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(U) How Teams Can Go Awry
FROM: Brenda Martineau
SID Planning, Programming, and Performance (S01X)
Run Date: 05/01/2006
(U) Last week we posted some thoughts on what makes an office A Great Place to Work . Here
are some factors that can squelch good teamwork:
(U) Creating a great place to work where teamwork thrives is not always easy. Given the
importance of teaming in accomplishing NSA's mission, we can learn a valuable framework from
Patrick Lencioni's book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team .
(U) The book has important lessons for any team member or leader. Through the parable of
Kathryn, the underdog CEO who is hired to turn around a flailing Silicon Valley high-tech
company, and her off-sites with her dysfunctional staff, the reader learns the following lessons
that form an interrelated system building from the bottom of a pyramid on up:
Lack of Trust : Teamwork begins by building trust, and to do that we need to let ourselves be
vulnerable within the group. Team members -- including the leader -- should feel free to ask
questions, admit weaknesses and mistakes, and ask for help when they need it. If you get to
know your teammates better and can relate to each other on a more personal level, then you
will build trust.
Fear of Conflict : Without trust, there will be no open, constructive debate, and there will be a
sense of artificial harmony. Teams that allow conflict will have more interesting meetings, bring
difficult topics to the table for discussion, and get to solving the real issues more quickly. A
designated devil's advocate may help by bringing alternative views to light.
Lack of Commitment : Without having the unfiltered debate, team members are unlikely to
support decisions, though they may feign acceptance. Some teams become paralyzed by the
need for consensus or perfect information and cannot move beond the debate stage. For a team
to commit there needs to be clarity around direction and priorities (cascading communication is
key). Teams should move forward confidently and be able to change course without hesitation or
guilt.
Avoidance of Accountability : Without clarity and commitment, we avoid holding each other
accountable for honoring commitments and for high standards of performance and behavior. To
overcome this, the team needs to clarify publicly what it needs to achieve, who is to deliver
what, and how to behave for success. A team charter should record this information. Process
reviews can keep the team on track, and peer pressure as well as team rewards can reinforce
the desired behaviors.
Inattention to Results : The ultimate dysfunction of a team is the tendency of team members
to seek out individual recognition and attention at the expense of the goals of the team. To
encourage individuals to focus on the goals of the team, performance assessments or rewards
can be linked to specific team outcomes. Teams will benefit from minimizing individualistic
behavior and retaining achievement-oriented employees.
(U) Do you have comments on this article? Post them on the SID today blog .
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
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DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108