The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team

I’m pleased and honored to announce that Great Lakes Profiles, an authorized partner for Wiley’s PXT SelectTM and their Everything DiSC®, has added The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team®, another of Wiley’s excellent products, to our portfolio of leading edge assessments and training programs.

The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team® is a simple, proven model and thoroughly-tested learning program which helps teams succeed.

It’s been said that the single most untapped competitive advantage for an organization is teamwork; yet, consistently putting together creative and productive teams remains elusive for most organizations.  Research has consistently shown that teams underperform despite providing them with extra resources and there are a myriad of reasons why this is so.

Not all the Right People are on the Team

Much like the tag line (“Get the right people on the bus”) from Jim Collin’s book, Good to Great, the same is true for teams.  In far too many cases not enough thought goes into deciding who is on the team; not everyone who wants to be on the team should be included and some individuals on existing teams should be forced off.

Unclear Charter

In far too many cases the team’s charter is unclear.  Team members need to know, and agree on, what they’re supposed to be doing together.  Unless a leader articulates a clear direction, there is a real risk that different members will pursue different agendas.

Lack of the Necessary Resources

One thing that will kill a team faster than anything is the lack of resources. Sometimes this is the team’s fault, but more often it is the organization who chartered the team in the first place. Team morale and commitment wanes quickly when team members don’t have the right tools, equipment, and authority to do their job. In most situations, companies are penny wise and pound foolish when it comes to creating the right environment and workspace the teams need in order to be successful.

Dysfunctional Teams

Despite getting the right people on the team, having a clear charter, and armed with the right resources, teams are often dysfunctional.  The New York Times best-selling author Patrick Lencioni in his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, identifies five reasons why teams are dysfunctional:

The Absence of Trust.  Trust is the foundation of real teamwork and a failure on the part of team members to understand and open up to one another is an absolutely critical part of building a team.  Great teams do not hold back with one another.  They are unafraid to air their dirty laundry.  They admit their mistakes, their weaknesses, and their concerns without fear of reprisal.  Team members who are not genuinely open with one another about their mistakes and weaknesses make it impossible to build a foundation of trust.  Without this solid foundation, teams will generally fail in their mission.

Fear of Conflict.  If team members do not trust one another, they aren’t going to engage in open, constructive, ideological conflict and they’ll just continue to preserve a sense of artificial harmony.  Teams which lack trust are incapable of engaging in unfiltered and passionate debates of ideas and issues.  Instead, they resort to passive or sarcastic comments, veiled discussions, and/or guarded comments.

Lack of Commitment.  This is the failure to buy in to decisions and the evidence of this is ambiguity.  Without having aired their opinions in the course of passionate and open debate, or if they feel as though they haven’t been listened to, team members rarely, if ever, buy in and commit to decisions even though they may feign agreement during meetings.

Avoidance of Accountability.  Once a team achieves clarity and buy-in, it is then that they have to hold each other accountable for what they signed up to do, for high standards of their performance and behavior.  Without committing to a clear plan of action, even the most focused and driven people often hesitate to call out their peers on actions and behaviors that are counterproductive to the good of the team.  Simply put, they want to avoid interpersonal discomfort.

Inattention to Results.  Failure to hold one another accountable creates an environment where the ultimate dysfunction occurs – when team members put their individual needs (such as ego, career development, or recognition) or even the needs of their department or division above the collective goals of the team.  When everyone is focused on results and using those to define success, it is difficult for ego to get out of hand.  No matter how good an individual on the team might be feeling about his or her situation, if the team loses, everyone loses.

Imagine how members of a truly cohesive and high functioning team behave:

  • Makes better, faster decisions
  • Taps into the skills and opinions of all members
  • Avoids wasting time and energy on politics, confusion, destructive conflict, and the wrong issues
  • Creates a competitive advantage
  • Is more fun to be on!

The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team® is a unique learning experience that prepares individuals for success on teams.  It is based on Patrick Lencioni’s book and the power of Wiley’s industry-leading workplace assessment tools.  The principles of the book and Wiley’s assessments come together in a breakthrough program proven to deliver business results.  This program helps team members understand how they score on the key components of The Five Behaviors model (Trust, Conflict, Commitment, Accountability, and Results).  They will also learn about their own personality style, the styles of the team members, and how their style contributes to the team’s overall success.

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