Coping with dysfunctional work teams - Professionally Speaking

HR Magazine, Nov, 1993 by Anne Ball

No doubt you've seen them in action. We are talking about that Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) team you attempt to lead or facilitate only to realize you are involved with the work team from hell.

Worse yet, you are forced to acknowledge that the likelihood of anything remotely resembling a positive process improvement is highly unlikely. In early organizational meetings you begin to identify the pathology. One of the members is paranoid and constantly questions the motives of the others. The next team member is ready to debate each and every issue. Others are willing to agree to anything because they are completely jaded and convinced that nothing will change anyway.

The first steps

It is with great gladness of heart that we can report that such work teams are the exception and not the rule. But suppose you are saddled with a dysfunctional group and must deal with its pathological dynamics in order to bring about change.

What are the first steps? Where does a group begin to gain ownership of its own dysfunctionality? Should you give up before you even begin--are you better off telling your quality council that you may need surgery in the near future and they should assign someone else to lead this new team? After all, even Lee Iacocca said, "In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, products, and profits. People come first. Unless you've got a good team, you can't do much with the other two." Lee should know, he got the big bucks!

Well, I'm here to tell you that I've been dealt good work groups and bad work groups in such process improvement team efforts. Of course, I'd rather have a productive work group but the bad ones can and do exist, so allow me to provide some tips for your worst team nightmares:

Filling the gaps

If you are the team leader, you must very quickly ascertain whether or not you have an ally in your team facilitator. If not and he or she also brings personal hang-ups to the team, you must do more facilitating on your own and become less invested in the outcomes of the team. You will need to expend most of your energy in group and individual maintenance during and outside of team meetings.

If you have a vision for where you want the team to go, you must describe it clearly in the early stages, because you will be too busy with group process to spend time leading the group to your vision. It you are facilitating a team and it is the leader who is problematic, you will have to do overtime on tending group process. You should find creative ways to lead the team to your vision since it is likely the leader will not be up to the task.

Establishing group rules

Establish group ground rules in the opening session. You may recall this step from your CQI/TQM basic training; however, in this case, I'm talking about a process that is much more detailed and thorough.

You'll need to get beyond the platitudes such as "we agree that any idea will be judged on its merits without personalization." Instead, you may have to establish ground rules--that anyone who personally attacks another member will be called out immediately by the facilitator (or the leader, if your facilitator is part of the problem) and the offending member(s) will apologize to the offended individual and the group.

Similarly, rather than eliminating phone calls and other interruptions from the meetings, you may need to be even more restrictive, especially if you have a member who wants to impress the group by being constantly called away or bringing other work to the meeting. Indicate that such behavior will be considered an infraction and after a certain number of infractions, the member will be removed from the team and replaced.

Take caution with a team that will not commit to monitor its own actions. Whether you are a team leader or the facilitator, you'll need all the help you can get to identify dysfunctional behavior and apply the team rules consistently.

Monitoring group behavior

Dysfunctional work groups need clear rules and an understanding of consequences because they are populated with people who have no personal boundaries. They are more than willing to step on others and/or be stepped on. Often there can be out-and-out attempts at sabotage if there is a previously existing agenda or relationship that is threatened by the mission of the team. Keep in touch with the quality council or coordinator so that no end-runs succeed. Over-communicate with the group if you have to, so that unhealthy coalitions do not develop. Finally, if you can anticipate an unacceptable behavior, define and explain what form(s) it may take. Describing workplace behavior tends to throw potential offenders off balance, although you may have to address this several times due to the creative tactics that may occur.

Your dysfunctional work group may start out with tensions, end with friction, and "act out" during the entire process! But, be mindful of the stages of group development. All groups go through a period of heightened antagonism and friction before they move to a more productive stage.