The 5 essential requirements of an effective team - 3. Commitment

Have you ever scratched your head about how to increase your team’s level of commitment? It’s a common challenge. In this article, the third of 5 on team effectiveness, I’m sharing some tips on how to develop team commitment. I am drawing on Patrick Lencioni’s classic book The 5 dysfunctions of teams and my own long experience of working with teams as an executive coach and mediator.

Lencioni’s pyramid demonstrates that team capacity is built from the bottom, first on trust, then the ability to handle conflict and above that, commitment. Trust and handling conflict are requirements. If you have questions about how to generate these take a look at articles 1 and 2 for practical tips.

These alone however, won’t ensure commitment. So what else can be done to improve team commitment?

Buy-in

Team buy-in, refers to a willingness to work with the leader to realise a shared goal and the first step is providing the context at both a personal and organisational level.

Starting team meetings with a reiteration of the ‘why’, frames what happens next, helping members align thoughts with actions. I am reminded of a function head of a global audit firm who was so highly committed to the outcome himself, he found it hard to understand that not everyone understood his intense desire to succeed. When he shared with his team why it was so important to him and how it fitted with the organisational direction, there was a sea change in their willingness to consider ways of achieving it.

The organisational context is also important. The organisation’s commitment to the vision and strategy must be demonstrated in the behaviour of the senior leaders. If there is a discrepancy here, by the time its effect reaches the lower levels of the organisation, there will be significantly more exaggerated examples showing lack of commitment.

But more is required for genuine buy-in. To be able to leave each meeting with a clear commitment to taking action, the team members need to be further engaged. A team leader can do this by hearing from everyone before coming to a decision. some may need envouragement to speak whilst others may need encouragement to give space. Based on what we know about the value of diversity, this leads to not only a better informed decision but also an increased sense of shared ownership.

However, Lencioni warns that having done so there's the temptation to push for consensus. Although consensus is reassuring, it can be time consuming with decisions being put off until everyone agrees. A delayed decision on actions can lead to a sense of stagnation and frustration. When the leader makes the decision to follow through, on the team discussion, momentum is maintained.

I can remember in my early career being shocked to be told that 60% of management decisions were wrong but as long as managers were making decisions they were doing their job. Lencioni stresses that making a decision is almost more important than making the right one! To support leaders who are reluctant, he recommends experimenting with making low risk decisions without much research, so both team and leader can see they are less catastrophic than anticipated.

Clarity

The next step is to translate the decision into clear actions that make sense to the person responsible for carrying them out.

To ensure this happens, Lencioni recommends, at the end of each meeting, summarising the decisions that have been taken and confirming their meaning. An effective way to do this is by putting them up on a flip chart. At this point any discrepancies in understanding will come to light. When reviewing with my coaching clients whether they have completed agreed actions, I’ve found when they are clear on the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ it is quite hard to stop them taking action!

Agreeing ‘by whens’ further adds to the level of clarity as well as throwing light on what needs to be communicated and what should remain confidential. If actions are habitually taken in a timely fashion, it becomes part of the team culture. An additional boost to commitment is gained by insisting the decisions are communicated to direct reports within 24hrs, by phone or face to face, so any misunderstandings or questions can quickly be dealt with.

Desirable team culture

The behavioural expectations such as being punctual, reliable, respectful, honest and responsive are all necessary behaviours that help with developing a sense of pride and commitment within a team. Agreeing behavioural norms every time a new member joins is a good reminder for everyone. The leader’s role in is especially important, he/she is the role model that sets the tone.

Conclusion

Deepening commitment in a team requires attention to detail and incremental improvement over time. It also requires the team to want to make the leaders vision a reality. We shall talk more about this in my next blog which looks at what is required for the fourth level of the pyramid: accountability.