1. A lack of trust - invulnerability
2. Fear of conflict- artificial harmony
3. Lack of commitment - ambiguity
4. Avoidance of accountability- low standards
5. In attention to results - status and ego
Members of trusting teams;
- 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 risks in offering feedback and assistance
- Appreciate and tap into one anothers skill and experiences
- Focus time and energy on important issues
- Offer and accept apologies without hesitation
- Look forward to meetings and opportunities to work as a group.
Absence of trust
- conceal weaknesses and mistakes from one another
- Hesitates to ask for help or constructive feedback
- Hesitate to offer help outside their own areas of responsibility
- Jump to conclusions about the intentions of others without attempting to clarify
- Fail to recognize and tap into one anothers skills and experiences
- Waste time and energy managing their behaviors for effect
- Hold grudges
- Dread meetings and find reasons to avoid spending time together
How to build trust:
1. Personal Histories Exercise - number of siblings, hometown, unique challenges of childhood, favorite hobbies, first job, worst job.
2. Team Effectiveness - Identify the single most important contribution that each of their peers makes to the team, as well as the one area that they must either improve upon or eliminate for the good of the team. Focus on one person at a time beginning with the team leader.
3. Personality tests
4. 360 degree feedback
Teams that engage in conflict
- have lively meetings
- extract and exploit the ideas of all team members
- solve real problems quickly
- minimize politics
- put critical topics on the table
Teams that fear conflict
- have boring meetings
- create environments where back-channel politics and personal attacks thrive
- ignore controversial topics that are critical to team success
- fail to tap into all the opinions and perspectives of team members
- Waste time and energy with posturing and interpersonal risk management.
A team that fails to commit
- creates ambiguity among the team about direction and priorities
- watches windows of opportunity close due to excessive analysis and unnecessary delay
- breeds lack of confidence and fear of failure
- revisits discussions and decisions again and again
- encourages second - guessing among team members
A team that commits
- creates clarity around direction and priorities
- aligns the entire team around common objectives
- develops and ability to learn from mistakes
- takes advantage of opportunities before competitors do
- moves forward without hesitation
- changes direction without hesitation or guilt
A team that avoids accountability
- creates resentment among team members who have different standards of performance
- Encourages mediocrity
- Misses deadlines and key deliverables
- Places and undue burden on the team leader as the sole source of discipline
A team that holds one another accountable
- Ensures that poor performers feel pressure to improve
- identifies potential problems quickly by questioning one another's approaches without hesitation
- Establishes respect among team members who are held to the same high standards
- Avoids excessive bureaucracy
A team that is not focused on results
- stagnates and fails to grow
- rarely defeats competitors
- loses achievement oriented employees
- encourages team members to focus on their own careers and goals
- is easily distracted
A team that is focused on collective results
- retains achievement-oriented employees
- minimizes individualistic behavior
- enjoys success and suffers failure acutely
- benefits from individuals who subjugate their own goals/interests for the good of the team
- avoids distractions
