Summary for Five Dysfunctions of a Team

https://docs.google.com/document/d/12xKT2UjeT0p-HnEDBJztdkupp77lcMsGbJSiZhbjiJ4/edit?usp=sharing

AVOIDANCE OF ACCOUNTABILITY

you see it on

• creates resentment (Abneigung) among teammembers who have different standards of performance
• encourages mediocrity (Mittelmäßigkeit)
• misses deadlines and key deliverables
• places an undue burden on the team leader as the sole source of discipline

leads to

team members shift their attention to areas other than collective results

• avoid difficult conversations –>we need to enter the danger
• fear of jeopardizing (aufs Spiel setzen) a valuable personal relationship
• leads to deteriorate of relationsship(abwerten), Standards go down
• good team have high expectations on each other and show it
• build peer pressure

turned around

• ensures that poor performers feel pressure to improve
• identifies potential problems quickly by questioning one another’s approaches without hesitation (Zögerung)
• establishes respect among team members who are held to the same high standards
• *avoids excessive bureaucracy around performance management and corrective action

How to overcome

• publication of goals and standards
  • clarify publicity exactly what the team needs to achieve, who needs to deliver what, how everyone must behave in order to succeed (open team goals)
  • enemy - ambiguity
  • keep goals open and make them visible
• simple and regular progress reviews
  • give feedback on their performance (from teammember to teammembers)
• team rewards (shifting away from individual goals)

leader

• Leader must not be the only source of discipline
• must be arbiter (Schiedsrichter) if the team itself fails (rarly)

INATTENTION TO RESULTS

team members care about something other than the collective goals

TODO

• make team goals and development more important than each individual team members goals
• be result focussed - desire to win
• make results clear, reward only those behaviours and actions that contribute to those results

you see it on

• stagnates/fails to grow
• rarely defeats competitors
• loses achievement-oriented employees
• encourages team members to focus on their own careers and invididual goals
• is easily distracted (abgelenkt)

turned around

• retains achievement-oriented employees
• minimizes individualistic behaviour
• enjoys success and suffers failure acutely
• avoids distractions
• benefits from individuals who subjugate their own goals/interests for the good of the team

How to overcome

• Public declaration of results
  • make public proclamations about intended success
  • commit publicly to specific results - and wor with a passionate, even desperate desire to achieve those results
• Never use We’ll do our best
• Result based rewards
  • tie compensation to the achievement of specific outcomes

leader

• set tone to focus on results
• must be selfless and objective
• reserve rewards and recognition for those who make real contributions to the achievement of group goals

ABSENCE OF TRUST

TRUST - confidence among team members that their peers intentions are good and that there is no reason to be protective or careful around the group

• teammembers must get vulnerable with one another
• weaknesses, skill deficiencies, interpersonal shortcomings, mistakes, request for help
• effect - focus their energy and attention completely on the job at hand (instead of being political and strategically disingenuous (hinterlistig))
  • (often loose a lot of power in managing behaviours and interactions, reluctant to take risks, dread (fürchten) team meetings, )

teamwork is impossible

you see it on

• conceal their weaknesses and mistakes from one another
• hesítate to ask for help or provide constructive feedback
• hesitate to offer help outside their own areas of responsibility
• jump to conclusions about the intentions and aptitudes of others without clarifying them
• fail to recognize and tap into one anothers skills and experiences
• waste time and energy managing their behaviours for effect
• hold grudges (Groll, Neid)
• dread meetings and find reasons to avoid spending time together

turned around

• admit weaknesses and mistakes
• ask for help
• accept questions and input about their areas of responsibility
• give one another the benefit of the doubt before arriving at a negative conclusion
• take risi´ks in offering feedback and assistance
• appreciate and tap into one another’s skills and experiences
• focus tiem and energy on important issues, not politics
• offer and accept apologies without hesitation
• look forward to meetings and other opportunities to work as a group

Overcoming

• shared experiences
• in dept understanding of the unique attributes of team members
• personal history exercise
• team effectiveness execise:
  • identify single most important contribution of each peer makes to the team and one area that must improve or be eliminated for the good of the team
• personal profiles
• 360 degree feedback

Linking

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