Patrick Lencioni is one of my business superheroes. I eat up every post he puts out and every book he writes. And one of those books, “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” just screams at you from the shelves (or the online Amazon listing).
There’s a reason why. It has a negative title.
Lencioni said he took a negative angle to stand out among the optimistic works in airport bookstores. In a sea of positive-sounding business or self-help books, he yells dysfunction at you. It makes you pick up the book and read a fable about how dysfunction hurts teams.
But the allure of the negative—of dysfunction—is very real. It’s found among credit union teams … and despite the occasional gratification of political wins or gossip, it’s killing your success.
It’s time to fix that. It’s time to make your team better.
Here’s why your credit union team is dysfunctional and how to make it functional instead.
No trust, no good conflict
Distrust is the bedrock of dysfunction. You won’t accomplish much with team members that are all suspicious of each other. No one will be honest about snags, pitfalls, or the necessary steps needed to circumvent hurdles and win big.
As Lencioni says: "If you have an absence of trust, then you don't feel safe being vulnerable and admitting your weaknesses, because you fear your vulnerability will be used against you.”
This bleeds into having good conflict. Of course, not all conflict is created equal. Nasty fights or bitter rivalries are unproductive.
Good conflict is the desire (and ability) to debate issues in good faith. That means everyone is there to move the organization forward, and people won’t get offended because someone disagrees on strategy. But again ... you can’t reach good conflict unless team members trust each other enough to be vulnerable.
How to build trust and have good conflict
A few pointers on building trust and having good conflict:
- Break the ice: Yeah, this sounds corny and summer campy. But how well do you know your colleagues and what’s happening in their lives? Their goals for the credit union? Build a relationship and trust comes easier.
- Implement a 10% rule: This works well in planning sessions, but it’s also for daily use. Most people say only 90% of what they’re thinking and hold back the last 10% out of fear. Release the 10% (no matter how dumb it sounds in your head). Doing this builds trust, ignites good conflict and sparks innovation.
- Don’t accept consensus: Consensus may be a symptom of artificial harmony—a lack of conflict because people simply want to keep the peace. You want alignment, not consensus. Pull the dissent out of people. Make sure you get different viewpoints and have a real discussion.
Continue the good fight
Don’t restrict these solutions to only the boardroom or executive offices. There’s dysfunction all throughout the credit union, and you can root it out. For example, team members may judge one another for not enjoying certain types of work. This causes guilt to spread throughout your team.
Conduct a Working Genius Productivity Assessment. This assessment shows what types of work give people energy (their geniuses) and which types drain them (their frustrations). When team members recognize each person’s geniuses and frustrations, they can stop judging and start understanding.
Performing this step will only increase trust throughout the credit union and ensure dysfunction has no place anywhere within it.
Short-term vs. long-term
Internal politics. Gossip. It can feel like it benefits you in the short-term. It might even feel fun or exciting to “live on the edge” or defeat an opponent. But it kills your credit union in the long-term.
Build relationships. Have good conflict. Do those things and people will stick around to help you grow the credit union. Trust me.
