Addressing your team’s dysfunction
Every team has dysfunction on some level. How do you identify and address it?
- How functional is the team? Are they getting something done at least?
- Where do we need to shore up?
- What strengths does the team possess?
- What prevents achievement?
- How do we overcome dysfunction?
Identifying and addressing your team’s dysfunction is about improving the capacity of a group of individuals. With enough trust among individuals, the team can leverage healthy conflict to innovate, solve problems and achieve results. A high-functioning team supports each other while holding individuals accountable.
When you have this foundation in place, the team can accomplish more because they can now focus their attention on results. The real work is building and constantly reinforcing trust, which includes vulnerability and personal connection. When trust is compromised, individuals become uncomfortable sharing ideas, admitting mistakes or asking for help. Ultimately, the performance of the team suffers because it lacks full participation from all team members.
If your team is suffering from dysfunction, it might helpful to work with an external facilitator who is skilled in identifying behavior patterns, raising awareness, and helping the group of individuals align around common objective as a team.