Situation: Sitting with a group of people (a meeting, a cocktail party, a casual conversation, whatever) and one of the people in the group feels really strongly about the topic, seems to know more than the others, or has significant power over the fortunes of the others. You have something important to contribute that might contradict the prevailing wind of discussion, might add a relevant overlooked fact, or might just force the group to consider the merits of an alternative course of action. What determines whether or not you speak your mind?
TRUST
In all organizations, young / old, small / large, public / private, interpersonal dynamics determine whether a group maximizes the knowledge and skill of its members. If each team member trusts that his/her opinion will be respected and honestly considered and that everyone will be held accountable to “do what they say they will do”, then the group will benefit from open dialogue and will likely arrive at the best course of action. Without that trust, team members will play politics and only reinforce the view point of the strongest willed member or will only shallowly bring up opinions counter to the conversational trend.
You say, "Yea, I know this – it is pretty basic Group Think stuff…" Might be basic, but it is everywhere and personal insecurities make sure it is unfortunately the norm.
Trust in the Team: The foundation of a healthy and successful organization is building and maintaining a cohesive leadership team whose interaction is based on trust. It is the goal of the effective leader to snuff out the tendency of any group to orbit dominant personalities – particularly that of the leader. Trust is not created by saying “I will not fire you if you disagree with me”, or “my door is always open”, true trust is built over time through many interactions reinforcing the following:
- Respect: Team members know they won’t get their head "bitten off" if they speak their mind. (See the picture above.)
- Debate: The team engages in energetic unfiltered debate around important topics (and doesn’t waste energy on trivial issues.)
- Logic: Debate centers around logic and fact, not emotion and personalities.
- Business, not personal: Each team member knows that everyone has the best interests of the team / organization at heart - all discussion is about the business, it is not personal.
- Clear action plan: The team and individuals commit to specific plans of action.
- Accountability: The team follows up on progress and holds one another accountable.
While seemingly obvious, in practice most organizations / teams fail in at least one of the above areas. The last two (Clear action plan and Accountability) are often surprisingly difficult. You can have unfettered debate, respect for your team members and focus on logic not emotion, but if you do not set clear action plans and hold the team members accountable daily and weekly, politics will prevail. People will realize that success is not necessarily based upon performance and will focus on the fact that some people are not equally pulling their oars. All members of the team must feel comfortable calling out missed deadlines - not meeting action plans impacts the success of entire team, not just the individual.
Diagnosing Trust in an Organization: How do you know if you have a “Trusting Team”? (Excerpted from Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team – Jossey-Bass 2002)
Members of a Trusting Team:
- Admit weaknesses and mistakes
- Ask for help and constructive feedback about their areas of responsibility
- Take risks in offering others feedback and assistance
- Appreciate and tap into one another’s skills and experiences
- Focus time and energy on important issues, not politics
- Openly address viewpoints of other’s performance in the group (no backstabbing)
- Have leaders that are good listeners and encourage a free flow of dialogue
- Look forward to meetings and other opportunities to work as a group
Members of a Team in the absence of Trust:
- Conceal their weaknesses and mistakes from one another
- Hesitate to ask for help or provide constructive feedback
- Say negative things about members of the team behind their backs & hold grudges
- Fail to recognize and tap into one another’s skills and experiences
- Are afraid to hold others accountable for lack of performance
- Have “table pounding” emotional or insecure leaders that dictate discussions
- Dread meetings and find reasons to avoid spending time as a group
The next time you are in a group setting, I encourage you to assess what type of group dynamics are going on. Does the conversation flow freely with people highly engaged, readily accepting constructive criticism and you don’t feel time passing? Or is the discussion dominated by one or two individuals with the others seeming like spectators until the topic gets to their area of expertise and you look at your watch every 10 minutes thinking you need another cup of coffee?
Trust is the key to any relationship, whether it's business or personal. And with trust comes open communication.
ReplyDelete"Appreciate and tap into one another’s skills and experiences"
I like this. So much of the time, team members are vying for power. But if trust is established from the top down, team members learn to rely on one another.
Excellent article!