Possible Issues

1. Some people won’t share information.
2. Some won’t debate the issues.
3. Some perceive a ‘kill the messenger’ pattern or have a fear of reprisal.
4. Some may have passive aggressive or aggressive behavior.
5. Sometimes too many people or the wrong people in the room can cause a problem.
6. Some people will agree in a meeting to take action, but fail to take it.

When both these elements are in place, team members can be passionate and unguarded in a discussion of the issues.  They openly admit mistakes.  They respect others’ ideas and opinions.  They attack problems, not people.  And, even if a decision goes against their position, they often can accept it because their ideas were heard.

Trust takes time to build and it can only be earned.  It’s easier with a smaller team which is one of the reasons that many executive coaches suggest a team should ideally consist of less than 10 members.  It requires complete honesty (some would say “brutal honesty”), integrity, good communication, vulnerability, and behavior that demonstrates that the team goals are more important than an individual’s goals.  Without trust, team members don’t participate fully, issue guarded or political comments, may agree to something in a meeting but fail to buy in, thwart the result or manage to avoid any accountability.

Trust takes time to build and it can only be earned

In the work world, positive strokes are often too few and too far between

Trust is difficult to create in a competitive environment and most companies provide a competitive environment.  For example, to get a promotion, you often have to compete with other candidates or if you appear weak, others may try to take advantage.  So how can you show weakness or vulnerability in a competitive environment?  It’s best if you pick an area that offers little risk such as sharing and asking something of a personal nature:  hobbies, where you grew up, and so on.  Developing informal relationships at work makes it easier to engage in difficult work discussions with the same people when the need arises.  Getting to the next level of trust can be aided by sharing something you appreciate about other team members.  People who feel genuinely, positively acknowledged tend to want to keep those strokes coming.  In the work world, positive strokes are often too few and too far between.  A third approach is to use DiSC®, InterPersonal Profile (360° feedback), other DiSC® instruments, and/or personality tests to help build trust by allowing people to better understand themselves and others.

One of the problems with solving a trust issue is you may never know what the underlying issues are if people are not willing to share them.  This is often the case, particularly in a multi-person setting.  At times like these it’s important to use an approach that promotes trust and provides useful and timely feedback.  Recently we recommended a process to check the trust level and communication effectiveness within a team.  The feedback surprised some team members who thought everyone was on the same page.  Specific issues, now out in the open, could then be dealt with relatively quickly.  Left untended, issues like these can cripple the effectiveness of a team, cause cycle-time delays, reduce cohesion, team spirit and morale.

Even if trust exists and team members are willing to engage in constructive conflict, some people will naturally try to avoid conflict at all costs.  Others will try to avoid emotionally charged conversations.  It’s useful for team members to voluntarily share their in-depth DiSC® reports with the team to surface these issues and look for ways in which the team will encourage all members to participate productively.  Let’s look at an example of how sharing their DiSC® profiles helped Jack and Marsha in a work situation.

Even if trust exists, some people will try to avoid conflict at all costs

In this case, Jack assisted Marsha on a series of projects for which she was responsible.  Jack has boundless energy, enjoys taking action and getting things done.  Marsha is easygoing, enjoys working steadily, and doesn’t like sudden change.  Whenever Jack had an idea, he’d thrust the idea on Marsha, try to get immediate feedback, and if it was approved Jack would launch right into it.  This approach drove Marsha nuts, but she tried to avoid conflict and sometimes said yes under pressure but reversed her decision later.  Periodically, Marsha would get frustrated and blow up at Jack for reasons Jack couldn’t relate to Jack and Marsha each took the DiSC® Personal Profile System® (described in the “Team Chemistry” article) and compared their results (see graph).  The graph shows both Jack and Marsha have high standards (high Conscientiousness), but the other three dimensions are opposites and the Dominance dimensions are polar opposites.  Marsha realized that Jack’s high D, her low D, and her indirect way of handling a high D was causing a problem.  After they talked about it, Jack was able to redirect much of his high Dominance behavior and stretch his Steadiness behavior. 

He struggled to stretch his Influence behavior, but that gap didn’t seem to bother Marsha as much.  Because Jack and Marsha gained insights into their own and each other’s behavior they were able to work out effective strategies for working together.  Additionally, Jack took the Personal Listening Profile® and learned that his least used listening approach was the one that Marsha needed Jack to apply.  Jack continues to redirect his D, stretch his S and stretch his listening style to accommodate Marsha which has lead to improved communication, less frustration and conflict, and a performance improvement from their team work.

We’ve talked a great deal about team members, but haven’t talked about the importance of team leadership.  People sometimes feel a void when strong leadership is missing.  This is no different in teams.  However, teams can function with one leader, or shared or shifting leadership such as displayed by migrating geese.  Teams that shift leadership depending on what’s required fit the profile of highly-effective teams.  Because team members have the potential to help their peers work together more effectively and maintain the team’s high standards, it’s important that team members develop their own dimensions of leadership.  These dimensions include:  integrity, self-renewal, fortitude, perceiving, judgment, performing, boldness, team building, collaboration, inspiring, serving, and enthusiasm.  The Dimensions of Leadership Profile® helps team members assess what type of leadership is needed, who can provide it, and where the gaps are.

With trust, constructive conflict, full participation, collective team goals ahead of individual goals, team members should be more likely to

• commit to plans/decisions, and

• hold each other accountable for group results

It should be noted that not all work should be performed by teams and highly-effective teams take longer to reach a ‘performing’ stage than single-leader work groups, but the results can be far superior if the purpose and goals are really geared for team work.  A number of reports suggest that teams further down the organizational ladder achieve a highly-effective team status faster and with greater reported success than teams closer to the top of the organization.

But regardless of the level, when you’re building highly-effective teams, remember that it’s hard to hold some people accountable, some people avoid conflict, and many teams slide backwards.  Trust makes it possible to respectfully push people, as uncomfortable as that is, making real change more likely.  And, like all things worthwhile, highly-effective teams require discipline, time to reach a ‘performing’ stage, and persistence.

Russ Pratt Associates LLC helps professional service businesses reduce costs and function more efficiently through facilitating, coaching and training.  “DiSC”, “Dimensions of Leadership Profile”, “Personal Listening Profile” and “Personal Profile System” are registered trademarks of Inscape Publishing, Inc.

To learn more about acquiring a team building packaged program for your organization, check out http://www.russpratt.com/tdp.html. 

For more information or to order a product or service, call 978-635-0603.

© 2003 Russ Pratt Associates LLC. All rights reserved.