5 Pillars of Great Teams – The Flipside of The Five Dysfunctions
What Makes A Great TEAM?
When you run a business people recommend books to you all the time.
One of our jobs at The Hive is to simplify things for you and do the hard work, so that you don’t need to read all those books.
In this post, I’ve taken the ideas from Patrick Lencioni’s book, “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” to explain the 5 pillars that make GREAT teams.
For Hive members, you can login and watch my in-depth webinar presentation on the 6 Common Misconceptions About Teamwork.
PILLAR 1 – TRUST
The key pillar to all of our teams is TRUST – all great teams are formed on trust.
I’ve explained before how credibility + reliability + intimacy divided by self interest is the trust equation. As a leader, you need to display all these characteristics. You have to be the trustworthy one in your team. Your team needs to be able to rely on you, trusting in you and your vision and when they do, they will work hard towards that vision.
Without TRUST, you don’t have a team. You just have a bunch of individuals working together without necessarily making any great progress. They won’t share information and collaborate, they may even argue over roles and responsibilities.
With TRUST, each team member is part of an effective and cohesive group and they will achieve meaningful goals.
PILLAR 2 – CONFLICT
Conflict is an important part of any great team. It arises in our business – between team members and between patients.
People will often have different points of view and that’s normal. The important thing is to talk about it. A big part of your role as a leader is to bring any conflicts out into the open where they can be talked about and resolved. And any conflicts need to be addressed sooner rather than later to prevent any escalations that might affect the team.
Don’t be afraid of conflict. It can sometimes be seen as an opportunity rather than a threat. It can be stressful – but team conflicts can produce positive results when discussions are had and new ideas are sparked or new ways of doing things are realised.
Your job is to be aware of, and manage any conflicts.
PILLAR 3 – COMMITMENT
Commitment is a critical factor in team success. The more committed people are – the harder they will work to accomplish goals.
No one wants to work on a team where they don’t feel valued for their contribution. And we all want to feel a part of something positive. Are your team members committed? Do they want to be on your team? Do they believe in your practice values, your WHY?
Things can get hard. Things get in the way. But we need to hold true to our commitment even when things get difficult. Your commitment is a sign of strong leadership.
When you feel your team members might be losing faith, draw everyone back to the vision, your purpose, your WHY.
PILLAR 4 – ACCOUNTABILITY
We need to be accountable and measured. Creating a culture of accountability isn’t just about the individual – it’s about the team and each person’s responsibilities to accomplish the team goals.
Its important to have KPIs or other performance measures in place so that you can track how things are going in the team, and for the business.
And for team members – it keeps them motivated knowing that what they are doing is moving the business in the right direction and that the work that we do daily, weekly, monthly is meaningful and important.
PILLAR 5 – RESULTS
Whether in sport or in business – no one wants to be part of a mediocre business that is failing or struggling. We want to see results for the hard work we put in. We want to be rewarded personally, financially, professionally.
Set the goals and get your team focused on achieving them. The satisfaction when goals are reached and even surpassed are always well worth everyone’s efforts.
Be ambitious in the results that you chase – your team will get that sense of “we’re onto something good”
These 5 Pillars combined are what makes a GREAT TEAM.
