Achieving high team performance is more important than ever, but with the pace of change, it is ever more challenging. Companies are constantly seeking ways to gain a competitive edge, and one effective strategy is through leadership coaching. This approach not only boosts individual capabilities but also enhances the overall performance of the team. By developing leaders who can inspire and guide their teams, organizations can unlock their full potential and drive success. In essence, with the coaching of a leadership team, you create better leaders, who in turn develop new good leaders in their teams. Let’s delve into how leadership coaching can make a significant difference in your organization’s success.

Understanding Leadership Coaching

Leadership coaching is a personalized approach to developing an individual’s leadership skills. It focuses on helping leaders grow their abilities to inspire, motivate, and drive their teams towards achieving business goals. This coaching is tailored to address specific challenges and goals, making it a highly effective tool for personal and professional development. By investing in leadership coaching, organizations can create a strong foundation for effective management and team development.

The Role of Leadership in Team Development

Leadership plays a crucial role in shaping team dynamics and fostering an environment where team members feel valued and motivated. A leader’s influence can significantly impact team morale, productivity, and overall success. Effective leaders can identify the strengths and weaknesses of their team members, providing guidance and support to maximize their potential. Leadership coaching helps leaders refine these skills, enabling them to build stronger, more cohesive teams. Moreover, well-coached leaders are better equipped to handle conflicts and create a culture of trust and collaboration.

Benefits of Leadership Coaching

Leadership coaching offers numerous benefits that can transform team performance. Here are some of the key advantages:

Enhanced Communication Skills

Effective communication is at the heart of successful team interactions. Leadership coaching helps leaders develop their communication skills, ensuring they can convey their vision clearly and listen actively to their team members. This not only improves the clarity of instructions and feedback but also fosters an open dialogue where team members feel heard and valued. Improved communication leads to better collaboration and a more harmonious work environment, reducing misunderstandings and increasing efficiency.

Increased Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and manage one’s emotions and the emotions of others. Leadership coaching helps leaders enhance their emotional intelligence, enabling them to build stronger relationships and navigate complex team dynamics with ease. By being emotionally intelligent, leaders can empathize with their team members, leading to a more supportive and understanding workplace. This skill is particularly important in managing stress and maintaining team morale during challenging times.

Improved Decision-Making Abilities

Leadership coaching equips leaders with the tools to make informed decisions that benefit the entire team. By honing their critical thinking and problem-solving skills, leaders can make strategic choices that drive team success. They learn to weigh the pros and cons of various options, anticipate potential challenges, and consider the long-term implications of their decisions. This results in more effective and timely decision-making, which can be crucial in fast-paced business environments.

Strengthened Team Cohesion

A cohesive team is one where members work well together towards a common goal. Leadership coaching helps leaders foster a sense of unity among team members, encouraging collaboration and mutual support. By promoting team-building activities and open communication, leaders can create a strong sense of belonging and purpose within the team. This cohesion not only enhances team performance but also contributes to a positive workplace culture where innovation and creativity can flourish.

Implementing Leadership Team Coaching

To maximize the benefits of leadership coaching, it’s essential to implement it effectively within your organization. Here are some steps to consider:

Identify Coaching Needs

Begin by assessing the specific needs of your leadership team. Consider the challenges they face and the skills they need to develop. This assessment will guide you in selecting the right coaching approach and objectives. Involving team members in this process can also provide valuable insights into areas for improvement and help tailor the coaching to address real-world issues.

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Choose the Right Coach

Selecting a skilled and experienced coach is crucial for successful leadership coaching. Look for coaches with a proven track record in management team coaching. An understanding of your industry or sector can also help as a coach who is familiar with your organization’s unique challenges and culture can provide more relevant and actionable guidance. Additionally, the coach’s style and approach should align with your team’s learning preferences to ensure a positive coaching experience.

Set Clear Goals

Establish clear, measurable goals for the coaching program. These goals should align with your organization’s objectives and focus on areas where leadership can make the greatest impact on team performance. By setting specific targets, you can track progress and make adjustments as needed to ensure the coaching is effective. Regularly reviewing these goals with the coach and team members can also reinforce commitment and accountability.

Foster a Culture of Continuous Learning

Encourage a culture of continuous learning and improvement within your organization. Leadership coaching should be seen as an ongoing process, with leaders regularly seeking feedback and opportunities for growth. By promoting a learning mindset, organizations can adapt more quickly to changes and challenges, maintaining a competitive edge. Providing resources and support for continued development can further reinforce this culture and keep leaders engaged and motivated.

Real-World Examples of Successful Leadership Coaching

Many organizations have successfully implemented leadership coaching to enhance team performance. Let’s take a look at a couple of real-world examples that I have been involved with. Due to confidentiality (an important aspect of coaching), I have anonymised the companies:

Example 1: Management Consultancy Firm.

I worked with the leadership team of a mid-sized management consultancy who were facing significant challenges. At the team level, they needed to find new and better ways of working together, and at the operational level, they needed to identify where they needed to focus their resources. Using a variety of exercises and activities, I worked with the team to build greater trust between partners and also to focus in on the strengths and values of the organisation. This allowed the leadership team to provide new direction and steer the company through a period where resources were tight. As a result they are stronger than ever.

Example 2: Technology Company.

I worked with the leadership team of a technology company, who were incredibly passionate and had a great business, but where the team had less experience in strategic planning, vision setting and people management. Over a series of team and one-to-one sessions, I was able to help leaders work out their own personal development plans and ask the critical questions they needed to answer for their business to grow to the next level.

Measuring the Impact of Leadership Coaching

To ensure the effectiveness of leadership coaching, it’s important to measure its impact on team performance. Consider the following methods:

Performance Metrics

Track key performance indicators (KPIs) related to team productivity, collaboration, and goal achievement. Compare these metrics before and after the coaching program to assess improvements. This data-driven approach provides concrete evidence of the coaching’s effectiveness and can help justify further investment in leadership development initiatives. Regularly reviewing these metrics can also highlight areas for ongoing improvement and refinement.

Top tip: Remember, KPIs are only good if you pick the right ones – too many organisations pick metrics because they are easy to measure, not necessarily because they are the right ones!

Feedback and Surveys

Gather feedback from team members and leaders about their experiences with the coaching program. Surveys and feedback sessions can provide valuable insights into the program’s success and areas for improvement. This qualitative data complements the quantitative metrics, offering a more comprehensive view of the coaching’s impact. Encouraging open and honest feedback fosters a culture of transparency and continuous improvement.

Top tip: People get overloaded with requests for feedback so try an find new formal and informal ways of getting feedback. It is better to foster a culture where feedback is expected and given, rather than just relying on endless forms.

Long-Term Success

Evaluate the long-term impact of leadership coaching on your organization’s success. Consider factors such as employee retention, client satisfaction, and overall business performance. By examining these broader outcomes, you can assess whether the coaching has contributed to sustained growth and development. Regular follow-up assessments can also ensure that the benefits of coaching are maintained over time and continue to align with organizational goals.

Top tip: This is where the importance of vision, mission and values come in. Long-term success is measured against long-term strategy; it is not simply an increase in metrics (such as profit or size).

Leadership Coaching For Teams

Leadership coaching is a powerful tool for enhancing team performance and driving organizational success. By investing in the development of your leadership team, you can create a positive work environment where teams thrive and achieve their goals. Coaching your leadership team will also improve their coaching of the managers they lead, with potentially exponential results.

Implementing effective leadership coaching strategies can lead to improved communication, decision-making, and team cohesion, ultimately giving your organization a competitive edge in today’s dynamic business landscape. As businesses continue to evolve, leadership coaching can be a key factor in maintaining agility and fostering a culture of excellence and innovation.

If you would like to find out more about team leadership coaching with Simon and The Right Questions, please drop me a line via the Contact Page.

In leadership and team management, understanding team roles and how individuals engage in decision-making and project execution is crucial for success. The 5 Ps Delegate Model categorises individuals based on their level of involvement, attitude, and contribution within a team or organisational setting. These five roles — Pilot, Participant, Passenger, Protestor, and Prisoner — provide insights into team dynamics and help leaders optimise productivity and morale.

This model is particularly useful in team development, where engagement determines progression and success. By identifying where team members fall within this framework, leaders can implement targeted strategies to enhance participation, mitigate resistance, and foster a positive work environment.

1. Pilot: The Leader and Visionary

The Pilot is the most proactive and engaged individual in any setting. This person takes charge, provides direction, and assumes responsibility for outcomes. Pilots are natural leaders who influence and inspire others with their vision, motivation, and ability to execute tasks effectively. They are goal-oriented and seek solutions rather than dwelling on problems.

Characteristics of a Pilot:

• Takes initiative and makes strategic decisions
• Motivates and guides team members
• Assumes responsibility for success and failures
• Demonstrates a strong work ethic and commitment
• Proactively seeks improvements and efficiencies

Challenges of a Pilot

While pilots are instrumental in driving progress, they may sometimes struggle with delegation. They may feel the need to control every aspect of a project, which can lead to micromanagement. Additionally, if pilots do not consider team input, they may alienate participants and passengers, reducing overall engagement.

How to Support a Pilot:

• Encourage delegation to prevent burnout
• Provide constructive feedback to refine leadership skills
• Ensure pilots collaborate effectively with others

2. Participant: The Engaged Contributor

The Participant plays an active and positive role in a team but does not necessarily take on the leadership responsibilities of a pilot. Participants are engaged, responsible, and enthusiastic about contributing to the success of the project or organisation. They are valuable assets because they take initiative without necessarily seeking authority.

Characteristics of a Participant:

• Actively contributes ideas and solutions
• Supports the pilot in execution and decision-making
• Engages in discussions and collaborative efforts
• Demonstrates accountability and reliability
• Maintains a positive attitude toward change and challenges

Challenges of a Participant

Participants are crucial to any team, but they may sometimes lack the influence or confidence to challenge ineffective leadership. Additionally, if they do not receive recognition or encouragement, they may lose motivation and disengage over time.

How to Support a Participant:

• Provide opportunities for leadership development
• Recognize and reward contributions
• Encourage active participation in decision-making

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3. Passenger: The Passive Observer

The Passenger is present in a team but plays a passive role. Unlike participants, passengers do not actively contribute to discussions, decision-making, or problem-solving. They tend to go with the flow, neither hindering nor significantly advancing team efforts.

Characteristics of a Passenger:

• Attends meetings and follows instructions without active engagement
• Avoids conflict and remains neutral
• Reluctant to take on additional responsibilities
• May contribute minimally if directly asked but does not take initiative

Challenges of a Passenger

While passengers do not necessarily cause disruptions, their lack of engagement can lower team morale and productivity. If too many team members fall into this category, it can create an imbalance where the workload is disproportionately distributed among pilots and participants.

How to Support a Passenger:

• Encourage involvement by assigning specific tasks
• Provide motivation and incentives for active participation
• Create a safe thinking environment for sharing ideas without judgment

4. Protestor: The Resistant Opponent

The Protestor is actively disengaged and often resistant to change or leadership decisions. Protestors may express dissatisfaction openly or subtly, creating friction within a team. While their concerns may sometimes be valid, their approach can disrupt progress rather than contribute constructively.

Characteristics of a Protestor:

• Frequently questions or challenges leadership decisions
• Displays skepticism and negativity toward projects or goals
• May attempt to rally others against certain ideas or leaders
• Resists changes, even when necessary
• May complain without offering alternative solutions

Challenges of a Protestor

While protestors can provide necessary critical perspectives, their approach may lower morale and create divisions within a team. If their concerns go unaddressed, they may become more disruptive over time.

How to Support a Protestor

• Actively listen to concerns and address valid points
• Encourage solution-oriented discussions
• Clarify expectations and consequences of non-cooperation
• Foster a culture of constructive criticism rather than negativity

5. Prisoner: The Disengaged and Resentful

The Prisoner is someone who feels trapped in their role, often displaying resentment, disengagement, or apathy. Unlike protestors, who voice their dissatisfaction, prisoners tend to withdraw and display passive resistance. Their disengagement can stem from frustration, feeling undervalued, or a lack of alignment with team goals.

Characteristics of a Prisoner:

• Shows minimal interest or enthusiasm
• Feels stuck in a role without purpose or fulfillment
• May appear detached, unmotivated, or even resentful
• Often completes tasks without effort or care
• Unlikely to engage in discussions or offer input

Challenges of a Prisoner

Prisoners can significantly impact team dynamics by lowering morale and productivity. Their lack of engagement can be contagious, leading to a negative work environment if not addressed.

How to Support a Prisoner:

• Identify the root cause of disengagement
• Provide opportunities for skill development and growth
• Foster a more inclusive and supportive environment
• Offer mentorship or reassignment to more suitable roles

Applying the 5 Ps Delegate Model in Leadership

Understanding the 5 Ps model allows leaders to:

1. Identify team members’ engagement levels and attitudes.
2. Tailor leadership styles to support and motivate each category.
3. Balance delegation to ensure efficiency and prevent burnout.
4. Mitigate resistance and disengagement through proactive management.
5. Encourage active participation by fostering a collaborative culture.

The 5 Ps Team Roles

The 5 Ps Delegate Model provides a valuable framework for understanding team roles, delegate engagement, and improving leadership strategies. Recognising the roles of pilots, participants, passengers, protestors, and prisoners enables leaders to cultivate a productive, motivated, and cohesive team. Organisations can maximise efficiency, innovation, and success by fostering a culture that encourages active participation and addressing disengagement effectively.

Leaders who apply this model thoughtfully will not only enhance team dynamics but also create an environment where every individual feels valued and empowered to contribute to collective goals.

If you would like any support in your leadership or team development, do send me a message via the Contact Page.

There are 5 key stages to team development according to the Tuckman model. This YouTube video explains each step:

Tuckman’s Ladder: 5 Steps of High Performing Team Development

Bruce Tuckman conducted research on teams and identified 5 stages of team development that a group needs to progress through. A manager who understands these stages and the needs of people at each stage can help the team progress through to the performing stage, and become a high-performing team.

These stages are:

1. Forming,
2. Storming,
3. Norming,
4. Performing and
5. Re-forming.

Each of these is explained in more detail in the video and the accompanying article. You can read more about this model by following this link to read How to Develop an Effective Team with The Tuckman Model.

How does a team develop and achieve high-performance? What phases does it go through and what are the 5 stages of the Tuckman model?

Whatever our team role, whether we are a leader, manager or team member, it is really important to understand the stages a team progresses through before it reaches a high-performing level. 

And this is not just about work teams. Any group we are a part of has to work through steps of development. Every social circle, club or family, must progress through challenging phases, to function well. 

Not all teams are functional – let alone high-performing

I looked around the room. Various factions sat apart and determinedly avoided eye contact with each other. The whole group glowered with distrust. Somehow, in a matter of days, I would have to take this bunch of misfits and develop them into a team. Success was critical. We were about to deploy on a military operation where, if we could not work together, we faced not only the failure of our mission but also our own physical well-being.

I am sure you can empathise. Whether you are a leader or have been a member of a newly formed team, I am sure you can recall similar scenes. Experience tells us that a bunch of people is not a team. It is just that, a group of random individuals. But we also know that teams are vitally important. They help us achieve what we could not do alone. So, how does a group of individuals develop into a team and how can we help manage that process?

What is team development and why is it important?

Research has shown that a group must progress through certain development stages to become a high performing team. A leader is responsible for managing this process, but it is one that affects us all, no matter our role.

The process of development is also continual. Our situation changes, as do the challenges we face. The people in our teams come and go. Sometimes things just seem to go wrong, and a team becomes dysfunctional. Therefore, team performance needs continual management.

We are all responsible for this management, to some degree, as we are all members of teams. That could be a work team, sports squad, music band or just your family. Structures, locations, and purposes of groupings may vary but they are still teams if they share a common goal. That is what defines a team: people with varying roles but a common purpose.

Whether we are officially leading that group we can make an important contribution to team development. And that is not just in playing our team role effectively. Through understanding team development, we can all help our teams become more effective.

A career of managing team development

I started off my career as a Bomb Disposal Officer in the Army, working in situations where working together as a team was potentially a life or death matter. Creating and maintaining high-performing teams really mattered.

Since then, as a senior manager, then consultant and leadership coach, I have worked within and alongside organisations in the commercial, governmental, and voluntary sectors. In each role I have equipped teams with the skills they need to be more effective in working together and managed the development of the team as well as the roles of the individuals within that team. I will share some specific examples of these as we progress.

How to build a strong team

Team building is not reliant on away days and fun activities. These things are great but are not the foundation of team development. You can build a successful team in the harshest of environments if you understand the fundamentals of team roles and development.

A well-functioning team is dependent upon good leadership. If a team is failing in some way, then the manager must shoulder the bulk of the blame and take responsibility for finding a solution. But that does not let team members off the hook. Any individual can make things better (and they certainly can make things worse) for the rest of the team at any stage in its development.

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

Henry Ford

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The Stages of Team Development according to Bruce Tuckman

So, what are the stages of team development?

A group needs to evolve through certain steps to become an effective team. The most well-known (and memorable) theoretical model of this development process is the Tuckman Model.

Bruce Tuckman did research that demonstrated that every team goes through various stages. He first identified four stages and then, upon further research, amended this to five stages of team development.

The 5 stages of team development:

1. Forming
2. Storming
3. Norming
4. Performing
5. Adjourning

A manager can do things to speed the process through these steps to the performing stage, but any team member can also help. It is especially important to get through the painful storming phase, but you cannot completely short circuit the system to get straight to performance. There has to be some pain to get to the gain.

Tuckman Model

Forming

Going back to the story I started with. As the group sat in that room on the first day, we were in the forming stage. Fortunately, we had a clear mission statement, and I knew we had lots of quality people. But given the dark-cloudy looks I was getting I knew that the storming stage would soon be upon us.

Storming

Therefore, right from the start, I forced the issue of integration. I immediately re-structured the group into smaller cross-functional teams that broke down the various cliques. They would have to learn together and learn to rely on one another from the start. The storming phase could commence – as people worked out their exact roles, preferences, and approaches – and the intense work gave them focus. The enemy was now the challenge rather than other team members.

Norming

If these smaller teams still struggled it was easier to identify the problem. Team dynamics and individual characteristics were easy to identify. In a couple of cases, I moved people around until we reached the norming phase.

Performing

I would love to say we were in the performing stage before we deployed but that would not be strictly true. We finished our training and were able to operate but it was some time into the task before I would have called us a high performing team. We had been effective to a degree until that point but there was a moment where we got into a flow. We were not just getting work done, we were being creative, teams worked fluidly and independently, and results were exponential. This was high performance.

Adjourning

Sadly, all things come to an end. At the end of our tour of duty we handed over to another team and we went into the adjourning stage. We celebrated our success, shared our experience, and went off to join other teams.

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How to manage progress through the team development stages

It is useful to know these steps because it helps, particularly as the leader, to identify what stage of development your team is at. But just knowing which stage does not necessarily equip us to manage the team progression.

Being properly equipped is often down to knowing the right questions to ask. As a leader, I am constantly asking questions or myself, my situation and my team. Therefore, I have found another theoretical process, the Drexler-Sibbet model of Team Performance, a really helpful complement to the Tuckman model.

The Drexler-Sibbet model poses a set of questions that a team needs to work through to progress through each level of performance. In this model, there are seven (rather than five) stages of progression. The stages and questions are as follows:

1. Orientation: Why am I here?
2. Trust Building: Who are you?
3. Goal Clarification: What are we doing?
4. Commitment: How will we do it?
5. Implementation: Who does what, when, where?
6. High Performance: Wow!
7. Renewal: Why continue?

Let’s use another example to highlight the different stages and questions. Another very different and yet equally challenging management role I had was leading a large group of volunteers for a non-profit organisation. I did not have any of the levers of military rank, money, or contracts to make people work together or at all.

Drexler-Sibbet Model of Team Development

Orientation: Why am I here?

This question needed to be answered even to just recruit volunteers. The good news is that most people want to make a difference. What a good leader does is cast vision and link people’s values to that purpose.

My team was responsible for production; the setting up and running of large events. There were plenty of people supporting the organisation, my challenge was to link those individuals who enjoyed that sort of physical work and show them that they could contribute to achieving the overall mission by serving on my team.

Trust Building: Who are you?

Trust is the foundation of any relationship. The way to kick-start any relationship is by quickly building rapport. People do start to get to know each other as they work together but this is where I find creating opportunities to socialise really fast-forward this stage.

These can be as simple as water-cooler moments or coffee breaks where people can chat. For my team, we found that in what was a long hard day of work, eating together at lunch really helped team building and fostering inter-team relationships.

Goal Clarification: What are we doing?

The next step is to turn the vision into a tangible mission or goal. A leader’s responsibility is to articulate this end-state or success criteria.

With my production team, the mission was to set up, manage and then set down all the equipment in order to enable a successful event. The events supported the overall purpose of the organisation so in this way, I could link the what to the why.

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Commitment: How will we do it?

Then you need to work out how to achieve the mission. In other words, you need a plan. This is breaking down the overall goal into smaller tasks and activities.

In my case, we systematically took each bit of equipment we needed to set up and worked out an overall sequence (effectively a project programme) and then worked out an efficient process for each individual task. The team played a significant role in this last part. They used their creativity and experience to find the best ways to do things; I then captured and managed the activities.

Implementation: Who does what, when, where?

This question of who links the individuals to the plan. Answering the who question is about delegating tasks and roles according to skill, preference, and experience. For working out roles within a team I have found the Belbin Team Roles model the most useful and comprehensive.

As my team grew the crew leaders took on more of this responsibility of working out the who. They knew the plan and they knew their people best. They also knew how to take on new recruits and train them up.

High Performance: Wow!

The only part of this model that I dislike is the ‘wow’ instead of a question for performing teams. It can give the impression that once you get there all you need to do is just exclaim “wow!” and watch the magic happen.

But in my experience, what great teams do that keeps them at the top and maximising their performance is continual learning and improvement.

Therefore, there are some questions that teams should remember at this stage and these are the ones related to continued learning. I use a simple model based on traffic lights for this. I ask:

• Stop – What do we stop?
• Start – What do we start?
• Continue – What do we continue?

I would reflect on these questions at the end of every event. I would discuss these with my crew leaders and they, in turn, did so with their crews. In this way, we created an environment of continual learning and empowered everyone in the team to challenge and improve performance.

Team performance review process

Renewal: Why continue?

If the vision (why) and mission (what) remain the same, then things can generally continue. But projects end and team members come and go as a normal process of life. Therefore, we always need to answer this question, which as you will notice, takes us full circle.

With my production team, every new event was a small renewal and an opportunity to reinforce the why. So, we met at the beginning of the day to remind ourselves of how our actions would contribute to something much bigger.

The team grew and changed. When people joined our team, we made them part of the family. When people left, we grieved but also celebrated what they had done and shared their excitement for what they were moving on to. We made the process as natural and positive as possible. We ate a lot of cake along the way!

As a leader, when a team is functioning well, it is often easy to neglect the continued answering of this question. But you do so at your peril. Hard work is hard work. It makes people ask, “why bother?” Leaders need to reinforce the vision to stop people from becoming disillusioned.

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Combining team development theories for effective management

To bring all this theory together I have put the two models side by side in the picture below. The colours show how the 5 stages of the Tuckman model relate to the 7 stages of the Drexler-Sibbet model.

The Tuckman and Drexler-Sibbet Models combined

Putting team development theory into practice

Hopefully, you are now clear on the stages of team development and the questions that need to be answered to manage the building of a team from a group of individuals to a high-performance team.

Remember too that all teams experience change. That change might be faster or slower depending on the circumstances but that is why teams need continual leadership. Without this management, a team can get stuck, or even worse, can regress back through the development process.

Finally, remember that we all have a part to play, leaders or not. By understanding the stages of team development, we can all help our teams to improve, whatever our role or the purpose of that group.

So, think about the teams you are a part of. What stage are they in? Is it forming, storming, norming, performing or adjourning? Which question do you need to answer to help them evolve?

Dysfunctional Teams: Seven reasons why teams fail (and what you can do to help)

Have you ever been a member of any dysfunctional teams?

If you have then you know how frustrating, depressing, and stressful it can be. I certainly have been, both as an employee and as a manager, and leading an underperforming team has given me plenty of sleepless nights as I have sought to turn things around.

My experience has taught me the truth of Stephen R. Covey’s list of team problems. Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, went on to write Principle-Centred Leadership, which builds on the first book and highlights the vital importance of personal values in effective leadership models. The book includes lots of practical advice for leaders and managers, including an explanation of the seven persistent issues that undermine organisations.

The 7 chronic problems he identifies are:

1. No shared vision or values

2. No strategic path

3. Poor alignment

4. Wrong style

5. Poor skills

6. Low trust

7. No self-integrity

They are called chronic because, as with chronic diseases, dysfunctional team problems are persistent and cause continual pain. If these chronic issues are not treated then the organisation will continue to deteriorate and could even die.

So here is a further explanation of each and some tips on how to avoid these pitfalls, or treat the problems if they already exist.

YouTube video: How to spot the 7 chronic problems of dysfunctional teams

1. No shared vision or values

Every organisation needs a purpose. On the meta scale, a business needs a clear reason to exist, something that attracts customers and employees alike. On the micro-scale, all teams need to know the vision they are working towards.

The problem is that many leaders fail to communicate a vision. Occasionally that is because they don’t know what the vision is, they are unsure of exactly where they are going. But all too often they just forget to tell people their dream or outline exactly the part the team has to play in delivering the larger organisational vision.

One key element of transformational leadership is communicating a team’s vision. If you are a leader and have not outlined your vision then take some time to think about it and put it into words. You need to be able to explain it in simple terms. Paint a picture of the better future that you are working towards. If you are an employee who does not understand the vision then ask; get your boss to share what it is that drives them, the change they want to make.

2. No strategic path

The next problem is related to the first. You cannot have a strategic path without knowing what the vision is. But, even if you have a vision, a leader still needs to lay out the path to get there.

The team needs to know the overarching plan of how they will get to a better future. This is what strategy is. Richard Rumelt, author of Good Strategy, Bad Strategy, gives the following definition:

“A strategy coordinates action to address a specific challenge.”

People need a plan to coordinate their actions. It does not need every detail sorted out, but it does require enough specific direction so that people can keep moving in the right direction. And that too leads us on neatly to our next chronic problem.

3. Poor alignment

Having a vision and strategy are essential, but they won’t guarantee success on their own. Individuals need to be aligned to that direction and that comes down to knowing their role within the team and the values that drive the organisation.

Roles are vital, but here I am not talking about mere titles. If you want an idea of the deluge of lengthy, cool-sounding but confusing job titles, then just take a look on LinkedIn, but I can guarantee that even their owners can struggle to explain their actual role. Here I mean the exact role we have to play in our team and our part in the overall plan.

Within a team we need to know how we fit alongside, to complement their strengths and weaknesses. Using a model such as Belbin’s team role finder can help this process. Individuals also need to understand how their tasks support the overall success of the organisation.

For example, Field Marshall ‘Monty’ Montgomery, when he took over the British 8^th Army in 1942, was in retreat across the African desert. To turn things around, he made sure that everyone, right down to the typists in Battalion headquarters, knew the importance of their contribution. In this way, he aligned everyone to the task of winning and led the Allies to victory in Tunisia in 1943.

4. Wrong style

The next problem is that of leadership style. A manager must employ an effective leadership approach to align their team to the strategy and vision. Situations change and employees differ so a good leader can flex their style accordingly.

If you are unsure how to adapt your management approach then I recommend Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership model along with Max Landsberg’s Skill-Will matrix. Both of these tools help leaders to assess the best approach for the circumstances and team members.

Equally important as finding a good leadership style is avoiding a bad one. Toxic leadership is a sure-fire way to team dysfunctionality so avoid the seven traits of bad leaders, including incompetence, rigidity, intemperance, or being callous, corrupt, insular or evil.

5. Poor skills

Incompetence can be a cause of toxic leadership but competency can be a problem across a whole team. Sometimes people are just not experienced enough to do the job. Fortunately, this is one of the easiest things to fix. If people have the right character and a growth mindset, then they can learn the right skills.

In this instance, the responsibility of the manager is to identify the skills gaps and create personal development plans for individuals. These might be technical skills but don’t forget to consider people’s soft skills. These are often overlooked but are critical. If you don’t know where to start then the United Nations list of the 10 most important life skills can help. For managers who want to improve themselves, using Robert Katz’s framework of leadership skills is a good place to start to identify areas of growth.

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6. Low trust

Nothing undermines a team’s performance as quickly as a lack of trust. Trust is the fundamental building block of all relationships, so when this breaks down teams are truly dysfunctional as the lack of trust is a blocker to working together.

We all know that trust is important but sometimes it is hard to quantify and that is why the Trust Equation is so helpful. Research by Green, Maister and Galford (2001) showed that:

 Trust (or Trustworthiness) = (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy)/Self-Orientation

Here, credibility and reliability are self-explanatory but intimacy is worth explaining. In this instance, it relates to how safe you feel around a specific person. For this model, self-orientation equates to how self-centred a person is.

Where trust is lacking, there are proven behaviours that can help build trust in teams. Paul Zak identified eight behaviours that help foster trust in teams. These are:

1. Recognise excellence
2. Induce “challenge stress” (difficult but achievable tasks)
3. Give people discretion in how they do their work
4. Enable job crafting (let employees choose projects to work on)
5. Share information broadly
6. Intentionally build relationships
7. Facilitate whole-person growth
8. Show vulnerability

7. No self-integrity

Finally, a lack of self-integrity is symptomatic of poor team health. Integrity is best described as walking the talk, so if a leader or team’s actions do not match their words then there is a problem. At the fundamental level, this is about values. Are people aligned with their principles and are they making decisions that are aligned with the values of their organisation?

My favourite tool for exploring the relationship between behaviours and values is The Iceberg Model. It is a very simple theory. As with a physical iceberg, the visible bit (in this case people’s behaviours and words) is the small element that exists above the surface. Below the surface is the greater mass. In terms of organisational culture, this hidden space includes people’s thoughts and feelings, values and beliefs, fears and needs. To understand the behaviour you have to use questions to dig below the surface and discover the cause. Only once this diagnosis has taken place can a plan be put in place to change the behaviour.

Is your team dysfunctional? Does your team display any of the seven chronic problems?

It is worth taking a few seconds to reflect on your team. How is it performing? If there is a problem, can you identify which of the seven chronic problems are to blame? Ask yourself:

• Is there a shared vision and common values?
• Does the team have a strategic path?
• How well are the team aligned with the strategy?
• Does the management have the right leadership style?
• Are there any skill gaps?
• Is there a lack of trust in the team?
• How is the team’s integrity – do people walk the talk?

If you are a manager, why not get team members to give you some answers as well? It might feel like a painful process, but every team has challenges, so it would be a surprise to not find an area of weakness.

Take heart. What you have done is take the first positive step, that of diagnosis. As Dr Dean Ornish says,

“Awareness is the first step of healing.”

The good news is that you have now taken the first step. Next, you can plan and work out a way to solve the problems, because that is what high-performing teams do; they always seek to be better.