How to Recognize Strong Teams
How do I know if my team is healthy?
Patrick Lenioni’s book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team lays out an excellent framework to identify dysfunctional teams. Work on The Five Behaviours of a Cohesive Team flips those dysfunctions into the positive and gives teams a way to move forward productively.
Trust
(Productive) Conflict
Commitment
Accountability
Results
I wrote more about Lencioni’s model in these blog posts about the Five Dysfunctions of a Team and Building Trust.
Healthy Teams Trust Each Other
Trust is built through vulnerability, and you can recognize healthy teams because they are willing to admit mistakes and ask for help without fear of being ridiculed, criticized or diminished.
Trust takes time and effort to build. You can start with building in time to get to know each other. It can be as simple as devoting the first 5 minutes of a meeting to sharing something about themselves or answering a question. These small interactions play big dividends down the road.
Additionally, ensure that when people are vulnerable, that they are not punished. If someone states that they made a mistake, do not criticize them (or allow the culture where others criticize). The same for if they ask for help. Both of these take incredible courage, and it just takes one poor reaction for someone to be unwilling to do it again. Trust is imperative to build a strong team and each person on the team owns the words and actions that build (rather than erode) trust.
Healthy Teams Engage in Productive Conflict
Often, we have a negative association with conflict as we equate it with interpersonal conflict. Productive conflict involves the vigorous debate of ideas and challenging others. It is not personal. Team members leave their egos elsewhere and communicate well which are possible because of the trust they’ve built. They are not offended when someone challenges their idea as they realize that the goal is to make the best decision which can only be done by asking questions and questioning ideas.
DISC profiles and team reports can help groups understand their own behaviour tendencies, as well as, those of other people on the team. Additionally, The Five Behaviours individual assessments go into where people fall on the conflict continuum which can be very helpful. As a bonus, spending time discussing DISC and Five Behaviours assessments can build trust on a team.
Healthy Teams Commit to Decisions
At the end of a meeting, cohesive teams review decisions and ensure that they are clear and that each person is willing to commit to them. When they leave that meeting, they do the work to implement the decisions.
You don’t see the “meeting after the meeting” where individuals gripe about decisions. Nor do you hear them say things like, “the group decided this, but I didn’t agree.”
Cohesive teams are able to be more productive because they focus on executing decisions, rather than complaining about them, or politicking.
Disagree and commit is evident on strong teams. These team members sell the decisions to those around them, and own it as a collective.
Healthy Teams Hold Each Other Accountable
Cohesive Teams recognize that they can hold each other accountable in a caring way, and individual members, as well as, the team, hold each other accountable. It is not just the job of the leader to do so.
Additionally, you see people do so in a way that makes it not personal. Someone who has missed a commitment is gently reminded, but not in a blaming way. Individuals expect to be called out if they act outside of the team’s expectations and are willing to work with their colleagues to rectify the situation. You don’t see people blaming others and then responding defensive behaviour. Individuals recognize the intent behind the accountability.
On cohesive teams, accountability is a shared responsibility. Individuals have conversations with each other and solve issues and problems, rather than running to the leader.
Additionally, accountability does not need to be had in a separate meeting, but rather, you see it on an ongoing basis, at the time when it is necessary. If someone acts inappropriately, they will be gently reminded of the expectations. If they don’t honour a commitment, the team asks them about it. Often times that accountability discussion includes the impact to others of the misstep or missed commitment.
Healthy Teams Pay Attention to Results
Cohesive teams have scorecards which they review regularly. They put the company before their team and their team before self.
They are willing to dig in when they are not achieving results rather than ignoring the issue, and work to collectively solve the challenge or issue.
Ego is not evident as each person on the team is committed to achieving results for the team and organization.
Transparency is evident on cohesive teams, and each teammate can view the scorecard and ask questions.
There are also regular opportunities to collectively review the scorecard, KPIs, metrics and other results.
What’s Next?
Did I describe your team in these descriptions? That’s awesome! Celebrate and keep doing what you are doing?
Do you see some areas where you can improve? While you might feel overwhelmed or frustrated, I can help! We can do a Five Behaviours Team assessment which will give you a numerical rating of your team and will also give you specific suggestions to improve each of the Five Behaviours. We can also follow up in 6-12 months to see if there was improvement.
Just want some more information? No problem.
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