12. Lessons from…
Clipper Round the World Race
Individual corporate job
vs. team-oriented startup
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,
Patrick Lencioni
21. Trust in Team Context
(aka Psychological Safety)
Absence of trust
Conceal weaknesses & mistakes
Don’t ask for help
Don’t provide feedback
Stay inside comfort zone
Jump to conclusions about others
Hold grudges
Dread meetings & conversations
Trusting teams
Admit weaknesses & mistakes
Ask for help
Take risks in offering feedback
Accept questions about their areas of
responsibility
Give benefit of doubt
Offer and accept apologies
Focus on important issues, not politics
Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Lencioni
22. Overcoming Trust Issues
Build empathy - get to know one another
Listening > speaking
Give benefit of the doubt
e.g asking “what happened?”
Personality profiles
360 degree feedback
for personal development, not $$$
28. Consequences
- 8 points if unfixable
Penalty points reduced if fixable
1 week just to re-assemble it
14 days to sew
Sailmakers spent
20 days below deck
29. Healthy Conflict in a Team Context
Fear of conflict
Boring meetings & conversations
Back-channel politics thrive
Ignore controversial topics
Don’t get input from team
Waste time posturing
Communicating through conflict
Lively & interesting conversations
Minimize politics
Put critical topics on the table
Extract ideas of all team members
Solve real problems quickly
Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Lencioni
30. Overcoming Fear of Conflict
Tie any criticisms directly to business objectives
Ask someone to play devil’s advocate
Ask “what else?”
Praise and encourage healthy conflict
“It’s good that we’re talking about this”
“I’m glad you brought that up”
37. Commitment Issues
Team that fails to commit
Creates ambiguity on team about
decisions/commitments
Watches windows close on
opportunities
Lacks confidence
Revisits discussions & decisions
again and again
Encourages second-guessing
Team that commits
Creates clarity around direction and priorities
Aligns entire team around common objectives
Develops ability to learn from mistakes
Takes advantage of opportunities before
competitors do
Moves forward without hesitation
Changes direction without hesitation
Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Lencioni
38. Ascertain if clarity or buy-in issue?
Go back to conflict/discussion
Make sure you’re messaging the plan
Explain or get the ‘whys’ of the plan
Set deadlines for decisions
Go over ‘worst case scenarios’/
take control of catastrophizing
Go over contingency plans
Dealing With Commitment Issues
42. Peer Pressure vs.
Performance Review
2-watch system created accountability
system and feedback loop
Posted standards onboard
Team consequences for individual
behavior
Late on deck? Extra early wake up
call
Started with the lead? Better work to
keep it!
43. Accountability in a Team Context
Team that avoids accountability
Creates resentment
Encourages mediocrity
Misses deadlines and deliverables
Team leaders only disciplinarians
Team that holds one another accountable
Poor performers feel peer pressure
Identifies potential problems quickly
Establishes respect among team
Avoids excessive bureaucracy
Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Lencioni
44. Have published goals and
standards
Clarify areas of ambiguity
Make rewards TEAM based
Improving
Accountability We have to let you go
due to a lack of
sails…
50. Attention to Results/ Desire to Win
Team not focused on results
Loses top performers
Stagnates
Rarely defeats competitors
Team members to focus on
careers and individual goals
Is easily distracted
Team focused on collective results
Retains achievers
Enjoys success and suffers failure acutely
Minimizes individualistic behavior
Individuals subjugate own goals/interests for
the good of the team
Avoids distractions
Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Lencioni
51. Publicly declare what you
want to accomplish
Make rewards results based
No gold stars for effort
Driving Attention to Results
Conflict is taboo at work; important when business objectives, issues and goals being discussed.
Our taboo was around winning & how to go about doing it.
Function of clarity and buy in
Ultimate measure of a team: are you paying attention to the team’s results, or are you paying more attention to yourself?
Worried about whether I’d be selfish
Indicator: are people willing to subjugate their own interests for the good of the team.
When individual metrics, you aren’t as generous – you want that piece of pie for yourself. Don’t help your colleague because their failure will make you look better.
Ollie and I were main drivers but had to do other tasks – I hate grinding, wore out my arms. Ollie is cleaning up there, not his strongest skill.
You had to do everything if you wanted your team to win: cook, clean, hard manual labor.
Something I really enjoyed was I came in pretty self-centered: want to drive, learn something new, maybe win; by a couple of days in, all that mattered was the team winning – if we don’t win, I’m going to lose my mind. My day was made or broken by where we were in the race. If scrubbing the toilets is what it takes to win, I’m going to scrub the heck out of these toilets to reach our ultimate team goal.
Fortunately for us, and this talk – we won. And we set the pacific crossing record
It also takes another kind of courage – a lesser known, early definition of courage is:
“To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.”
So if I leave you with one thing out of all of this, its;have the courage to open, authentic and vulnerable with people;
And be compassionate with people who are vulnerable with you, and your personal and team dynamics will flow positively from there.