A Dysfunctional Team Is Normal

By Author: Diana Keith
Total Articles: 113
Comment this article

Did you know? A dysfunctional team is normal.

As a team leader or entrepreneur, it's really important you understand that just because you pull a group of qualified people together and assign them a common goal does not mean that great teamwork will automatically happen.

Quite the contrary, great teamwork does not just happen.

Think of your team as similar to that of a family. What do you already know about families?

They are not perfect. Some are quite dysfunctional. We didn't pick our genetic families and in the work world we don't always get to choose our team. Often the team you lead already exists or is pulled together based on availability and expertise.

It's quite common for a team to be dysfunctional. What is not common is when a team remains dysfunctional over time.

Chances are, you already know if you have a dysfunctional team. For those who aren't sure, here's a short list of six tell tale signs:

1. Low morale

2. Your people are reactive, not proactive.

3. Misunderstandings with communication

4. ...
... Personal conflict

5. Unmotivated or unsupportive staff

6. Your team does not resolve problems without management's intervention.

There are also situations when dysfunction happens to teams that have performed well in the past. Reasons can include:

1. New people on the team

2. Mixed levels of age and experience

3. New or inexperienced team leaders

4. Job descriptions, goals, or leaders have changed

If you find yourself bogged down with people related issues you prefer not to deal with, you will keep getting bogged down until you start to deal with it by putting a Team System in place.

What's a Team System?

A Team System is a framework for great performance and a foundation for any changes you want to make with your people. You should be consistently working on building a Team System within your department or business.

There are many core components of a Team System and each differ somewhat from team to team, although I would like to share what I think is one of the most important ones in the bunch. One of the core components you absolutely need to set up are team norms.

What are Team Norms?

You and your team need to decide how they will interact and structure their work. Formal and informal expectations should be set up on how the team will behave and work together.

Let's look at some examples of when norms are needed:

What's the norm for someone who is not performing up to par?

What's the norm for when someone is new to the team?

What's the norm for communicating on a new project or for working cross functionally with another team?

My Suggestion: It can be a long road to getting the right norms in place, but it is well worth the effort. The payoff is high productivity and less stress for you.

Your team needs to move from dysfunction to high function in order to reach their goals and the right team norms are a core element you need to get right before you can expect results.

-------------------------

About the Author:

-------------------------

Diana Keith, People Strategist and Business Psychologist, works
with leaders and their teams to increase Innovation, Morale, and
Productivity. See Diana's website http://www.mlevelsystems.com to
Get your Free Leader Strategy Guide for Success