Team Function and Dysfunction

Workplace groups formerly known as "project groups", "sections", "departments", "the executive", "the management" now like to be known as teams, whether or not the characteristics of true teamwork are present. This is not without merit: it indicates an intention for greater democratic collaboration and recognition of collective effort. In most cases however, little clarity has been reached about what constitutes teamwork, how it is best achieved and when it is necessary; only the terminology has changed. Team functioning differs from (non-team) group functioning, is capable of different outcomes and is used for different applications. Teams reach their potential most easily when these differences are understood.

Take our 10-item quiz to identify the pre-requisites of team functioning and to establish whatever gaps exist between your team's practices and those necessary for high-performance.

Better yet, make a difference to your team immediately! Have all of your team complete this and meet to consider their answers together, alongside ours. That process alone will raise awareness of team processes, moderate behaviours and raise agenda items for improving performance.

If you'd like our help in monitoring your team culture with a simple, confidential survey specific to the team's circumstances, contact Tom Watkins.

A high-performance team defines itself as a group (of any size) which
1. Achieves collective high performance
2. Maximises collaboration and cooperation
3. Produces an output that exceeds the sum of its parts
High performance teams share
1. Commitment to a team-specific, common purpose
2. Equal levels of team member competence
3. Awareness of organisation goals and objectives
Teamwork most often breaks down because
1. Problems are handled poorly
2. Decisions are made inappropriately
3. People are unwilling to be open and vulnerable
To build trusting team relationships, team members must
1. Achieve credible results
2. Hold themselves mutually accountable for their approach to working together
3. Attend workshops to understand teamwork and promote bonding
For high-performance, the team leader must
1. Do what s/he says s/he will do
2. Allow each member to work to individual strength
3. Encourage the team to make decisions by consensus
Conflict within a team is
1. Often misunderstood
2. Natural and to be expected
3. A sign of team inconsistency
Team members should deal with conflict by
1. Honestly expressing their views privately, one-to-one
2. Openly confronting areas of disagreement
3. Leaving sensitive issues for the leader to deal with
Team commitment weakens when
1. There is too much ambiguity and lack of direction
2. There is no leadership
3. Most of the team members are new
To hold the team accountable, members must
1. Encourage individuals who are not carrying their weight
2. Confront their peers on behaviours that could harm the team
3. Focus principally on commitment to their own accountabilities
The leader must set the tone for
1. Everything pertaining to the team
2. Holding the focus on team goals and team processes
3. Inspiring everyone to strive for the team purpose

Answers and commentary below

A high-performance team defines itself as a group (of any size) which
1. Achieves collective high performance
2. Maximises collaboration and cooperation
3. Produces an output that exceeds the sum of its parts
You can define team any way you wish. For high-performing teams (rare, in reality), what's important is that the definition and ideals are clear. Define what is meant by team and make certain this is understood by and committed to by all team members. They should be involved in determining and measuring team performance against criteria of competence other than its business purpose. Without such ideals, criteria and monitoring, gaps between the ideal and actual performance are likely to widen.

My favourite definition of a team I derived from that of Jon Katzenbach and Douglas K Smith in their book The Wisdom of Teams:

"A small number of people who are committed to a common, team specific purpose for which team members hold themselves mutually accountable, have complementary skills, share a common approach, systematically monitor and improve their own performance and whose collective outputs combined, exceed those possible from the sum of the individual parts."

Small number: small enough to interact constructively.

Team-specific purpose: the purpose for which the team is formed. Neither "the Executive Team", "the XXX Project Team" nor the normal organisational or business objective qualifies as a description of team purpose. Team purpose is the answer to the question, "What purpose is to be achieved by this team operating as a team?"

Common approach: to generic team processes (including leadership, meeting facilitation, decision-making, problem solving, conflict management, action planning and monitoring team performance); to managing interpersonal relationships (problem-clarification, limit-setting, conflict resolution, giving performance feedback); and to the professional disciplines represented. Commonality of approach to these things should not be at the expense of diversity and complementarity of talent and traits in other areas.
High performance teams share
1. Commitment to a team-specific, common purpose
2. Equal levels of team member competence
3. Awareness of organisation goals and objectives
(Also see explanation to item A.)

Awareness of organisation goals: Most teams cannot operate in isolation and must share an awareness of the Big Picture - the goals and objectives (values, principle and desired culture, too) of the wider organisation.

Commitment to team purpose: It is more usual for "team members" to be committed only to their position-specific or organisation-specific purpose, outcomes and output. Effective teams need to move beyond individual roles and accountability, to share responsibility for the collective effort and allow each member to assume some responsibility for others. This is a radical departure from what is conventional, in groups that are "teams" in name only.

Team member competence: It is not necessary that all team members possess all the team skills required; but the required skills must be held somewhere and sufficiently, within the team.
Teamwork most often breaks down because
1. Problems are handled poorly
2. Decisions are made inappropriately
3. People are unwilling to be open and vulnerable
Teamwork most often breaks down because there was no plan for it or the plan was not monitored and evaluated. Teamwork most often fails to arise, because the group was a team in name only.

Mistrust will develop to the degree to which team members are unable or unwilling to be open and vulnerable. The pre-requisite is the application of processes (including well-safeguarded ground rules) that make openness and vulnerability safe. (Think Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs.) Determining these is a part of clarifying basic team processes.

How decisions are made and problems dealt with (including conflict) fall within the "share a common approach" criterion of team competence. Most teams will make decisions, be called upon to resolve problems and conflict. Better that processes be pre-determined and team members trained in their use before the need to apply them arises.
To build trusting team relationships, team members must
1. Achieve credible results
2. Hold themselves mutually accountable for their approach to working together
3. Attend workshops to understand teamwork and promote bonding
For commentary on #2, see item B above.

Credibility results from shared experiences including learning to function as a team, collective success, constructive handling of challenge and adversity.

Off-line retreats and workshops can be useful for team monitoring, refinement and development but should not be the only times team functioning is examined. Team functioning and monitoring of team functioning, should be a continual focus that accompanies other agenda.
For high-performance, the team leader must
1. Do what s/he says s/he will do
2. Allow each member to work to individual strength
3. Encourage the team to make decisions by consensus
DWYSYGTD (doing what you say you're going to do) as a leader is the most important prerequisite of having followers committed to your leadership (Kouzes & Posner).

Team leaders should help individuals develop their strengths but must channel them into collective effort on behalf of the team.

There's nothing magic about consensus (except the process for agreeing on what it means). The decision-making process or processes are matters best determined well before they need to be used. It's useful to have a backup model for occasions when the preferred process will not work. See item C above.
Conflict within a team is
1. Often misunderstood
2. Natural and to be expected
3. A sign of team inconsistency
The absence of conflict is not a sign of a healthy team. Every team encounters conflict and should be well-prepared to. Team members can be involved in determining best processes for approaching conflict and trained in their use. Otherwise, they will fall back on immature habits learned elsewhere, based on win-lose or lose-win models.

Differences of values, perspectives and need can strengthen team cohesion and capacity if handled constructively. How conflicts should be confronted (faced up to) and resolved is best determined before the need to apply the process arises. When feelings are running high and differences most acute, is not the best time to begin designing the process. See item C above.
Team members should deal with conflict by
1. Honestly expressing their views privately, one-to-one
2. Openly confronting areas of disagreement
3. Leaving sensitive issues for the leader to deal with
See items C and F above. High-performance teams have highly-developed interpersonal communication skills considerably better than those learned in most families-of-origin. Typically, people everywhere are unaware of their real interpersonal competence and their own part in relationship difficulties they encounter. How good are your interpersonal skills? How do you know?
Team commitment weakens when
1. There is too much ambiguity and lack of direction
2. There is no leadership
3. Most of the team members are new
1 and 2 are true. Leadership need not, however, fall on only one person: a leader-full team is preferable to a leaderless (messily democratic) group. Leaders inspire others to commit to and strive towards a clearly-defined, shared vision. There are certain well-researched practices and behaviours known to facilitate this: leaders should have clear information about their levels of competence in them.

Patience may need to be exercised with new team members; it usually takes time to adjust to (what should be) a culture radically different to what is common outside of the team. When a number of new team members join the team at once or within a short time span, the team may become vulnerable to this sudden alteration of experience and proficiency. Plan in advance, to deal well with the effects on the pre-existing team culture.
To hold the team accountable, members must
1. Encourage individuals who are not carrying their weight
2. Confront their peers on behaviours that could harm the team
3. Focus principally on commitment to their own accountabilities
Team members must hold themselves and one another accountable for poor performance and behaviours outside of agreed team commitments. They should be capable of skilfully confronting lapses in performance, and of coaching other team members through times of challenge.
The leader must set the tone for
1. Everything pertaining to the team
2. Holding the focus on team goals and team processes
3. Inspiring everyone to strive for the team purpose
Team leaders must balance their focus amongst three areas of constant monitoring and improvement opportunity: task, individual and team.

In recognition that nothing so influences others' behaviour as role-modelling, a team leader should have exceptional clarity about the commitments made (to team purpose, goals, processes and practices) and demonstrate in their everyday practices, the highest levels of commitment to them.

As mentioned earlier (item H), there are certain well-researched practices and behaviours known to facilitate followers through leadership. Leaders should have clear information about their levels on competence in them and a major source of the assessment ought to be the prime customers of team: the team members.

Start here

A common mistake of group leaders is to assume that all tasks need teamwork. They don't. Some are best tackled by groups and others by teams. Decide which you need. If your group's purpose is the same as the broader organisation purpose or mission, it is not a team. A team has a specific team purpose that the team itself delivers. If the group's effectiveness is measured indirectly by its influence on others (e.g., the financial performance of the business), it is not a team. A team measures its performance by assessing its collective work-products.

Beware of pursuing collaboration and shared work to the point where you assign tasks to a team (or group) that are best performed by individuals.

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