Team, many of today's leaders champion teamwork reflexively without really
understanding what it entails. "I have found that only a small minority of
companies truly understand and embrace teamwork, even though, according to their
web sites, more than one in three of the Fortune 500 publicly declare it to be a
core value." He observes that groups fail to become cohesive teams because they
drastically underestimate both the power teamwork ultimately unleashes and the
painful steps required to make teamwork a reality.
Here’s
this month’s feature …
The Trouble with Teamwork - by Patrick Lencioni
From Leader to Leader, No.
29 Summer 2003
Highlights
from the article:
Building a
team is hard. It demands substantial behavior changes from people who are
strong-willed and often set in their ways, having already accomplished much in
their careers. Here's what's needed ...
-
Vulnerability-based Trust:
The first and most important step in building a cohesive and functional team
is the establishment of trust. Teamwork must be built upon a solid
foundation of vulnerability-based trust. Team members must quickly
acknowledge their mistakes and weaknesses and also readily recognize the
strengths of others. Showing vulnerability is unnatural for many leaders.
-
Healthy Conflict:
One of the greatest inhibitors of teamwork is the fear of conflict. Leaders
often stifle productive conflict and push important issues that need to be
resolved under the carpet where they will fester. Leaders must learn to
identify artificial harmony when they see it, and incite productive conflict
in its place. This is a messy process, one that takes time to master.
-
Unwavering Commitment:
To become a cohesive team, a group must learn to commit to decisions when
there is less than perfect information available, and when no natural
consensus develops. It is only after team members passionately and
unguardedly debate with one another and speak their minds that the leader
can feel confident of making a decision with the full benefit of the
collective wisdom of the group. Teams that fail to disagree and exchange
unfiltered opinions are the ones that find themselves revisiting the same
issues again and again. Conflict and disagreement and ultimately commitment
are not possible without the foundation of trust.
-
Unapologetic Accountability:
Great teams don't wait for the leader to remind members when they're not
pulling their weight. They are comfortable calling one another on actions
and behaviors that don't contribute to the likelihood of success. It's not
easy for people to confront their peers, however, when the goals of the team
have been clearly defined, the behaviors that jeopardize them become easier
to call out.
-
Collective Orientation to
Results: While most teams are populated with people who are driven to succeed,
all too often the results they focus on are individual or departmental.
Once the inevitable moment of truth comes, when people must choose between
the success of the entire team and their own, many are unable to resist the
instinct to look out for themselves. Leaders committed to building a team
must have zero tolerance for individually focused behavior.
For the
full text article, go to . . .
http://www.leadertoleader.org/knowledgecenter/journal.aspx?ArticleID=80
Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Dysfunction #1: Absence of Trust
Strategy
for Overcoming:
Dysfunction #2: Fear of Conflict
Strategy
for Overcoming:
-
Acknowledge that conflict is required for productive meetings
-
Establish common ground rules for engaging in conflict
-
Understand individual team member's natural conflict styles
Dysfunction #3: Lack of Commitment
Strategy
for Overcoming:
-
Review
commitments at the end of each meeting to ensure all team members are
aligned
-
Adopt
a "disagree and commit" mentality - make sure all team members are committed
regardless of initial disagreements
Dysfunction #4: Avoidance of Accountability
Strategy
for Overcoming:
Dysfunction #5: Inattention to Results
Strategy
for Overcoming:
*
To assess your team and determine which of the Five Dysfunctions may be problem
areas for you,
contact
me and request the Lencioni Team
Assessment tool.
*
For a more rigorous analysis of
your team's unique strengths and weaknesses and specific recommendations for
overcoming potential team dysfunction, visit www.tablegroup.com and check out
the Online Team Assessment.
To
subscribe: send an e-mail to jeff@giftedleaders.com
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