Make Your Team Healthy

Source: The Rainmaker Academy

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from a blog entry by Angie Grissom. The entry reviews concepts in Patrick Lencioni's book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

The dysfunctions build on one another, so the best way to begin is at the base of the triangle, where the first dysfunction, absence of trust, is located. Once you commit to building trust with your partners and colleagues in your organization, you are on your way to a more highly functioning team. Building trust requires things like honesty, straight talk, and addressing issues up front.

Once you work through building trust, the second dysfunction, fear of conflict, is easier to deal with. If you establish that you trust one another and agree that appropriate conflict is healthy, the fear tends to subside.

When people trust one another and are not afraid of conflict, the third dysfunction, lack of commitment, can be dealt with. People tend to be committed to organizations that are committed to them. I have found that the passion and commitment, or fire, in people is there; sometimes you have to uncover it. Building and extending trust is a great way to start.

Avoidance of accountability and inattention to results are the last two dysfunctions. When you establish accountability standards for your team – top to bottom, I might add – you will see people get excited. At first, the excitement might be fear, but when people are performing and you are providing the tools that they need, results will happen. Professionals will perform better when they feel they are in a high trust organization and are part of a highly functioning team that expects results. Don't settle for a dysfunctional team. Work to make it better.

For the complete blog entry, read “How Not to Have a Dysfunctional Team.”

From The Rainmaker Academy, http://www.therainmakeracademy.com, April 27, 2011.