What influences our interactions with others and how we function as a team? Are there things that can make or break team dynamics? What can help us make teams high-performing?
Good team performance is crucial for teams in any business or other type of group work, and setting good foundations for it can help ease the whole process and lead to much better interactions and decisions. Whether tackling ambitious projects, solving complex problems, or driving innovation, the ability of a team to work cohesively determines its success. Yet, it’s not just about bringing people together. It’s about fostering an environment where team dynamics thrive and potential obstacles to cooperation are addressed swiftly. Let’s explore key principles of team performance, the potential dysfunctions that can happen, and see what we can use as a guiding light towards creating good team dynamics.
Team dynamics refer to the unconscious, psychological forces that influence the direction and behavior of a group. These dynamics play a critical role in how team members interact, communicate, and solve problems. A team with positive dynamics operates smoothly, using trust, respect, and synergy to fuel productivity and perform well. In contrast, poor dynamics can derail teams and move them further from their goals, with a lot of conflict, miscommunication, and disengagement. In order to work well together teams need to be aligned on many things. Effective communication and respect between members needs to be combined with shared goals and clear roles, as well as accountability and a commitment to decisions.
To help us take a structured approach into team dynamics and performance we can look at a very useful framework by Patrick Lencioni. Outlined in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, this framework provides a valuable roadmap for navigating and overcoming common challenges in collaboration. It demonstrates the five dysfunctions of a team and gives structure to elements that teams need to be clear about. In a simple but comprehensive way it shows us everything that is relevant and gives a sense of priority to certain elements that need to be dealt with.
The most essential foundation for good team performance is trust. Creating trust and a positive environment is the best way to ensure good collaboration and respect among all members in a team. Having this as the core element of the team can help when conflict arises and when there is disagreement, because working together from a place of mutual respect helps us see conflict of opinion as a beneficial discussion and not a personal attack. Where there is no trust between team members, there can not be truly effective communication and discussion of opposing views, which destroys all hope for innovation and moving forward.
As mentioned in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team – “Two things are critically true about teams: most organizations fail to achieve teamwork and those which try run into five common pitfalls.” This is why Lencioni’s model shows up as a pyramid with five layers, with trust on the bottom creating the base and the first pitfall. The second pitfall is fear of confrontation, after which we have an absence of commitment, followed by absence of accountability, and finally a failure to focus on goals.
Building trust, courage, commitment, accountability and a proper focus takes time and effort. While written goals, standards and regular performance reviews can help, good leadership is indispensable, and having a leader or coach work with a team and guide them in the right direction can make all the difference. So let’s look at a quick overview of the five dysfunctions and their solutions.
1. Trust
The Problem: Team members are reluctant to be vulnerable, leading to guarded behavior and a lack of openness.
The Solution: Build trust through transparency, vulnerability, and team-building exercises that encourage connection. Create psychological safety so that people can share and participate, and there are no „elephants in the room“ that nobody wants to talk about. Being ok to freely say „I don’t know“, „I don’t believe“, „I am afraid, tired, etc…“.
2. Conflict
The Problem: Teams avoid healthy debates, which stifles creativity and can lead to passive-aggressive behavior.
The Solution: Foster a culture where constructive conflict is encouraged and seen as a path to better decisions. Create openness to different opinions, styles, and views. There needs to be a will to confront, as well as the skill to do it effectively.
3. Commitment
The Problem: Ambiguity around decisions and goals leads to hesitation and half-hearted efforts.
The Solution: Ensure that every team member feels heard during discussions and is aligned with the outcomes. Talk about the „why“ behind our decisions.
4. Accountability
The Problem: Team members shy away from calling out underperformance or missed deadlines, leading to a decline in standards.
The Solution: Promote peer accountability and implement systems to track progress and performance. Make sure to follow through, keep promises, and encourage feedback.
5. Results
The Problem: Teams prioritize personal ambitions or departmental goals over collective success.
The Solution: Keep the team focused on shared goals and celebrate collective achievements. Check that there is alignment on goals and priorities, and that you are putting the best interest of the whole before your own.
Each of these levels builds upon the other. A lack of trust (the foundational dysfunction) can prevent open conflict, which in turn affects commitment, accountability, and focus on results. By addressing them in order, teams can try to systematically improve and grow into a positive and high-performing team.
This framework is interesting because it can be applied quickly as a very practical way to accelerate team performance and help with clarity when reaching shared objectives. In a broad perspective, there are a lot more things to keep in mind that we can do and work on specifically to improve the dynamics, and it also depends what your team’s needs are and which areas they need help with. Cultivating psychological safety and facilitating check-ins can be beneficial, as well as encouraging people to attend conflict resolution trainings. Team coaching can help your specific team reach its full potential, and move forward with more clear goals and better collaboration. By identifying and addressing the root dysfunction—whether it’s lack of trust, unclear goals, or insufficient accountability—the team can create a tailored plan to overcome barriers. For example, a leader might organize a trust-building workshop to lay the groundwork for open communication or implement performance tracking tools to foster accountability.
Strong team performance doesn’t happen by chance – it’s a deliberate process that demands effort, reflection, and adaptability. But with the right priorities and structure in place, teams can transform struggles into opportunities for growth, as well as build a more collaborative culture.