In the fast-paced world of agencies, building high-performing teams is essential to meeting and exceeding client expectations. But how can agencies assess their teams’ performance and address any areas of dysfunction? Patrick Lencioni’s book, “The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team,” provides a framework for evaluating team performance and identifying areas for improvement.
Lencioni’s model highlights the five areas in which teams must thrive to become high-performing: trust, conflict, commitment, accountability, and results. Trust serves as the foundation for all other facets of the model, and without it, teams cannot progress towards becoming the highest-achieving team possible.
The first dysfunction, the absence of trust, creates an environment where people don’t feel comfortable being vulnerable and building trust with each other. This lack of trust can lead to failure to receive feedback, unpleasant meetings, and politics. To address this dysfunction, leaders must create a safe space for vulnerability by sharing something personal with the team.
The second dysfunction, the fear of conflict, results in a lack of healthy debate and discussion in meetings. People may prioritize keeping the peace over making progress, leading to boring meetings and little forward movement. To address this dysfunction, leaders should encourage differing opinions and state that healthy conflict is not only acceptable but encouraged.
The third dysfunction, the lack of commitment, means that teams struggle to make and stick to commitments. This lack of buy-in leads to second-guessing and a lack of alignment. To address this dysfunction, leaders should set clear deadlines, push for issue closure, and ensure teams use committed actions rather than vague promises.
The fourth dysfunction, the avoidance of accountability, occurs when peers fail to hold each other accountable. This can lead to resentment, frustration, and a lack of trust within the team. To address this dysfunction, leaders should reward the team for achieving goals, clarify expectations, and use clear requests to get desired results.
The fifth dysfunction, inattention to results, happens when individuals prioritize their own goals over the goals of the larger organization or team. This lack of focus on the collective impacts the team’s ability to make long-term impacts. To address this dysfunction, leaders should set transparent goals, provide data and KPIs, and ensure everyone is aligned with the common goals.
By recognizing which stage of dysfunction each team operates in, agency leaders can focus on addressing the specific areas of improvement. Building trust, encouraging healthy conflict, fostering commitment, promoting accountability, and prioritizing results are all crucial steps towards transforming dysfunction into high performance.
In conclusion, creating high-performing teams in agencies is vital for meeting client expectations. By using Lencioni’s model to assess team performance and address areas of dysfunction, agencies can elevate their performance and deliver exceptional results to their clients. Building trust, encouraging healthy conflict, fostering commitment, promoting accountability, and prioritizing results are all key elements in achieving agency success.
