Why Some Teams Don’t Work/Flourish

Graphics courtesy of NTaskOpens in new window Leaders and organizations should understand that while advocates of the team approach to leadership paint a very optimistic picture, there is still a dark side to teams. While exact statistics are not available, teams can and often do fail.

Patrick Lencioni identifies five dysfunctions that are lethal for team success.

1. The first is absence of trust, resulting in self-protecting behavior.
2. The second is fear of conflict, resulting in superficial and guarded comments.
3. The third is lack of commitment, including feigned support for team decisions.
4. The fourth is avoidance of accountability, leading to lack of ownership for individual actions.
5. The fifth is inattention to results, evidenced by team members putting personal interest above the goals of the team.

Teamwork deteriorates if even a single dysfunction is allowed to flourish.

If teams are to be effective, leaders must look to countering or heading off the five dysfunctions and make a concerted effort to avoid common management mistakes. Likewise, team members must be aware, be prepared for, and able to recognize common pitfalls as well. After all, working on a team is demanding.

Not everyone may be ready to be a team member. Analysis of failed attempts at introducing teams into the workplace identify several obstacles to team success. These pitfalls, described below, can be avoided with a little work.

Common Leadership Mistakes With Teams

When leadership is to blame for the failure of a team, it is usually because the leaders failed to create a supportive environment in which a team can function. For instance, reward plans that encourage individuals to compete with one another erode teamwork.

Teams need a good, long-term organization life-support system. Teams also cannot be used as a quick fix to any organizational problem—they require a sustained commitment over time. Some leaders are unwilling to relinquish control to the team. In the past, good leaders worked their way up from the plant floor by giving orders and having them followed, and they may find it difficult to change that approach.

Consider the following: One leader experienced the difficulty of implementing teams in the workplace:

Common Problems for Team Members

Leaders must recognize that team members frequently experience common problems. Contrary to those who contend that teams fail because employees lack the motivation and creativity for real teamwork, teams frequently don’t succeed because they take on too much quickly and drive themselves too hard for fast results. Nurturing important group dynamics and developing strong team skills get lost in the rush toward the goal.

Failure is part of the learning process with teams, as it is elsewhere in life. Comprehensive learning and development in interpersonal skills can prevent many common teamwork problems as well, which may arise from conflicts in personalities, work styles, and approaches to communication.

Teams fail when their members are unwilling to cooperate with each other and with other teams. In expectation that setbacks and small failures may occur, teams need to be counseled against quitting when they run into an unanticipated obstacle.

Leaders should recognize that merely requiring several people to work together does not necessarily make them into a team, much less a high-performing one. This section outlines symptoms of low-performing teams that indicate intervention may be necessary to keep them from failing. It also notes the common characteristics of high-performing teams.