28
Sep
Top Ten Symptoms of an Unhealthy Work Team
Corporate America loves to form teams. Ninety-eight percent of employees are part of at least one team. Many large organizations have thousands of teams meeting on a weekly basis. Unfortunately, the problem with the business world’s emphasis on teams is that most of them fail. Multiple studies have shown that almost two thirds of teams are unhealthy and unproductive. Meanwhile, only about 10 percent are considered truly elite.
The symptoms
Before you can begin improving the function of your team, you must first diagnose the problem. Below are the Top Ten Symptoms of a Sick Team:
- Turnover among high performers
- Excessive gossip
- Minimal laughing and smiling
- Finger pointing
- Conflicting agendas
- Weaponizing email
- Micromanaging
- Unresolved conflict
- Imbalance in workload
- Subgroups develop within team
The treatment plan
If your team is suffering from some of the above symptoms, it’s time to come up with a treatment plan. Here are three places to start:
Confront destructive communication: The first step in addressing toxic communication is to define the behavior and provide examples. This includes 1) sarcasm, 2) negative nonverbal communication (i.e., eye rolling), 3) deliberate procrastination, and 4) misuse of email. Destructive communicators need to be held accountable. Negative behaviors should be addressed as they occur and employees need to be disciplined for their damaging communication behaviors.
Clarify your team’s purpose: Teams need to understand the reasons they exist and how their contributions impact the overall success of the organization. Most employees spend 40 or 50 hours a week on the job, yet despite the long hours, they know very little about the actual purpose. According to a study conducted by Franklin Covey, more than 55 percent of employees are unable to define the purpose of their team.
Recognize and reward: It’s Psychology 101. If you want more of a certain behavior, positively reinforce it. The best chance you have of turning around a low-performing team or specific underperforming team members is to positively reinforce like crazy when performance improves. Specific strategies include 1) calling out individual/team achievements in company-wide email messages, 2) praising individuals privately in a specific and timely manner, and 3) catch employees doing things right (not wrong) and give very specific, timely praise.
The above content is from Grant’s new book, Diagnosing Your Team: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Transforming Teams. Coming in December (pre-order now).
By: Grant Thompson
Grant Thompson has been providing consulting services to clients throughout the United States for more than 25 years. Grant specializes in leadership development and has assessed, coached and trained hundreds of leaders in dozens of different industries. In addition, he consults extensively with organizations on morale issues, teamwork and business strategy.