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June 20 - August 1, 2021
I only have one priority at this point: we need to get our act together as a team, or we're not going to be selling anything.”
“You've probably heard my husband say that a fractured team is just like a broken arm or leg; fixing it is always painful, and sometimes you have to rebreak it to make it heal correctly. And the rebreak hurts a lot more than the initial break, because you have to do it on purpose.”
the first dysfunction: absence of trust.”
“Trust is the foundation of real teamwork. And so the first dysfunction is a failure on the part of team members to understand and open up to one another.
“Great teams do not hold back with one another,” she said. “They are unafraid to air their dirty laundry. They admit their mistakes, their weaknesses, and their concerns without fear of reprisal.”
I don't think we lack the time to argue. I think we're just not comfortable challenging each other.
“Remember, teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.”
inattention to results
when everyone is focused on results and using those to define success, it is difficult for ego to get out of hand.
as harsh as that may sound, Ken always says that his job is to create the best team possible, not to shepherd the careers of individual athletes. And that’s how I look at my job.”
Our job is to make the results that we need to achieve so clear to everyone in this room that no one would even consider doing something purely to enhance his or her individual status or ego. Because that would diminish our ability to achieve our collective goals. We would all lose.”
“The key, of course, is to define our goals, our results, in a way that is simple enough to grasp easily, and specific enough to be actionable.
“Politics is when people choose their words and actions based on how they want others to react rather than based on what they really think.”
honest resistance.
fear of conflict. “If we don’t trust one another, then we aren’t going to engage in open, constructive, ideological conflict. And we’ll just continue to preserve a sense of artificial harmony.”
lack of commitment and the failure to buy in to decisions.”
the evidence of this one is ambiguity,”
When people don’t unload their opinions and feel like they’ve been listened to, they won’t really get on board.”
most reasonable people don’t have to get their way in a discussion. They just need to be heard, and to know that their input was considered and responded to.”
avoidance of accountability.
“Once we achieve clarity and buy-in, it is then that we have to hold each other accountable for what we sign up to do, for high standards of performance and behavior. And as simple as that sounds, most executives hate to do it, especially when it comes to a peer’s behavior, because they want to avoid interpersonal discomfort.”
“No buy-in. People aren’t going to hold each other accountable if they haven’t clearly bought in to the same plan. Otherwise, it seems pointless because they’re just going to say, ‘I never agreed to that anyway.’”
“During the next two weeks I am going to be pretty intolerant of behavior that demonstrates an absence of trust, or a focus on individual ego. I will be encouraging conflict, driving for clear commitments, and expecting all of you to hold each other accountable. I will be calling out bad behavior when I see it, and I’d like to see you doing the same. We don’t have time to waste.”
“What I’m trying to ask you is whether you think this team is as important to you as the teams you lead, your departments.”
And all of this relates to the last dysfunction—putting team results ahead of individual issues. Your first team has to be this one.” She looked around the room to make it clear that she was referring to the executive staff.
“Well, you don’t have to destroy it. But you do have to be willing to make it secondary. And for many of you, that might very well feel like abandonment.”
“Absolutely. Push with respect, and under the assumption that the other person is probably doing the right thing. But push anyway. And never hold back.”
it is only when team members are truly comfortable being exposed to one another that they begin to act without concern for protecting themselves. As
it is key that leaders demonstrate restraint when their people engage in conflict, and allow resolution to occur naturally, as messy as it can sometimes be.
They understand that reasonable human beings do not need to get their way in order to support a decision, but only need to know that their opinions have been heard and considered.
Only when everyone has put their opinions and perspectives on the table can the team confidently commit to a decision knowing that it has tapped into the collective wisdom of the entire group.
More than any other member of the team, the leader must be comfortable with the prospect of making a decision that ultimately turns out to be wrong. And the leader must be constantly pushing the group for closure around issues, as well as adherence to schedules that the team has set. What the leader cannot do is place too high a premium on certainty or consensus.
So, while profit may be the ultimate measure of results for a corporation, the goals and objectives that executives set for themselves along the way constitute a more representative example of the results it strives for as a team. Ultimately, these goals drive profit.
