Posted by Nathalia Lopes on 05 Agosto, 2021
The commitment of people and their ability to work well together are one of the biggest competitive differentials a company can have. It is difficult to copy and has an exceptional impact on the capacity for innovation, the quality of products and services, the degree of customer satisfaction and financial results.
Despite its importance, team development is still a difficult task for managers with any level of experience. But why is that so challenging?
Writer Patrick Lencioni points to five common challenges or dysfunctions in teams that may be limiting people’s ability to work well together. There are five interrelated factors.
Learn how these challenges or dysfunctions manifest themselves in teams and what actions can be taken by leaders to minimize problems and enhance collective work and results.
Challenge 1: Lack of confidence
Lencioni defines confidence as the certainty, among the members of a team, "that all have good intentions and that there is no reason to be defensive or have reservations about the group".
In teams where trust is lacking, people do not feel safe to demonstrate vulnerability and are afraid to admit mistakes, doubts and concerns or to ask for help.
The team members avoid opening up to each other because they fear reprisals or negative repercussions. They are environments of low psychological security, which makes people less willing to take risks.
How to stimulate trust within the team?
Create an environment where it is easier to assume vulnerabilities (mistakes, fears, doubts, weaknesses), without being punished for it.
As a leader, set an example and be the first to demonstrate your own vulnerabilities.
Without being invasive, create opportunities for people to share their stories and view others as human beings.
Using appropriate Assessment tools, give people the opportunity to understand their profile and preferences and to speak in a structured way about their potential and development challenges.
Use 360º evaluation not as a way of measuring performance, but as a tool for feedback and personal development.
Challenge 2: Fear of conflict
Fear of conflict is a direct consequence of lack of trust. As they do not trust each other, people avoid exposing their opinions and engaging in constructive conflicts.
This generates an artificial harmony. The meetings, even the most important ones, are poor in debate and interaction. Instead of openly discussing problems, people appeal to irony, sarcasm, or hallway conversation.
There’s also a lack of alignment. The team members disagree with the plans or priorities set, but do not feel willing or comfortable to discuss and question their colleagues.
How to encourage people to engage in constructive conflict?
Try to demystify the idea that conflict is always something negative or inefficient. On the contrary, constructive conflict helps to create better solutions and allows the early identification of risks, problems or necessary adjustments.
Ensure that the people on the team take turns playing conflict miners: someone who brings delicate issues to the surface and confronts the group with reality data. When necessary, the leader himself must assume this role.
Continually assure people of "permission to discuss": realizing that the other feels uncomfortable saying something more difficult, remind him how important this is.
As a leader, avoid a patronizing stance by interrupting productive discussions to protect the team from major confrontations. Control anxiety and frustration in the face of more vigorous conflicts within the team.
Make sure everyone has a voice in the discussions.
Challenge 3: Lack of commitment
Out of fear of conflict, important issues are no longer discussed by the team, which deprives people of the opportunity to understand what is at stake and to express their opinion.
Because they don’t feel heard or have no clarity about future scenarios, priorities and direction, people have more difficulty committing to decisions - even though they pretend to agree to everything during meetings.
Commitment does not necessarily depend on consensus: the search for unanimity is, in fact, a trap that can lead teams to paralysis. People are able to engage unanimity is actually a trap that can lead to teams paralysis. People are able to engage even in ideas they did not initially agree with, as long as they feel respected and understand transparency in decisions and communications.
How do you get people to commit?
Escape the trap of always seeking consensus and finding new ways to get people to join, even when unanimity is not possible.
Ensure clarity about decisions and their outcomes: at the end of each meeting, review the decisions made and define, together with the team, how they should be communicated, ensuring consistency.
In a structured way, create awareness about the fears and risks, discussing the worst possible scenario and the necessary contingency plans.
Ensure discipline with deadlines, signaling to the team how important that is. Establish together with the team final dates and intermediate deliveries to identify early the lack of alignment.
Fight the phobia of decision-making and, as a leader, show that sometimes you have to decide even without being completely sure - and that route changes can be necessary and natural throughout the process.
Challenge 4: Lack of Accountability
By not committing themselves and agreeing to the decisions made, people avoid taking responsibility for others. Even the most dedicated employees hesitate to draw the attention of their colleagues because of inappropriate behaviors or bad results.
People are tolerant or complicit with the low performance of colleagues. To avoid personal discomfort, avoid make collections, especially to the people closest or dearest.
How to stimulate shared sense of responsibility?
Help people overcome the personal discomfort of taking responsibility from colleagues. Prepare them to deal with difficult conversations and nonviolent communication.
Have clear and visible goals and performance standards for people.
Keep practices simple and regular to monitor the evolution of people and activities.
Provide the team with easy ways to track their progress and use peer influence as a way to encourage responsibility and performance.
Adopt ways to reward collective performance to stimulate a culture of accountability.
Challenge 5: Lack of attention to results
Because there is no culture of accountability, people place their individual needs (success, recognition, personal gratification, preferences, etc.) or even the need for their departments above collective objectives.
It is common to operate in silos: each one prioritizes the needs of its area, without considering the whole and without taking into account what is important for the good customer service and for the sustained growth of the business.
Because trust is lacking and people are afraid of conflict, they take more calculated actions: instead of saying what they think or what is necessary at that moment, they choose words to avoid generating negative reactions and to gain the support of peers.
How to encourage people to focus on results?
In addition to objectives by area, adopt common objectives and parameters (valid for any sector) and use them routinely to make collective decisions.
Define objectives and results in a way that is simple enough for everyone to understand, and specific enough that they can be put into practice.
Along with the team, make a public commitment to the results and avoid the "we’ll do the best we can" posture.
Have long-term goals, but also adopt indicators and direction measures that allow you to track where the result is going.
Adopt fair ways to value and reward good results, taking care not to make this the main strategy to stimulate people’s commitment.
Fonte: http://beehavior.com.br/equipe-desafios-lencioni/