Analysis of Behaviors: Personal Experiences

Gail Moskowitz July 8, 2013 ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIORS: PERSONAL EXPERIENCES ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIORS: PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

This assignment again calls upon your knowledge and understanding of the Lencioni book. Reflecting upon the 5 dysfunctions, respond to the questions below. Be as complete and specific in your answers as you can be, without revealing confidential information!

1. First, “flip” the 5 dysfunctions into more positive language. How would you label 5 characteristics of an effective team?

2. Reflect upon a team situation in which you were involved. Describe the situation (purpose of the team, number of team members, task, and outcome). What was your role on the team (member, leader, observer etc.)?What evidence did you see of dysfunction? Effectiveness? What surprised you, if anything?

3. Knowing what you know now, with the concepts and vocabulary you know now, explain what you might have done to help the team be even more effective.

1. What are the 5 effective characteristics of a team?

A: (Trust) On an effective team members are able to trust each other, let down their guard and experience the creativity and productivity that grows from being vulnerable and speaking with candor.

B: (Capacity to manage conflict) On an effective team members are able to engage in passionate and constructive debate without fear of hurting other’s feelings or retribution. They recognize that acting to avoid conflict means potentially missing an opportunity to solve a problem or create a better outcome.

C. (Commitment to the decision of the team) On and effective team members take the time needed to make sure all the ideas have been encouraged and heard so when a decision is made and then clearly articulated the whole team is comfortable with committing to a unified effort. This allows the team to clearly explain the plan to subordinates.

D: (Accountability) On an effective team members take an active interest in working efficiently and are willing to express their discontent when other members are not working productively. This enables the team to keep their standards high. Gail Moskowitz July 8, 2013 ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIORS: PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

E: (Pays attention to the results of the whole team) On an effective team members focus on the results holistically; they see success as a team effort that is good for everyone. Effective teams do not balance their success on the point of one star.

2. Reflect on a team situation in which you were involved:

In 1992 I was asked by a colleague if I would serve on the board of the Richmond Aids Ministry. I had never served on a board before. I was flattered and anxious. The board was quite large; I think twenty-five members. The make-up of the board was varied. We had members from industry, non-profit organizations, health care, law, mental health, clergy and others. AIDS was considered a death sentence and the larger community ran the gamete from being anxious around HIV infected individuals to being outright contemptuous. The Executive Director of the organization was a wonderful leader; he was bright, organized, kind and clear. The President of the board was a very competent community volunteer. I loved being part of this team. The mission of RAM was to provide housing opportunities for sick individuals in need of compassionate care. Among the responsibilities of the board were fund raising and advocacy. The staff with the support of the board worked to secure a nice home in a neighborhood. We spent much time dealing with the city council; the homeowner’s association and Medicaid. It was a real fight and it was exciting to be a part of grassroots activism that paid off. I was on the board for one three-year term and then re-upped for another three year term.

In 1995 our Executive Director resigned. I was elected Vice President of the board at the beginning of 1996. Almost as soon as the ED left and a new one was hired the organization began to have problems. One problem was that several other organizations were offering similar but not the same services and the new ED needed to have the skills to interface with these organizations so there was no duplication of services or competition for the scant resources. She also needed to have the skills to manage her staff and interface with the board. She appeared to be a good candidate for the job but it did not take too long to see that she was impaired in some way and was unraveling before our eyes. She was verbally harsh to the administrative assistant, sarcastic in meetings and obstinate. She would alternate her dark behavior with apologies and excuses. The board did not do a good job of managing this situation and eventually the agency disbanded. The fact that the agency disbanded was not the worst outcome as services were becoming institutionalized, attitudes were changing and the standard of care was evolving. The sad part was that it ended in many hurt feelings and a terrible sense of defeat. Gail Moskowitz July 8, 2013 ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIORS: PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

Clearly we, the board, had been operating with an ED who gave us no reason to even look at the policies that were in place for evaluating and providing feedback to the ED. The President of the board made the initial mistake of continuously siding with the ED until he saw the pattern and it was only then that he brought the difficulties to the executive board. At that point the four other people on the EB had each heard individual complaints from separate people and we all made the mistake of trying to solve each problem as we heard about it, also without understanding the trend. In the mean time our fund raising efforts were not keeping up with our needs and several board members were irate and in one meeting quite bombastic. I believe we were all a little shell shocked and overwhelmed. I had the skills to manage individual skirmishes, plan an event, speak in public about the need for the services we were trying to give but I did not have the skills to step back from the disaster brewing at the beginning or know how important boundaries were when stepping into a leadership role; the lovely man who was in the role of President did not either. We commiserated instead of acting boldly. I sincerely believe that RAM was a catalyst for change in the Richmond care community and I do not regret my work or the role I played. I learned a lot.

3. Knowing what you know now what might you have done to help the team be even more effective?

I do believe that the tumbling spiral down was caused by the board’s lack of effective teamwork. The leaders on the team tried to manage the information separately and this caused much splintering of focus and eventually terrible dissent. Following the lead of Lencioni’s Five Effective Functions of a team much could have been done to avoid the problems.

First as a leader on the board I could have spoken to the President more boldly and instead of commiserating I should have pointed out the ineffective way we were acting; putting out fires instead of acting strategically. I allowed us to be ineffective. I did not press for accountability. Even if we did not know exactly how to intervene, we had a very bright board and we should have trusted the board to with our vulnerability so that we could have all put our heads together to look for a more effective solution. I do know that there were board members who could be very bombastic and I clearly avoided conflict with them; they intimidated me. Today I have a broad range of skills that allow me to listen to almost any person no matter how angry and stay poised. If I were not avoiding personal attacks I would have so much more efficiently been able to sit with and guide others through the conflict. We would have had a chance of finding a better path. Had we been able to manage the conflict and given the whole board a chance to discuss the problems and weigh in on a solution I believe we could have chosen and Gail Moskowitz July 8, 2013 ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIORS: PERSONAL EXPERIENCES committed to a clear direction and moved simultaneously to implement a plan, create and time frame, and incrementally work toward a positive result. It would have even been a positive result if we did disband the agency but without the destruction. I also think that while I didn’t feel like I could single handedly solve everyone’s problems and I do not think the President did either, I do think that we got caught up in our own sense of being good helpful people who might be able to make everyone feel better if we spoke to them nicely and that in many ways is self-centered; successful teams do not usually have heroes. I clearly missed the bigger picture; we needed a result that was good for the entire organization.

References:

Lencioni, P. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team: A leadership fable. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Gail Moskowitz July 8, 2013 ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIORS: PERSONAL EXPERIENCES