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Lack of Commitment

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About this lesson

Lack of Commitment is one of the five team dysfunctions. In this case, team members have not bought into the team goals, or they don’t understand those goals.

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Lack of Commitment.docx
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Lack of Commitment - Solution.docx
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Quick reference

Lack of Commitment

Lack of Commitment is one of the five team dysfunctions.  In this case, team members have not bought into the team goals, or they don’t understand those goals.  The team is unable to make decisions, they lack confidence, and they are afraid of failure because they don’t understand what success is.  

When to use

When team performance and cohesion is lacking, analyse the team for the five dysfunctions.  If there is lack of commitment, apply the corrective actions to build commitment.

Instructions

To address the team dysfunction of Lack of Commitment, you must be able to recognize this condition.  The table below contrasts teams that are committed with those that lack commitment.

Commitment

Tools for Overcoming Lack of Commitment

The following tools are commonly used by teams to overcome a lack of commitment.

  • Cascading Messages: When the decision is made, agree about whataspects of the decision must be communicated to others.
  • Decision Deadlines: Establish when a decision will be made, then make it with whatever information and insight is available.
  • Contingency Triggers and Worst Case Scenario Analysis: Understanding the impact of all options makes it easier to commit.
  • Low Risk Exposure Therapy: Require a team to make a decision based upon discussion alone (no external research) on a low risk decision to practice making decisions and committing.
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  • 00:04 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
  • 00:05 Now let's consider another of the five team dysfunctions: lack of commitment.
  • 00:11 Let's be clear about what we mean when we say team commitment.
  • 00:15 For a team to be able to create commitment, there must be clarity and
  • 00:18 buy-in by all team members for the goals or objectives that they are facing.
  • 00:23 Team members can't commit if they don't know what they are committing to.
  • 00:26 And commitment requires action, so there must be buy-in enough for
  • 00:30 team members to dedicate time and effort to the team activities.
  • 00:34 Let me go a little deeper about clarity.
  • 00:36 It's more than an understanding of the big picture.
  • 00:38 It's an understanding about the decisions that they are making and
  • 00:41 their implications.
  • 00:43 There's an understanding of what each team member's next step is.
  • 00:47 Let's also look a little deeper into buy-in.
  • 00:49 Buy-in does not mean that the team member has complete agreement with all
  • 00:53 all aspects of the decisions, but rather that they can live with the decision.
  • 00:57 It's an acceptable compromise.
  • 00:59 Buy-in is much more likely to occur if everyone has a chance to provide input
  • 01:03 to the decision and feels that their opinions are seriously considered,
  • 01:07 which takes us back to an earlier dysfunction, fear of conflict.
  • 01:11 One of the reasons that teams often struggle with this dysfunction
  • 01:15 is that some teams operate in an atmosphere of ambiguity and uncertainty.
  • 01:19 Teams developing new products or processes and teams that are addressing internal or
  • 01:23 external problems often do not have all the facts and information that they would
  • 01:28 like to have, or even worse, the facts they have are contradictory.
  • 01:33 Even though there is ambiguity about the situation,
  • 01:35 a team can achieve commitment about a decision.
  • 01:38 This is what the team leader should be striving for,
  • 01:41 commitment to the decision of what the team is doing next.
  • 01:45 To bring this dysfunction of lack of commitment into sharper clarity,
  • 01:48 let me contrast the teams where commitment is present and
  • 01:51 those that fail to commit, at least in terms of team characteristics.
  • 01:56 Teams that commit have clarity on team direction and
  • 01:59 they have clarity on their own priorities.
  • 02:01 They know what they need to do next, and they do it.
  • 02:04 They are aligned together on team goals and
  • 02:06 objectives because they know the goals and objectives are priorities.
  • 02:10 They move forward without hesitation.
  • 02:12 They aren't constantly running to the team leader,
  • 02:14 asking, mother may I to do their job.
  • 02:17 They just do it.
  • 02:19 They may make a mistake, but they learn from that mistake and
  • 02:21 continue on with the job at hand.
  • 02:24 When the time comes, they make decisions.
  • 02:27 This lets them take advantage of unplanned, unexpected opportunities.
  • 02:31 They don't fall into analysis paralysis.
  • 02:33 They quickly act.
  • 02:34 That means that although they are committed to a decision,
  • 02:37 they can make a change quickly when the situation demands it, and
  • 02:41 they don't feel guilty about what they have accomplished.
  • 02:44 Now let's contrast that list with the list associated with teams where
  • 02:48 team members don't commit.
  • 02:49 It starts with uncertainty and ambiguity about what team members are doing.
  • 02:53 They don't agree on the direction and priority of actions.
  • 02:56 Thanks to this ambiguity,
  • 02:58 windows of opportunity close with the team taking no action.
  • 03:02 The lack of commitment means that no one is willing to decide.
  • 03:05 As the team sees opportunities slipping past, they lose confidence,
  • 03:09 making it even harder to make a decision.
  • 03:11 Soon the team is overcome with fear of failure.
  • 03:14 They aren't committed to the team goal, and
  • 03:16 now feel that they are victims of the team performance.
  • 03:20 Every decision is revisited several times before anyone takes action,
  • 03:24 leading to more missed opportunities and failure.
  • 03:27 The team eventually starts second guessing each other and
  • 03:30 telling others what they should have done, but not talking about their own failures.
  • 03:35 So what does it take to overcome this lack of commitment?
  • 03:38 We'll start by reemphasizing the need for clarity and buy-in.
  • 03:42 Be crystal clear about what needs to be done, and the team members
  • 03:46 add their perspective so that it becomes their idea and not just yours.
  • 03:50 Don't succumb to the siren song of needing more data and getting full consensus.
  • 03:55 There will often be uncertainty.
  • 03:57 Acknowledge it, gets everyone's input, then make the best decision you can and
  • 04:01 go forward.
  • 04:02 We talked in an earlier session about team decision making.
  • 04:05 Apply those skills and tools.
  • 04:08 Some of the tools that I have used to build commitment over the years include
  • 04:11 cascading messages.
  • 04:13 Decide who needs to know what and when about your decisions, and
  • 04:16 ensure that the communication happens.
  • 04:19 Another is to set deadlines for decisions.
  • 04:21 Let everyone know that at a certain point in time, a decision that the team must
  • 04:25 make will be made with whatever information is available at that time.
  • 04:30 Encourage everyone to provide their input before that time so
  • 04:33 that their voice is heard.
  • 04:35 Another technique that is helpful for making decisions when there's still
  • 04:38 uncertainty is to set contingency triggers and review worst case scenarios.
  • 04:43 As team members understand the options and
  • 04:45 learn that the team will be monitoring results in case contingency is needed,
  • 04:50 it becomes easier for them to buy-in with the decision.
  • 04:53 Another approach is to use what is referred to as low risk exposure therapy.
  • 04:58 If the team is too timid and afraid to make decisions,
  • 05:01 force them to make a low risk decision based only upon the team discussion.
  • 05:06 This will help them to gain confidence in their ability to make a decision and
  • 05:10 to trust each other.
  • 05:14 Teams that lack commitment can't seem to get anything done.
  • 05:17 Fortunately, there are a number of tools to help the teams gain clarity and
  • 05:21 build buy-in, the two essential elements for commitment.
  • 05:25 When your team has this dysfunction, lack of commitment,
  • 05:28 start using some of these tools.

Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.

Fear of Conflict
05m:45s
Avoidance of Accountability
06m:03s
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