Bottom-Line Effects of Dysfunction

How It Heightens Disengagement and Costs You Millions

Dysfunction in a team will usually result in poor performance and inadequate productivity, but the effects of team dysfunctions on the employees themselves just might be far more serious and much more costly.

When a team becomes dysfunctional you can expect disengagement to follow as individuals may lose sight of team goals, not understand their role in the team and wait for direction to make any progress. Statistics say that the average employee is disengaged two hours each day. Could dysfunctional teams be contributing to disengagement in your organization? If so, just how does it affect your bottom-line?

Disengagement is not a small concern. Take, for example, a company with 100 employees who work full time at an average wage of $25 per hour. What is disengagement costing them? The productivity they could be losing due to disengagement is worth an estimated $1,200,000.

Determining the cost of disengagement within your organization is an important step in tackling this talent management burden. Then, consider implementing organizational and team multi-rater surveys that give everyone in the organization the opportunity to speak up and help you determine the real root of disengagement. Perhaps it is dysfunction in a team, job misfit, mismanagement, lack of motivation or other personnel-related issues. No matter what the cause, identifying it, addressing it and implementing a solution will make a dramatic difference on your bottom-line.

Dysfunction in the Workplace

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How Awareness and Communication Improve Team Dynamics

In Patrick Lencioni’s best-selling book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, he tells a tale of a firm’s executive team struggling with utter dysfunction. Ineffective communication, multiple egos, fear, office politics and judgmental attitudes were all contributing to the absence of dynamics and poor performance.

Does this sound familiar to you?
Have you experienced a dysfunctional team in your career?

If yes, you are not alone. Most everyone has either been a part of, observed or even faced the challenge of leading a dysfunctional team like the one Lencioni describes. In fact, he says, “Teams, because they are made up of imperfect human beings, are inherently dysfunctional.”

Lencioni’s interrelated model of team dysfunction outlines five areas that prevent success in every team:
• Absence of trust
• Fear of conflict
• Lack of commitment
• Avoidance of accountability
• Inattention to results

But don’t be discouraged. There is hope for all of us experiencing a dysfunctional team. As Lencioni states, “In fact, team building is both possible and remarkably simple. But is also painful.” Vantage strongly believes in two fundamental team building basics that help teams overcome each of these dysfunctions: awareness and communication.

Awareness is more than observation; it is an understanding of what is going on around you. In this case, it is important to be aware of and appreciate the different viewpoints of team members and their work habits, motivators, areas of expertise, mastery in personal skills and motives. Doing so will not only help you build team dynamics, but more importantly increase personal effectiveness so you can accomplish more as a team.

Communication is where it all starts. The importance of open communication simply cannot be overstated as it is fundamental in building trust, managing conflict, gaining commitment, holding accountability and identifying team results. Effective communication involves first understanding your own communication style, understanding others’ communication style and appreciating the differences everyone brings to a team environment.

Teams are, essentially, what drive results. Take a look at the teams you are in, leading or observing and identify the five areas of dysfunction in your team. What can you do to focus on team building? Whatever the strategy, as Lencioni warns, it will be painful. But the results will be well worth the challenge.

The Role of Performance Management

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For different organizations, performance management can mean different things. It can relate to a process, a system, an organization or a department. For many companies, the role of performance management is associated with an employee and is a responsibility of anyone who is in a management position. However, for many managers, performance management may not be given the attention it deserves.

First, what exactly is performance management? To help understand this concept, let’s discuss what it isn’t. Performance management is not a specific process everyone embarks on. It is not a performance appraisal or a performance review. It is not project management or goal setting. It is not achieving goals or missing deadlines. Instead, performance management is the act of managing all of these things, and more, in order to optimize performance so it is in line with the overall business strategy. We all know people are a company’s biggest asset. Performance management is the process of increasing the value of that asset.

Performance management is one of those aspects of management that is sometimes forgotten about. Organizations tend to focus on the individual pieces of performance management, like goal setting, sales processes or project management, but we need to remember to look at the big picture. All those smaller processes and activities need to be working cohesively for performance management to really be effective.