Team Inoculation: Building Immunity to Team Dysfunction
By Julie Jones
Inoculation: the placement of something to where it will grow or reproduce… especially to boost immunity to a specific disease prior to illness occurring.
The Disease
According to World Health Organization a disease epidemic occurs when there are more cases of a given disease than normal. A pandemic occurs when an epidemic crosses global boundaries. Based on the amount of interest in building great teams it would seem that team dysfunction is fast becoming a pandemic in our workplaces.
Surprisingly, organizations wait for teams to get bogged down in conflict or to stall altogether, before addressing underlying issues. Few organizations have invested in inoculation to develop immunity toward team dysfunction before problems affect productivity and the bottom line. What are you doing in your environment to create a healthier team dynamic?
We know that all teams inevitably face challenges at one time or another, goals become unclear, conflicts arise, roles and responsibilities overlap, and decision making becomes less effective. Imagine if you could ingrain healthy behaviors and practices in your teams now, so that when the unavoidable dysfunction arise, teams are better able to diagnose and treat them before they undermine team effectiveness.
Take a moment to consider what you are doing today to limit the spread of team dysfunction in your organization:
- How are you enabling team ailments to transmit from person to person and spread through the organization? Are any of your leaders acting as poor role models for healthy team behaviors?
- What preventative measures are you engaged in to ward off the spread of dysfunction transferred through rumors and gossip? How are you using proactive communication to reduce the impact of negative messages?
- What interventions are being used to help restore stability, trust and team equilibrium to prevent permanent damage?
The Diagnosis
Symptoms of team ailments almost always include the sudden onset of dysfunctional behaviors. In some cases, meetings become very quiet while the number and tenor of closed-door conversations heat up. In other cases, tempers flare and overt conflict makes team meetings very unpleasant.
Here are some common symptoms to help you identify your team ailments:
|
Symptoms |
Potential Ailment |
|
Decisions don’t stick or are reversed |
Lack of alignment to organization Unclear decision making process No accountability for implementation |
|
Ineffective meetings |
No rules of engagement or even an agenda Strategic issues overshadowed by tactical urgencies |
|
Same people always talking |
Inequality of contribution Lack of respect for introverts and how they engage in meetings |
|
People are afraid of stepping on others’ toes or scared to voice opinions |
Avoidance of conflict Lack of trust in one another People not reinforced for having “tough conversations” |
|
Doing all the work by oneself, taking credit, backstabbing |
Lack of confidence in the capability of others Rewards not aligned to teamwork |
|
Work perceived by the organization as unimportant |
Unaligned to team or organizational strategy Not delivering clear customer value |
|
Projects not completed on time dropped, stalled |
Unclear accountability No consequences for behavior |
The Benefits of Team Inoculation
Once you have clearly diagnosed the issues, team inoculation will help you to:
§ Improve understanding and trust, avoiding painful assumptions and miscommunication
§ Experience less unhealthy conflict and more healthy conflict, which reduces group think and improves innovation and risk management
§ Make one another more effective – the whole is greater than the sum of the parts
§ Tackle dysfunctions when they arise
§ Enhance leader success through candid feedback
§ Sustain momentum in ongoing meetings, which contributes to better team alignment and engagement
The Prescription
The prescription for Team Inoculation includes a four module program that assists teams navigate their way back to health.
The prescription for Team Inoculation takes into consideration four separate stages:
-
Stage I: Anatomy of Healthy Teams
Aligning team activities and outcomes to business strategy
-
Stage 2: Side Effects
Creating insights about individual working styles and team dynamics
-
Stage 3: Common Team Dysfunctions
Developing ways of making decisions and managing conflicts
-
Stage 4: Back in Action
Applying healthy team practice in routine team meetings.
Learning to overcome team dysfunctions through incorporating the benefits of team inoculation can change negative thinking patterns associated with team dysfunctions. Creating positive communication channels based on strong alignment and true engagement leads to healthier behaviors and more productive workplaces.
Julie Jones presented Building Productive Teams: Team Inoculation in Vancouver on Thursday, November 19, 2009. For more information on other professional development opportunities, please refer to BC HRMA’s online calendar.
Julie is a senior consultant and executive coach with Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions in Vancouver. Her areas of focus include leadership and organizational development and executive coaching. Julie holds her Professional Certification in Coaching (PCC) from the International Coach Federation (ICF) and a Masters in Organization and Management Development from Fielding University in California.
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