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Lecture 07. Reading Early Warning Signs of Team Failure
Lecture 07. Reading Early Warning Signs of Team Failure
Health
Barriers to Success: Reading Early
Warning Signs of Team Failure
Instructor:
3
Five Key Questions
4
Team Dysfunction Definition
5
Are We Really a Team?
• Absence of trust
• Fear of conflict
• Lack of commitment
• Avoidance of accountability
• Inattention to results
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Team Dysfunction:
Absence of Trust
Absence of trust:
• Individuals are unwilling to admit their
mistakes
• Team members are reluctant to let down
their guard with one another
• Team members who throw another “under
the bus”
• Self preservation—looking out for number
one
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Team Dysfunction
Fear of conflict:
• The team is incapable of engaging in healthy
debate
Lack of commitment
• Difficult for team members to commit to decisions
Lack of accountability
• Teams don’t commit to a clear plan of action
Inattention to results
• Team members tend to put their needs ahead of
collective goals.
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Organizational Structure
and Culture—1
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Commitments
• Corporate commitment
– If the decision makers, leaders, and owners of
a team don't buy into this, then it doesn't matter.
• Personal commitment
– Trust is a personal commitment ; all are held
accountable
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Trust
• Inattention
• Tardiness
• Lapses in communication
• Missed meetings
• Missed obligations
• Gossiping
14
Symptoms of Dysfunction
in Leaders
• Dictatorial leadership
• No 360 degree feedback
• Personal agendas
• Political compensation
• Inefficient use of resources
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Symptoms of Dysfunction—1
• Empire-building practices
• Unequal workload distribution
• Top heavy with management
• Fragmented organizational efforts
• Too much talk
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Symptoms of Dysfunction—2
• Ineffective meetings
• Lack of collaboration
• Low productivity
• Constant crisis mode
• Morale deterioration
• Backstabbing
• Highly stressful workplace
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Goals for Dysfunctional Teams
• Truly cohesive teams are obvious.
• They trust one another.
• They engage in unfiltered conflict around
ideas.
• They commit to decisions and plans of
actions.
• They hold one another accountable for
delivering against those plans.
• They focus on the achievement of
collective results.
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Strategies to Manage
Dysfunctional Teams
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Strategies to Manage
Dysfunctional Teams—1
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Strategies to Manage
Dysfunctional Teams—2
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Group Think—Another Strategy
• A, “Road to Abilene,” paradox describes
what happens when group collectively
decides to do something that no individual in
the group really wants to do.
• The term comes from the Abilene Paradox,
demonstrated by the story of a family who
decides to travel 53 miles north to Abilene
for dinner.
• On the way back, they begin arguing after
realizing that none of them wanted to go in
the first place, but no one spoke up. 22
Lessons Learned from
the Road to Abilene
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Results/Rewards Expected from
Maneuvering a Dysfunctional Team
• A sustained competitive advantage gained
through greater collaboration, improved
communication, and a sense of team unity.
• Improved organizational performance as team
members are able to work together toward
common goals.
• Increased employee morale.
• Reduced employee turnover.
• A reduction in unproductive interpersonal conflict
• Increased productivity.
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Summary