How To Achieve Maximum Team Effort And Capabilities
Posted by seo Steering clear of the 5 dysfunctions of a losing team and supporting the four distinctions in your teams
The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team
A couple of years ago, the whole team at OpenView was presented with the notion of the five dysfunctions of a team through the book of the very same name written by Patrick Lencioni. We talked over the ideas at length, and even went through an thorough training session with team building experts to help us determine symptoms of these dysfunctions within our team and tackle them. While team building is undoubtedly constantly a work in progress for all management teams, this one session was a key to helping us leap forward in our ability to perform together. So what are the 5 dysfunctions? They are:
- Lack of Trust - Lack of Open Communication - Lack of Commitment - Lack of Accountability - Lack of Focus/Aspirations to Results
These are self explanatory, but the key idea is that they build upon each other, from Lack of Trust to Lack of Results. A team needs to concentrate on building mutual trust so that everybody is assured they are in the same boat and have practically nothing to hide from each other. This sets the foundation for open communication, the thriving of straight talk, constructive criticism and healthy debate among team members. This is crucial for a team’s constant improvement and permits everybody to give their two cents’ worth. With the ability to share what they think, team members are more willing to commit to the team’s goals and game plan, even if they disagree with some aspects of it, since it is the team’s consensus that directs these decisions. With commitment on the table, it is then possible to ensure accountability in each team member’s performance, so ultimately, reaching the goal is truly dependent upon the team member’s capability and perseverance, which then contributes to the whole team’s ultimate results.
The Four Distinctions
However, after a while, we discover that while the team’s positive drive achieved through this method is incredibly effective, it can be made better in various orthogonal aspects, which I shall humbly call the 4 distinctions of an excellent team. They are:
- Innate Flexibility: This is the quality found in teams using agile development methods. They are structured in a way that maximizes the team’s ability to respond to shifting project requirements and capacity, by means of galvanizing the team to self-organize and optimize for every new challenge or project
- Out of the box element: The most effective team embraces and encourages thinking out of the box. Their agile structure, as mentioned, makes it possible for them to be flexible enough to acknowledge ground breaking, potentially controversial ideas, while their dedication keeps them focused on their goals.
- Discipline: This is practically a “must-have” in order to possess agility, at the same time, it is crucial enough to deserve singular mention. Discipline here doesn’t refer to the strict observance of hierarchical structure, which is the antithesis of agility and open communication, rather, it is the discipline to comply with the methodology previously decided upon, the working rhythm and the team’s chosen organizational setup. Managers are often tempted to abuse their authority in little ways to get their pet things carried out, and subordinates are also often tempted to use shortcuts to save time and efforts. All of these are infringements of discipline, and results in teams that work like a sputtering steam locomotive – moving in jerks and stops.
- Inspiration: This is discussed last but it is really the most important. Targeting a lofty goal will unite the team, and urge them to uncover all of the principles mentioned above, and encourage them to do their best to work well together. I don’t need to say more – but regardless, it is easy to get inspired, but very challenging to motivate our team. Thus, building and effectively communicating your motivation for the team is an important organizational management approach for all managers, whether they are building a sales team, solidifying a development team, or encouraging the marketing team to work together.
Tien Anh Nguyen is an Associate at OpenView Venture Partners, responsible for delivering strategic value-add services to the portfolio companies as part of the OpenView Labs team.
