Do You Have a Dysfunctional Team?

Does your team trust you? How do you know? According to Patrick Lencioni and his Five Dysfunctions of a Team, it's the foundation on which your team is built. So it is vital that you create the safety that your team needs to feel in order to build that trust. Lencioni's model has been around for over 20 years but it is something that really resonates with me and I think it largely just makes sense. Of course the five dysfunctions don't stop with trust, they start with trust so this article will go through them all with some questions to ask yourself about each dysfunction.

The Absence of Trust

The foundation of a good team is built on trust. If your team doesn't trust you as the leader and each other, then it's nearly impossible to build a highly productive, long-lasting team. Think about these questions that could help you determine if there is a healthy level of trust in your team.

• In your team meetings do team members seem to be talking freely? If you are paying attention it can be easy to tell if they are holding back.
• When mistakes occur (and they will), does your team feel safe admitting to them internally? Do they volunteer the information and move straight into solution and safeguard mode?
• When a mistake is found externally (by another department or even a customer), do you as the team leader step in and absorb any pressure that is coming to the team? You may have heard the saying "step in front of the bus." If you step in front of the trouble and don't make your team take direct heat from the mistake, they are more likely to trust you. That said, you will still address the mistake and safeguard against it happening again. You will just do it in private with the team.
• Do your team members value each other and show that professional respect every day and in meetings? Do they avoid cutting each other off mid-sentence? Do they truly listen to all ideas and consider them?

Think about other ways that you can determine if there is a healthy amount of trust on your team. Again, this trust has to be rooted in trusting the leader but the leader also has to facilitate trust amongst the team members too.

The Fear of Conflict

Oh boy, this one is important and it's a delicate balance. It's absolutely critical that team members be willing to engage and welcome healthy conflict. It's on you as the leader to make sure that it stays at a healthy level. Here are some questions to ask yourself about the conflict on your team.

• Are they just echoing you or a particularly opinionated team member? If the team is essentially just saying what they think you want to hear or repeating what a highly opinionated team member is saying, that is a sign of a fear of conflict.
• Does your team frequently seem to not have an opinion? Do they just look around the table or scan the Zoom meeting participants? If you have too much silence with every question or idea you present, then something is wrong. There should be opinions and ideally they should diverge.
• Do you have a team member or do you personally shut down other team members frequently? If you ask for opinions and every time one is given you hear negative feedback or dismissal of the idea, then you need to address that to make sure ideas are heard and welcome. This is a common reason for fear of conflict.
• Do your meetings result in yelling matches sometimes? It's one thing to be open to conflict and it's an entirely different thing to allow conflict to escalate. As a team leader, you have to know the difference and protect the team from unhealthy conflict.

Healthy conflict is important because we want to hear dissenting views and leverage the discernment and knowledge of the whole team. It's fundamental to discovering flaws and problems with your ideas and work internally and before they become bigger.

Lack of Commitment

Once the team has decided something, it's important that the team move forward in unison when it comes time to carry out the plan, do the implementation, etc. If there isn't trust and healthy conflict then it is impossible to have commitment from the team. Here are some questions to ask to see if you have a commitment problem.

• Do some team members always seem to deviate from the plan? If the team agrees to do something one way but one or more team members consistently deviate, then you have a lack of commitment problem.
• Do you catch wind of dissent or even blatantly hear people chatting negatively about the plans the team made? This is also fairly common and to a certain extent a little of that is expected. However, if this type of dissent moves forward outside of the bounds of the team, then that is an issue.
• So people think they are following the plan but frequently are not actually following the plan? This could be because there is lack of clarity in some aspect of the plan or a lack of execution details to carry out the plan or idea.
• Can the team explain the plan to people outside of the team consistently? If the team cannot explain what they are doing and why they are doing it, then you very likely have a commitment issue that will lead to even more issues.

There could be many causes to the lack of commitment from the team. You may need to reinforce the plans more or step back and completely revisit it. However, that commitment is critical to being able to hold each other accountable.

Lack of Accountability

As the team leader you are ultimately responsible for holding the team accountable and executing on strategies. However, if your team is not holding each other accountable as well then you are likely to be fighting a losing battle. Here are some questions to ask yourself about team accountability.

• In update meetings if someone gives the same update too many days in a row does another team member ask them about it? If there is a blocker and you are the only one asking about it, there is a problem.
• When reviewing work that has been turned in, does everyone just accept what others have turned in or do they ask questions? For instance, on a software team are peer code reviews resulting in frequent changes or are they pretty much a rubber stamp? There should be constructive feedback on the work of other team members.
• Does your team know what the goals and objectives are for each task and part of a plan? if they cannot repeat them to you or to someone outside of the team then that could explain why they do not hold themselves or others accountable (see lack of commitment).
• Are you as the team leader afraid to confront the team and hold them accountable? If you are unwilling to hold the team and/or yourself accountable then the team will likely follow suit. You have to be willing to do this and show that willingness in front of the team.

The balance with accountability is trust and walking that fine line. To do that we have to focus on the goals we are trying to accomplish and avoid finger pointing. Holding someone accountable means working with them to get it done right, it doesn't mean simply blaming them or others for shortcomings. That will undermine trust and could cause the team to fall into a death spiral.

Lack of Focus on Results

It's important to be able to measure the success of the team in some quantifiable way. It's okay and normal for some results to be purely subjective but hopefully there was a valid quantifiable reason for the work that your team performed and that has a result that you can report on. Here are some questions to ask to see if your team has a lack of focus on results.

• Does the team build success metrics that can be measured into their work plans? If they don't naturally do that, then why not? What else is missing that makes them not think of measuring results?
• Does the team ask about metrics or key performance indicators? If they are not asking, then why not? Do they not fully understand the importance of the metrics or the work they are doing?
• Does the team set aside time to review results of the work they have done? In agile terms, does the team do retros and are they meaningful? Teams should really want to review and learn from the results what is working and what may need to be tweaked to perform better going forward.
• Can the team tell you and people outside the team what the measure of success is for the work they are doing? If they cannot, then that is a sure path to have them not deliver on the metrics or goals. They have to know and they should be able to repeat them.

If the team cannot or will not focus on results, then it's nearly impossible to have a highly functioning team. Why? Because someone (usually the person writing the check) is going to want to verify the results and make sure that they are getting what they paid for and producing value for the organization and whatever the goals are of the organization.

What to Do if You Have a Dysfunctional Team

If you have a team that is dysfunctional then I would highly recommend that you study Patrick Lencioni and The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. When you have a functional team there is so much that can get accomplished and the quality of life of each of your team members will skyrocket! It can be a challenge to get started with righting the ship if you have never focused on building trust, reducing fear of conflict, getting commitment, encouraging accountability, and measuring results. However, it's something that we are called to do as team leaders and management. Why not start today? Be vulnerable with your team, tell them you have messed up, and that you need to start over. Build that foundation of trust and work your way up the pyramid to reach new levels of success.