HIGH PERFORMING OR

DYSFUNCTIONAL: HOW HEALTHY IS

YOUR TEAM?
Tammy Reynolds, MBA
October 2013

Leading Change in Turbulent Times

Executive Education Seminar
 A little about me
Grew up in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
Have two awesome sons
and a husband Tim (who
you met earlier)
Have a big lovable dog
Worked in industry for 20+
years, most recently with
Whirlpool Corporation
Joined Ohio University
August 2012
Love the outdoors skiing,
biking, hiking, kayaking
Sources used for this presentation
 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Discuss at your table:

Think about your best team

experience sports, school, social
organization, work place?
What made it great?

Now think of the worst team

Why was it so bad?
 Groups
Two or more interacting and
interdependent individuals
who come together to
achieve specific goals.
Formal groups
Informal groups
 What Is a Team?

Groups whose
members work
intensely on a specific,
common goal using
their positive synergy,
individual and mutual
accountability, and
complementary skills.
Tuckmans Stages of Team
Development
 Team Dynamics
Groupthink - when a group exerts extensive
pressure on an individual to align his or her
opinion with that of others.
Social loafing - the tendency for individuals to
expend less effort when working collectively
than when working individually.
 Groupthink

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWoFQAqeZnQ
 Mini Case

Instructions:
1. Take a few minutes to read the case individually and
answer the 3 questions
2. Discuss at your table 10 minutes and try to reach
agreement on the 3 questions
3. Prepare your response and elect a spokesperson for
the group
4. Review as a large group
 Inattention
to Results

Avoidance of
Accountability

Lack of Commitment

Fear of Conflict

Absence of Trust Invulnerability

 Lack of Trust

What are some examples of lack of trust on

teams that you have experienced?
Building Teams that Trust
Steven Covey - Trust
 Emotional Bank Account
Steven Covey
Group Exercise
At your tables, discuss deposits and
withdrawals that you might make into the
emotional bank account of someone you love
Next, discuss deposits and withdrawals that
you might make with fellow teammates at
work
Emotional Bank Account
Steven Covey
Other ways to build trust on teams
Share styles, strengths and
personality differences
Get to know each other
outside of work
 Teams that trust
Admit weaknesses
Ask for help
Accept questions and input regarding their
areas of responsibility
Appreciate and tap into one anothers skills
and experiences
Offer and accept apologies
Lost at Sea
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
by Patrick Lencioni
Inattention
to Results

Avoidance of
Accountability

Lack of Commitment

Fear of Conflict Artificial Harmony

Absence of Trust
 Fear of Conflict
Conflict - perceived incompatible differences that result opposition.

Traditional view of conflict -

the view that all conflict is
bad and must be avoided.
 Functional Conflict
Conflicts that support a
groups goals and
improve its
performance.
Task conflict - conflicts over
content and goals of the
work.
Process conflict - conflict over
how work gets done.
 Dysfunctional Conflict
Dysfunctional conflicts -
conflicts that prevent a
group from achieving its
goals(typically
interpersonal)
SO, IS CONFLICT ALWAYS A BAD
THING?

Clearly Not
Relationship Between Level of Conflict
and Level of Performance
 Five Conflict-Handling Styles
Avoiding - Maybe the problem will go away
Accommodating Lets do it your way
Forcing You have to do it my way
Compromising Lets split the difference
Collaborating Lets cooperate to reach a win-win
solution that benefits both of us
 Programmed Conflict

Devils advocacy Dialectic method

process of assigning
someone to play the role
of critic to voice possible
objections to a proposal
and thereby generate
critical thinking and
reality testing
process of having two
people or groups play
opposing roles in a
debate in order to better
understand a proposal
Teams that engage in healthy conflict
Have lively interesting meetings
Put critical topics on the table for discussion
Tackle issues head on
Solve real problems quickly
Minimize politics
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
by Patrick Lencioni
Inattention
to Results

Avoidance of
Accountability

Lack of
Commitment Ambiguity

Fear of Conflict

Absence of Trust
 Lack of Team Commitment
What does lack of commitment
look like:
Fuzzy goals, no clear direction
Revisit discussions and decisions
over and over again
Encourages second guessing
 A team that commits
Creates clarity around priorities
Moves forward without hesitation
Aligns the team members around common
objectives
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
by Patrick Lencioni
Inattention
to Results

Avoidance of Low Standards

Accountability

Lack of Commitment

Fear of Conflict

Absence of Trust
 Avoidance of Accountability
Encourages mediocrity
Misses deadlines and key
deliverables
Teams that hold each other accountable

Ensure poor performers feel pressure to

improve
Identify potential problems quickly by
questioning one anothers approaches
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
by Patrick Lencioni
Inattention to
Results Status & Ego

Avoidance of
Accountability

Lack of Commitment

Fear of Conflict

Absence of Trust
 Inattention to Results
The ultimate dysfunction of a team is the
tendency of member to care about something
other than the collective goals of the group.
(Lencioni, 2002)

Rarely defeats competitors

Encourages team members to focus on their
own careers and individual goals
 Teams that focus on results
Win!
Retain achievement oriented employees
Minimizes individualistic behavior
Learn to subjugate individual egos and agenda
for the good of the team
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
by Patrick Lencioni
Inattention
to Results Status & Ego

Avoidance of Low Standards

Accountability

Lack of Commitment Ambiguity

Fear of Conflict Artificial Harmony

Absence of Trust Invulnerability

 How healthy is your team?
Referring to Lencionis model, determine how
healthy your team is
What does your team do well?
What can it improve upon?
What one thing will you commit to changing
on your team?