During the day-to-day work, a team can present some dysfunctions, whether due to internal fights, mistrust, lack of commitment or even dispute of position. These problems are common, but they can become impediments for the team to act in an engaged way and with high performance.
But if you’re reading this text, you might be thinking: how to demand that a team composed of people with different backgrounds, personalities and motivations work together towards the same goal?
It was under this perspective that Patrick Lencioni wrote the book “The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team“, which brings a pyramidal model with these five dysfunctions: Lack of Trust, Fear of Conflict, Lack of Commitment, Lack of Liability and Lack of Result.
Trust
Lack of trust is the base of the pyramid of the 5 dysfunctions of a team. Without trust between members there is no way to sustain the other 4 dysfunctions. When a team is in formation, individuals protect themselves inside a shell so they don’t become vulnerable. They are unable to demonstrate their weaknesses and open up to each other. They are reluctant to ask for help or be willing to help each other. Lack of trust is a huge waste of energy and time for team members.
However, to have confidence it is necessary to break this shell and show your deficiencies, weaknesses, needs… Not every day is perfect and team members need to trust each other to expose and understand such situations. A good deal of empathy goes a long way toward building a solid foundation of trust. In addition, the team needs to have the necessary skills and trust that they are capable of solving a certain business problem.
Conflicts
Teams without trust are unable to face conflicts the way they need to be faced, causing a certain artificial harmony. Fear of conflict creates intrigue and thinly veiled discussions that are unhealthy when the team should be committed and focused toward a single purpose. After all, when it comes to the team, everyone wins and everyone loses. For this reason, conflicts must be faced head-on, with transparency and respect.
Commitment
When conflicts are faced head-on, the team starts to demand more internal commitment so that everyone can speak and be heard. It is necessary that team members are open to express their ideas and that everyone has respect for each other. However, not everything that is said will be accepted.
It is necessary to find a point where a decision is made so that everyone is in agreement, that the purpose is clear to everyone. In this way, everyone will be engaged and committed to the same goal.
No Liability
Teams that are not committed have no responsibility. Once the team is committed, it needs to be aware and not hide from its responsibilities. Responsibility is more about action than reaction, that is, in a responsible team, moving in the same direction, there should be no delegations.
Preferably, members should be auto-organized and proactive in creating solutions. A responsible team does not find the culprits, on the contrary, it seeks solutions together because they know that they are involved in the same objective and that success or failure depends on everyone.
Lack of Result
When individuals are not held accountable, team members naturally tend to pursue their own interests and not the interests of the team. However, when there is responsibilityity and commitment, conflicts are faced openly and trust is full, team members naturally focus their efforts in favor of results, thinking of the collective good at the expense of personal achievements.
Removing these flaws
In order for a team to reach high performance and deliver more and more, For better results, effectively and efficiently, you will naturally need to treat these 5 dysfunctions.
The benefits of this process for the team are:
Recognize your weaknesses and limitations and feel more comfortable asking for help;
Sharing skills;
Focus on problem solving, thinking collectively;
Make decisions faster;
Tackling critical issues head-on;
Always be aligned and focused on the same goal;
Increase people engagement.
Finally, understand that all dysfunctions are connected. The key is to start by building a solid foundation of trust and then encourage healthy conflict, maintain accountability, and set clear goals, ensuring the team communicates clearly at all times.
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