“…and no one – not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses – ever makes it alone,” excerpt from Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.
In order to accomplish something significant, you can’t do it alone. Often times this means you are part of a team. Being on a successful team can be an extremely invigorating and exciting experience – everyone working together and accomplishing something that would have been unattainable as an individual. The whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts. Nirvana. Utopia. High-five!
Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work this way. We have all experienced being part of a dysfunctional team. It may have been a department at work, a church committee, a Board of Directors, a volunteer group or maybe even within your family. There are community issues needing to be addressed, yet, dysfunctional teams are alive and well within our society. But, why does this matter?
Having a dysfunctional team, at best, limits a team’s ability to optimally achieve their goals; at worst, it cripples a team from accomplishing anything. Patrick Lencioni has written an entire book on dysfunctional teams. It can be extremely frustrating to be part of a team that is not accomplishing its goals. Your time is being wasted. Your energy is drained. When this is happening, it is essential to take a step back and ask yourself, “Why is this happening?”
You may be a team participant. You may be the team leader. Either way, it is important to assess your team’s capability to work effectively together. There are three things to look for when initially assessing your team:
- Trust – Team members trust one another. They believe each team member is a good person and each team member is willing to show their vulnerability and mistakes.
- On the same page – Everyone is trying to accomplish the same goal(s).
- Open communication – Each team member engages in the discussion. No one is afraid to share their ideas and opinions.
When building a team, it is absolutely critical to only add team members that will meet these criteria. Time and time again people are added to teams because of their talents and skills to do the job/task. The interviewers think they could work with them. But a good team member, in addition to having the talents and skills necessary to do the job/task, also earns trust, trusts others, listens, and shares thoughts and opinions. Also, the team member’s goals and objectives align with the goals and objectives of the team. You can easily build a very talented team, but that doesn’t equate to success. This philosophy not only applies to building a team, but also to when considering joining a team.
Of course, the million dollar question, “What if I am already on a dysfunctional team? What do I do?” I have my opinions and thoughts, but I want to hear yours. What do you do?
