The 5 dysfunctions of a team
A large part of what makes my new job so good is that there is a training requirement. I must have some number of hours dedicated to self improvement every year. Some comes from internal training, some from classes and seminars and some from reading. So, I read a book this week called “The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable.” Reading this book has caused me to reflect on the organizations I have worked for in the past 2 or 3 years. I can’t/won’t comment on my current gig as I am still in the honeymoon phase of our relationship.
The book discusses the 5 dysfunctions of an organization through a fictionalized organization that a new CEO must fix. The teamwork model used in the book is a pyramid with 5 levels. The very base level is trust. Without trust between team members no team can succeed. A lack of trust manifests itself in several obvious and detrimental ways. Communication, commitment and quality of deliverables all suffer.
I have witnessed this kind of dysfunction first hand. My most recent prior job was with one of those small consulting companies that pride themselves on their ability to be nimble and respond to the market’s needs rapidly. In this case the market is Microsoft and I can’t imagine a more difficult mistress. Trust at this organization is non-existent. Employees are not allowed to disagree with management or most favored employees. No one is allowed to hurt the feelings of the other employees so there can be no real conflict and therefore nothing is accomplished in meetings. It seems ludicrous to me that a company that small can have so many fiefdoms and superstars. So without any new ideas, the company lives the Golden Hammer anti-pattern and continues to insist that the core software product simply be modified for any contract that the company manages to land. And since the meetings are so pointless, no feedback can come to the architects or the management to affect the kind of change that would make a smaller organization more nimble or in this case, even responsive. Good luck fellas.
I was with my previous organization for a long enough time to see teamwork ebb and flow. The last manager I had at that organization must have decided that his staff was getting along too well and therefore could not be divided against itself to create the F.U.D. (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) necessary to move ahead. So this manager would actually try to elicit gossip from direct reports about their teammates. The probing questions were always worded in very negative ways as well, like, “Have you heard that your teammate, Joe, is a child molester?” What’s the positive, non fear-inducing response to that? No wonder we fell apart. How could you trust anyone? If knowing that voicing an unpopular idea is going to cost you status, how can you speak up?
Anyway, I have high hopes for my new gig.
I also learned something at Starbucks today: “Searching for more joy is not a frivolous pursuit.” – Goldie Hawn
Wow.
The book discusses the 5 dysfunctions of an organization through a fictionalized organization that a new CEO must fix. The teamwork model used in the book is a pyramid with 5 levels. The very base level is trust. Without trust between team members no team can succeed. A lack of trust manifests itself in several obvious and detrimental ways. Communication, commitment and quality of deliverables all suffer.
I have witnessed this kind of dysfunction first hand. My most recent prior job was with one of those small consulting companies that pride themselves on their ability to be nimble and respond to the market’s needs rapidly. In this case the market is Microsoft and I can’t imagine a more difficult mistress. Trust at this organization is non-existent. Employees are not allowed to disagree with management or most favored employees. No one is allowed to hurt the feelings of the other employees so there can be no real conflict and therefore nothing is accomplished in meetings. It seems ludicrous to me that a company that small can have so many fiefdoms and superstars. So without any new ideas, the company lives the Golden Hammer anti-pattern and continues to insist that the core software product simply be modified for any contract that the company manages to land. And since the meetings are so pointless, no feedback can come to the architects or the management to affect the kind of change that would make a smaller organization more nimble or in this case, even responsive. Good luck fellas.
I was with my previous organization for a long enough time to see teamwork ebb and flow. The last manager I had at that organization must have decided that his staff was getting along too well and therefore could not be divided against itself to create the F.U.D. (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) necessary to move ahead. So this manager would actually try to elicit gossip from direct reports about their teammates. The probing questions were always worded in very negative ways as well, like, “Have you heard that your teammate, Joe, is a child molester?” What’s the positive, non fear-inducing response to that? No wonder we fell apart. How could you trust anyone? If knowing that voicing an unpopular idea is going to cost you status, how can you speak up?
Anyway, I have high hopes for my new gig.
I also learned something at Starbucks today: “Searching for more joy is not a frivolous pursuit.” – Goldie Hawn
Wow.
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