By Cynthia Palka, President, Future Map, Inc.One of my pharmaceutical clients recently asked me how he could get his team members to be less political and express how they really think and feel with each other. I immediately thought of Patrick Lencioni, an expert on managing team dysfunction, and Alexander Hiam, whose work focuses on effective conflict negotiation. Both Lencioni and Hiam agree that effective teams need trust and healthy conflict management in order to open meaningful lines of communication and eventually reach goals.It starts with trustTrust is the foundation of real teamwork. Politics is choosing your words and actions based on how you want others to react rather than what you really think. Trust is confidence that your peers' intentions are good, so there is no need to be protective or “political” around them.How much trust is present in your team? Using Lencioni’s diagnostic tool [1], ask yourself how you think your team members would scale the following statements (usually, sometimes, or rarely):
- Team members openly admit their weaknesses and mistakes.
- Team members know about one another's personal lives and are comfortable discussing them.
- Team members apologize to one another when they say or do something inappropriate or damaging to the team.
- Avoid (I Lose, You Lose)
- Accommodate (I Lose, You Win)
- Compromise (We Both Win, We Both Lose)
- Compete (I Win, You Lose)
- Collaborate (I Win, You Win)
- Lencioni, P. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Jossey-Bass, 2002
- Hiam, A. Dealing With Conflict Instrument. HRD Press, 2005