In this fifth and final post in the series, we will cover the last dysfunction of a team: innatention to results.
It has all been building up to this! But let's revisit each of the previous dysfunctions. The first dysfunction is the absence of trust. Without trust, you won't naturally have healthy conflict. Without healthy conflict, each team member can't commit to the decisions made. Without commitment, team members cannot hold each other accountable as their is nothing to hold each other to. Without accountability, each team member may not be focused on the results of the team, but rather their own personal results.
It is rather natural to want to focus on your own results. It is human nature to want to be recognized and rewarded for your work. But, when each team member is focused on their own results, the team's results will suffer. When working as a team, each member must realize that their personal goals and results are secondary to the team's goals and results. If each team member doesn't realize this, the team will never reach its full potential.
What does focusing on team results look like?
Focusing on results is not about the team winning or losing. As a team, everyone should win together or lose together. If the whole team is agreed to that mantra, then naturally each person should want to win together rather than lose.
When the team is focused on collective results, each member will be willing to make sacrifices for the team. Maybe that is going outside of their comfort zone, working extra hours every now and then, or even taking on a task that they don't want to do. As long as they can see how it will help the team achieve the goal, each team member should be willing to do it.
Humility is the virtue that stands out the most when focusing on results. Ego really has no place in a team that is focused on results. But again, we are human, and we all have egos. We need to keep our own egos in check, but we also must help each other in doing so which goes back to the previous dysfunction of accountability.
The consequences of not focusing on results
If a team has gotten through the previous dysfunctions, they are probably doing pretty well, but without this final step of focusing on results, the team will always be held back. There will always be a ceiling on what the team can achieve as they still aren't completely pulling together.
In fact, if teams can't vanquish this last dysfunction, the whole thing may fall apart. If a team member is giving priority to a personal goal over a team goal, the team goal may go unmet. This could lead to a lack of trust from the other team members, which as we all know is the bedrock of any healthy team, and the whole thing could come crashing down on top of itself.
Conclusion
Each dysfunction is critical for great teamwork, but it would be quite disappointing to get through the first four dysfunctions and have personal motives and egos get in the way of the team's results. If a team has gotten this far, they should have the tools to hold each other accountable and focus on the team's results. Don't let your team stop when they have already gotten this far! Keep your team focused on the collective effort and goals!
I hope that you and your team has found this series helpful. Whenever my team and I dug into this framework and started applying it, we seriously leveled up as a team, and I hope yours will as well.