If your team works well and is stable, then you won’t read any further. But are you sure? Maybe more is possible? More energy, more quality, more focus, more purpose?
Here are a few thoughts on taboos, symptoms and a conceptual framework to help you create really good teams.
We don’t talk about that! The taboos
Difficult situation on the market? Transformation? Employees leave you? Customers doubt your performance and quality? Have you heard the following sentences in your team? Or felt them unspoken? Or thought them yourself as a manager?
➡️ Talking about it brings unrest into the team. “They” should just be able to do their job.
➡️ Those at the top don’t see the situation, or don’t want to see it. I no longer trust them.
➡️ They (down there) in the team should just trust me.
➡️ I have my own protected area here and observe what our managers are doing from the outside, so to speak.
➡️ When change happens, there are always those who are afraid, angry or disappointed. They are just mimosas.
➡️ The customer must not find out what is going on with us.
These are all bitter, dangerous signals. With positive results – but only if you understand them as a manager and react to them early on.
And what happens in such teams? The regressions
One phenomenon that unfortunately occurs quite frequently in some teams is situations in which team members fall back into emotional, simple and undifferentiated patterns of behavior. Group dynamics call this “regression”.
Examples:
1️⃣ Withdrawal: Individual group members withdraw and avoid contact with others. This can lead to important information not being exchanged and cooperation being hindered.
2️⃣ Dependence on a leader: Group members leave all decisions and responsibilities to a single person and behave passively and dependently. This can lead to the group not being able to develop its full potential and the leader being overwhelmed.
3️⃣ Conflicts and power struggles: Group members get into conflicts and power struggles that are driven by emotional reactions rather than objective arguments. This can lead to negative group dynamics and make collaboration more difficult.
4️⃣ Groupthink: Group members adapt their opinions and behavior to the majority in order to belong and be accepted. This can lead to important critical voices not being heard and poor decisions being made.
5️⃣ Excessive optimism or pessimism: Group members tend to be either overly optimistic or pessimistic, which can lead to a distorted perception of reality. This can lead to the group not planning and making decisions realistically.
Regressions in teams can lead to conflicts, a lack of productivity and negative group dynamics. As team coaches, we try to recognize regressions at an early stage and intervene in a targeted manner in order to promote positive group development.
Lencioni – a conceptual framework for good teams
Our work in teams is often based on Lencioni’s concepts, which he has described very nicely as the “5 dysfunctions” in his booklet “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”, which is definitely worth reading:
If you read on, you may have already observed one of the so-called “5 dysfunctions in teams” yourself:
- Lack of trust in each other or in the manager
- Fear or inability to identify, address and resolve conflicts in an appreciative manner
- Fear or unwillingness to take responsibility, as a team or individually
- Individual success is the focus, not the success of the team
- Low commitment of the team or team members to the results, to each other, etc.
Lencioni also describes various recipes for how managers and teams should deal with the respective dysfunctions. We believe – the ideas are all good – but there is no 0-8-15 recipe for dealing with these dysfunctions.
Instead, the causes of these dysfunctions should be identified and addressed in a joint process – with or without external support. In team coaching, we do not work on the symptoms, but with you on the causes. On the other hand – in addition to working with the team – the manager should be strengthened, e.g. through individual coaching, in order to initiate change through active, good, effective action in ‘daily business’.