Increase Profit by Reducing Group Dysfunction

“It’s like this all over the place.” Mass lay-offs, shifting workloads and once stable businesses closing has left many workforce survivors on edge. Many workers are adjusting t to added job responsibilities or literally fighting to hold onto current positions. Communication and workflow is compromised. People feel threatened as boundaries are encroached and futures are uncertain.

The result is group dysfunction - - usual office politics has turned into "Survivor" as some co-workers go as far as damaging products and services to make each other look bad. Other employees are working under conditions where they are caught in the dysfunction of upper-management. Even the stress resulting from others’ dysfunction can affect the most well-meaning employee.

How does workplace dysfunction hurt profit?
...Wasted time and effort from poor communication, re-work, disorganization
...Duplicated efforts when job duties get blurred during re-organization
...Unassigned tasks that fall through the cracks during re-organization usually don’t surface until something goes wrong, disrupting productivity
...Reduced product quality means call-backs and wasted materials, increased overhead
...Poor service will compromise customer relations
...On-going stress has proven to affect health and number of work days missed
...Mistakes can lead to missed opportunities or worse -- lawsuits

So how does a good leader fix the dysfunction?
...The bottom line here is that trust has been compromised. Weather it is trust of co-workers, upper management, “the system,” even of their own abilities in some cases.
...Building and sustaining trust is as vital as building and sustaining revenues.

In his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni, points out that absence of trust is the foundation of a dysfunctional group- followed by fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results.

The good thing is that building trust doesn’t have to be worked into the budget and outcomes can be witnessed rather quickly as the workplace focus turns to meeting organization objectives instead of crisis management.

Some ideas on how to build trust:
...First of all, recognize that in every team formation/reformation there is a period of reestablishing roles. This may involve some normal conflict among the employees as roles and boundaries are reestablished – speaking up is a sign of trust and can be a good thing when it addresses relevant issues – as a leader, monitor and guide employees through this period of adjustment. (Tuckman & Biggs Group Development : Forming – Storming – Norming –
Performing – Adjourning)
...Create a non-threatening environment by encouraging employees to discuss their own mistakes so they can learn from them.
...Encourage employees to ask for help when needed.
...Help employees establish vital lines of communication and make sure as a manager your communications are clear
...Encourage employees to voice concerns about changes in the workplace and offer solutions.
...Build moral and group synergy by recognizing employee accomplishments, strengths and contributions feeling valued is also a great stress buster.
...Create small experiences of team success resulting from a changed policy – keep it small – the positive experience will reduce resistance to change and carry over to other team efforts.
...Provide opportunities for employees to bond and share experiences.. Some companies let a service answer phones once a week while they all enjoy pizza for lunch.
...Communicate/ post relevant objectives and company mission statement.
...Be aware of potential co-worker sabotage and establish a no tolerance policy.
...Above all, try to keep a sense of humor – laughter relieves stress – brings down walls.

“If you could get all the people in an organization
rowing in the same direction,
you could dominate any industry,
in any market,
against any competition, at any time.”
Anonymous from The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni,

Share your experience.. . are you working in dysfunction? Not working in dysfunction? What do you or your company do to prevent a dysfunctional scenatio? Please keep co-worker names anonymous. There will be more on building teamwork to increase profit this week.