A good strategic plan is dead in the water if you don’t have a healthy team to back it up. It goes beyond hiring people that “mesh” well – you must create an environment of trust within your organization – a space that allows healthy debate, discussion, and conflict.
Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team identifies the crucial elements for a high-performing team’s success. These elements provide a framework for creating a collaborative and results-driven environment:
- Trust: Trust forms the foundation of effective teamwork and creates a sense of safety to be vulnerable, knowing that whatever is shared will not be used against you. It fosters open communication, healthy debates, and conflict resolution, enabling team members to work together confidently. Without trust, the team will not feel safe to have conflict.
- Conflict: Constructive conflict is essential for innovation and optimal decision-making. Embracing diverse perspectives allows for exploring different ideas and solutions, leading to improved outcomes.
- Commitment: This is only possible once everyone has had the opportunity to have their perspectives heard and respected. It ensures alignment and focuses on shared goals. Collective efforts are maximized when every team member is fully dedicated to the team’s objectives.
- Accountability: This drives individual ownership and responsibility. When team members take accountability for their actions, they strive to deliver on their commitments, fostering a sense of reliability and trust within the team.
- Results: Ultimately, the team’s success is measured by tangible results. By emphasizing trust, conflict resolution, commitment, and accountability, teams create an environment that optimizes performance and drives achievement.
High-performing teams don’t just ‘happen’; they develop over time with consistent effort and focus on the five behaviours. To understand where your team needs to sustain focus to maintain or strengthen performance, start with a Team Health Check survey.
Team Health surveys should be completed by the whole team and the results should be worked through together. Get a taste of this process by taking the Team Health Survey below, and receive a complimentary debriefing on your individual results to see where your organization can begin.
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