What are the foundations of high performance teams?

“I believe that the high performance teams exist if they are given the possibility to reach their highest potential”.

Probably you know already the pyramid of the 5 dysfunctions of high performance teams.. 

Do you agree that those are very important for the team you work with?

First , let’s define what the meaning of each one of the key words is used to describe those dysfunctions.

The lack of TRUST is mostly due to the lack of something else like reliability or the ability to do something or simply missing respect for each other.

“Earn trust, earn trust, earn trust. Then you can worry about the rest.” 

SETH GODIN

In my next article, I promise you to discuss the lack of TRUST in more detail. Stay tuned!

Now, let’s move to the next dysfunction – fear of conflict.

The fear of conflict reflects other fears like the fear of being judged or the fear of exposing some personal vulnerability.

The commitment is comprised of 2 components – clarity and motivation. If we ask somebody to perform some work and there is no clarity about the end goal, clearly that person will not be committed. This is very tightly related to the personal motivation which will be very high if the person wants to do the task.

The avoidance of ACCOUNTABILITY is another important dysfunction. It is very often related to the lack of clarity and the lack of commitment. The accountability on team level means that the team members are holding each other accountable for their work. This is one of the most important aspects of the efficient team work.

Here is one of my favorite quotes:

“Accountability separates the wishers in life from the action-takers that care enough about their future to account for their daily actions. “    

John Di Lemme

The last dysfunction is the inattention to RESULTS.

This happens because of a lack of common team goals and team norms. The lack of collective thinking and ownership provokes individuals to think only about themselves and their personal goals. Important factor that influences the team spirit and efficiency is the performance evaluation. If the team members are evaluated as a team, this will definitely help them to think as a team and be focused on common goals and results.

In my next articles, I will take a deeper look into each one of the 5 dysfunctions. It would be interesting to understand the impact of each dysfunction on the team and how those dysfunctions can be fixed.

Please, comment on the article! What is your experience with dysfunctional teams? Did you notice tendencies or other causes that have not been mentioned in that article? I am sure that you all have a lot to share J

Think about the times that you have done great work! Are you able to produce the same results in another environment,with another team? If yes, what are the key factors that contribute to the success of high performant teams?

According to Richard Kasperowski and his book “High-Performance teams THE FOUNDATIONS” those are the building blocks of the high performant teams:

What do YOU think ? Is the “Positive bias” the foundation of everything? The openness and the ability to think outside of the box and not focus on your own problems. The ability to open your mind to other possibilities and new ideas! Be positive and nourish your growing mindset!

Practice every day!