PM101- 8 Do You Know How to Overcome the Five Dysfunctions of a Team? A Blueprint for Success
Robert Trajkovski, altPMP BSEE MSE Ph.D(ABD)
Billion Dollar Project Leader| Director of Capital Projects | Helping Companies Execute Their CAPEX Goals into Reality
I love the work of Patrick Lencioni and have read several of his books.? ?His books usually consist of a story that teaches the principle(s) and is followed with the theory behind the principle.??
One of the books that I truly try to reread every year is Five Dysfunctions of a Team.? It is a book on building high performing teams (HPT)? ?According to Patrick there are five building dysfunctions that block a successful team.??(Visualize a pyramid made up of five blocks)
And guess what it starts with?
You probably guessed that an HPT is built on a foundation of trust.? As a Project Leader, you have to build your team from day one based on trust.? If you ever lose trust the game is over.?
The team that has trust between members will share their weaknesses.? Members will ask for help when they are struggling.? They feel a part of the team and know that others have their back.?
I have walked in many situations where I had to fix a team or a mess due to lack of trust.?
Trust is built by every action you take as a leader.? AND as we all know it can be lost or damaged in a second with a quick statement or decision that is out of place.?
Being human, I have made damaging statements.? Let me tell you a story of one such situation.
In one of my recent roles,? a PM working for me was managing a process.? He was supposed to go to the field,? capture the construction problem, work with an interdisciplinary team to suggest a change needed to solve the problem with a rough order of magnitude estimate and submit it to a leadership team to make a decision.
What he did was try to badmouth the team's choice before submitting it.? I was pissed.? I didn't need his damn opinion and told him so.? ?He let his ego get in the way of solving the puzzle.? He was trying to kill the idea before the leaders had a chance to decide.??
The phrase of not needing his damn opinion came back at me a few times.?
Trust is the glue BUT besides the obvious use of holding two or more pieces together,? what makes it useful is that it allows a team to disagree.? Without trust, members do not feel safe to argue and confront each other's ideas.? ?There is a fear of conflict.? People are not going to disagree or will go around problems if they feel that the team will fail.?And without confronting each other's ideas, the team often does not make the best decision.?
Why?
The reason for that is there is a lack of commitment to a decision by the member(s).? They might support the decision in the meeting but talk poorly about it behind closed doors.? The decision might be seen as ambiguous.? It might feel that a decision must be revisited many times.?
And if they do not fully embrace it as the best decision at that time the team can commit to, they now have a way out.? You as the leader can not hold them accountable and they do not feel accountable for the success of the decision.
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This turns into poor team performance, missed deadlines, and poor results.? Most often those poor results are due to the ego of the member.??
As the leader you must drive for the best decision to be made.? Even if you disagree with it.??
Let me give you an example.?
I was in a meeting where I had a position on an issue and one of my PMs felt the opposite.? Easily I could have pulled rank and pushed that my position is what we are going to do.? ?
I did not...that would have been my ego talking.
Instead, I suggested that an independent third person, who was most qualified and closest to the problem, make the final decision.? A subject matter expert, SME, made the final decision.??
It was not quite what either of us expected but it solved the problem.? ?I have said many times,? ?that I don't have to get my way for the project to succeed.? ?It is not about me being right.? ?The team has to make the best decision so that everyone can be accountable and we succeed together.
The five levels that Patrick Lencioni presents are easy to remember and apply.? We build trust in order for the team to feel comfortable to confront each other's ideas.? By confronting each other's ideas we commit to a decision that everyone is accountable for the results the team achieves.
What do we need to do as leaders?
I believe that as leaders we must always ask ourselves and our teams where we are on the pyramid.? Which block is broken, cracked, or missing? Once a week evaluate your team on the five team dysfunctions.?Brutally honest conversations might be needed in order for the team to function and make the best decisions. Without removing those five dysfunctions, there is no way that as a team you are going to achieve the desired results.
My four cents...
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Real Estate Developer | Oil & Gas Veteran | Seasoned Innovator | Transformation Champion | Lifetime Learner
2 个月It’s great to hear how you’ve put the principles into action! Trust takes a long time to build and only seconds to break.?I wonder, how do you balance fostering an open, honest dialogue about these dysfunctions without it feeling like a “blame game” or demotivating the team?