Why Your Team Doesn't Trust Each Other: The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team

Your meetings are tense. People nod along and then quietly do what they were going to do anyway. Somebody whispers in the hallway about a decision the group made an hour ago. Two departments are each convinced the other one is the problem. If that sounds familiar, you do not have a collection of difficult people. You most likely have a team with one or more of the dysfunctions Patrick Lencioni describes in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

In this episode I work through that book the way I see it play out inside real companies. Teamwork is the ultimate competitive advantage precisely because it is so powerful and so rare. Getting five people in a room to work as one team is hard. Getting fifty-five is harder. Getting a hundred and fifty-five is rarer still. But it can be done, and it starts with knowing what to look for.

What does a team with no trust look like?

The first dysfunction is absence of trust. The symptoms are easy to spot: backstabbing, no sense of unity or camaraderie, a muted level of commitment, and a constant struggle to get anything done. When you see those, you have a leadership and teamwork issue. Underlying tension is a symptom of poor teamwork.

I have one phrase for what causes it: fear is a terrible filter. Early in my career, after I moved up into senior management, my team and I spent weeks on research for a strategy meeting. We brought facts and suggestions on how to better reach our market. The owner cut it off, thanked us for the work, and said none of it would be used. After the meeting, a teammate told me that if he was ever invited to another meeting like that, he would never speak up again.

One reaction cost the company a person's honest voice. If you want trust, you have to create an environment of safety where people can bring challenges and even crazy ideas without fear of retribution.

Trust is also the foundation, because everything else sits on it. When someone does not follow through, does not follow up, or does not do what they committed to, trust erodes. When you think a colleague is attacking you personally, you will not speak up. I define trust as confidence among team members that their peers' intentions are good, and that there is no reason to be protective or careful around the group. Teams with that can close the door, say what needs saying with respect and maturity, and move things forward by leaps and bounds.

Why do teams avoid conflict, and what does it cost?

The second dysfunction is fear of conflict. Team members have to respect each other and the organization, which sometimes means having difficult conversations that create real disagreement. Good leaders resist the temptation to avoid confrontation. When a subject is going to get a reaction, it is tempting to skip it. Then everyone leaves the meeting asking, “Why didn't we deal with that? Why do we keep letting this happen?”

If there is an elephant in the room, bring it in and talk about it today. Moments of truth are best handled face to face, ideally right now.

Two related issues show up here. The first is attitude and immaturity. I once watched a manager disagree with a group decision, say “whatever, let's go,” and walk back to the office with his team with no intention of implementing it. Someone taking things personally and not getting dealt with begins to simmer, and then the whispering starts. Deal with it right after the meeting: ask the person to stay a minute, seek first to understand what caused the outburst, and agree that this behavior will not continue.

The second is emotional intelligence. Know how you are wired, using tools like DISC, the Enneagram or Working Genius, and expect adults to act like adults. The team's collective ego has to be greater than any individual ego. It is about we, our team and the organization, not about me and my department.

What does inattention to results mean?

The third dysfunction in my order is inattention to results. A leader's job is to create the best team possible, not to shepherd the careers of individuals or protect feelings at the expense of results. Teams that figure out “we is better than I” have a big competitive advantage.

The fix is clarity. Make the results so clear that nobody would consider doing something purely to boost their own status. It is not real if it is not written. The goals need to be simple enough to grasp and specific enough to act on, and every person should know how their area contributes. Traction, a book I recommend, says every person on the team needs a number. Adopt common goals and measurements, then use them to make decisions every day, including deciding whether your meetings are working on the right things.

How do you get real commitment from a team?

The fourth is lack of commitment. Everyone is responsible for sales, marketing, product, customer service and finance. When a leader says, “Sorry your numbers were off, but we crushed it over here,” that is a lack of commitment to the whole.

Watch for politics, which is when people choose their words based on the reaction they want rather than what they think. I have been in situations where leaders held a meeting before the meeting to decide what to say and what not to say. We need the truth in love, not personal, but moving the team forward.

And watch for lack of buy-in, which creates ambiguity. Part of the team goes one direction and part goes another, and nobody gets the results. Two rules help:

1. People need to weigh in before they can buy in. Give everyone a chance to say what they see and what concerns them. Then list the causes, discuss solutions and decide.
2. Disagree in the room, align when you leave it. Fight and fuss in the meeting, but walk out in one mind and one accord.

How do you hold a team accountable?

The fifth is avoidance of accountability. People will not hold each other accountable if they never bought in to the plan, because it feels pointless. They will say, “I never agreed to that anyway.” If you hear that, bring the person in right away and unpack what is behind it.

Once you have clarity and buy-in, build a simple system. Take notes on what the group decides, assign each task to a person who raises their hand for it, and review the list at the start of every meeting. Somebody said they would make the call. Somebody said they would research it. When the next meeting starts and part of the room did not do their homework, trust starts to erode. Review the list and it stays visible.

Department loyalty cannot override leadership team loyalty. After a heated meeting where the group made a decision, I support it, even if I disagreed. The leadership team should also challenge each other on how they spend their time and whether results are moving toward the goals. And the leadership team should hash out the hard issues itself. Otherwise your people try to solve problems they do not have the authority, money or ability to solve.

Finally, watch for team members who show disrespect, will not open up in meetings, or distract and demotivate others. Strong personalities who are relentless can make the room give up. That is a symptom of something going on with the individual or their department, so deal with it right after the meeting, starting with seeking to understand.

Where to start this week

1. Look at your last leadership meeting. Which of the five dysfunctions did you see?
2. Start every meeting with a written list of who agreed to do what, and review it.
3. Pick one difficult conversation you have been dodging and have it face to face.

Great teamwork separates you from your competitors, and it improves your culture, your employee satisfaction, your profitability and your customers' experience. You have got this.