Is your team toxic? Are there constant arguments, silence, threats, accusations, and blaming? Does everyone seem to be just going through the motions, turning up but lacking the drive to do anything more than the bare minimum?
Get to the Heart of Problem
Getting to the heart of the problem and identifying the core issue is key to being able to rebuild the team. Many organisations think that simply sending a team on a team building day will resolve everything – but this is simply not the case. Here are some steps you can take to identify the problem with the team:
One on one interviews: Getting everyone alone takes more time, but it could allow some people to speak more frankly and openly than in the group setting, especially if they do not feel safe to speak up in the group. You will need to compare stories, or different points of view which could be conflicting.
Team Retrospective: If you think that everyone in the team will be able to speak openly, then a team retrospective (or retrospectives if one doesn’t get to the heart of the problem with the team) could be the most efficient way. You can help the more reserved in the team be heard by following a facilitation format like 1-2-4-ALL. There are positive retrospective formats that help to remind the team of the positive aspects of the team – this might be helpful before you move into the issues in the team. If you’re new to running a retrospective, I have written a guide here.
TRIZ: This is a facilitation technique where the team is challenged to to accept that there is a problem, identify the negative behaviours, and decide actions to take. More details on TRIZ can be found on the Liberating Structures website.
Restorative Steps
Establishing Trust in the Team
If trust between the team members is broken, consistent steps needs to be taken to restore it. You and the team need to acknowledge and address the source of the distrust to be able to move forward.
Addressing Negative or Antisocial Behaviour
There’s an interesting model that shows dysfunctional behaviours actually can arise from a positive intent – the idea being that people actually have good intentions, but because of other factors, the actual behaviour that comes out is negative, anti-social or dysfunctional in another way. This model ‘The 12 Archetypes of Dysfunctional Behaviour’ shows the intention, and then whether the dysfunctional behaviour manifests itself in an active or passive way (remember silence is not necessarily the sign of happiness!).
This is a good starting point when examining the dysfunctional behaviour you might be seeing in the team. The goal is to stop the behaviour, but ideally you should see the intent, and establish why this behaviour is exhibited – perhaps the person, despite the behaviour, has something important to say.
This does not mean that destructive behaviour that impacts the team negatively should be tolerated. You should make it clear that it is not acceptable. However, you should not dismiss what they are saying just because they are being destructive. Maybe they are saying what the others don’t have the courage to say, or don’t feel safe to say out of fear.
What you can do largely depends on the severity of the behaviour. Destructive behaviour that endangers mental or physical health demands immediate action. Taking the person aside and discussing the issue and the behaviour is a first course of action. In some cases this would be enough. However ongoing coaching and counselling might be required. You might even need to remove the person from the team for a period of time or permanently, you might even need to fire them, depending on the severity of the behaviour. But don’t ignore what they have to say, and brush it aside because of the way that are saying it.
Give the team a voice and listen
If you’ve got to the heart of the problem, then you need to take action so that the situation can improve. But what action should you take? Ask the team. Often they’ll be right – at the very least you’ll have food for thought to find the right actions to take.
To get the team’s input, you’ll need to ask them, and this means running another workshop. For this, you can again find inspiration from the world of Agile in retrospectives. The retrospective formats are built to get input from teams on issues they are facing, and then deciding what should be done about it. Focus on specific, realistic and achievable actions. Make them part of your work day, give the team time to work on theirs as well. Make yourself and the tam accountable for taking these actions, and then periodically reflect on how things have or have not changed, look at what has and has not worked – make it a habit for everyone to take on these experiments, examine how things changed, and then refining.
Asking for Help
Sometimes, despite yours and the teams best efforts things may not improve. Seek help. Maybe you just need to bring in someone else who is not caught up in the situation to give the team members someone else to talk to, and to see things from a different perspective. It is not a sign of weakness to seek help, and it will be a great learning experience for you and the team.
How do I get my team back on track?
- Identify the problem: Is it a lack of direction or motivation, high workload, or are there other issues that are impacting the team?
- Take small steps: Don’t expect that by giving a big speech that things will magically turn around. Instead, plan and execute small changes consistently.
- Promote positivity and celebrate the small wins: If you see a positive change, such as a change in attitude or work quality or throughput, make sure you highlight it.
- Be clear and consistent about what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in the team: Set the standard you expect and model that standard.
- Positive and constructive conflict is beneficial: Some teams and leaders make the mistake of trying to avoid all types of conflict. Some positive and constructive conflict is beneficial to the team – if you consider Tuckman’s stage of group development, there is in fact a ‘storming’ phase, but at any phase, some conflict is required to have a high performing team.
- Establish a feedback loop: To experiment with ideas to make improvements and get regular feedback.
