Lack of Commitment

Quick reference

• 00:04 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
• 00:05 Now let's consider another of the five team dysfunctions: lack of commitment.
• 00:11 Let's be clear about what we mean when we say team commitment.
• 00:15 For a team to be able to create commitment, there must be clarity and
• 00:18 buy-in by all team members for the goals or objectives that they are facing.
• 00:23 Team members can't commit if they don't know what they are committing to.
• 00:26 And commitment requires action, so there must be buy-in enough for
• 00:30 team members to dedicate time and effort to the team activities.
• 00:34 Let me go a little deeper about clarity.
• 00:36 It's more than an understanding of the big picture.
• 00:38 It's an understanding about the decisions that they are making and
• 00:41 their implications.
• 00:43 There's an understanding of what each team member's next step is.
• 00:47 Let's also look a little deeper into buy-in.
• 00:49 Buy-in does not mean that the team member has complete agreement with all
• 00:53 all aspects of the decisions, but rather that they can live with the decision.
• 00:57 It's an acceptable compromise.
• 00:59 Buy-in is much more likely to occur if everyone has a chance to provide input
• 01:03 to the decision and feels that their opinions are seriously considered,
• 01:07 which takes us back to an earlier dysfunction, fear of conflict.
• 01:11 One of the reasons that teams often struggle with this dysfunction
• 01:15 is that some teams operate in an atmosphere of ambiguity and uncertainty.
• 01:19 Teams developing new products or processes and teams that are addressing internal or
• 01:23 external problems often do not have all the facts and information that they would
• 01:28 like to have, or even worse, the facts they have are contradictory.
• 01:33 Even though there is ambiguity about the situation,
• 01:35 a team can achieve commitment about a decision.
• 01:38 This is what the team leader should be striving for,
• 01:41 commitment to the decision of what the team is doing next.
• 01:45 To bring this dysfunction of lack of commitment into sharper clarity,
• 01:48 let me contrast the teams where commitment is present and
• 01:51 those that fail to commit, at least in terms of team characteristics.
• 01:56 Teams that commit have clarity on team direction and
• 01:59 they have clarity on their own priorities.
• 02:01 They know what they need to do next, and they do it.
• 02:04 They are aligned together on team goals and
• 02:06 objectives because they know the goals and objectives are priorities.
• 02:10 They move forward without hesitation.
• 02:12 They aren't constantly running to the team leader,
• 02:14 asking, mother may I to do their job.
• 02:17 They just do it.
• 02:19 They may make a mistake, but they learn from that mistake and
• 02:21 continue on with the job at hand.
• 02:24 When the time comes, they make decisions.
• 02:27 This lets them take advantage of unplanned, unexpected opportunities.
• 02:31 They don't fall into analysis paralysis.
• 02:33 They quickly act.
• 02:34 That means that although they are committed to a decision,
• 02:37 they can make a change quickly when the situation demands it, and
• 02:41 they don't feel guilty about what they have accomplished.
• 02:44 Now let's contrast that list with the list associated with teams where
• 02:48 team members don't commit.
• 02:49 It starts with uncertainty and ambiguity about what team members are doing.
• 02:53 They don't agree on the direction and priority of actions.
• 02:56 Thanks to this ambiguity,
• 02:58 windows of opportunity close with the team taking no action.
• 03:02 The lack of commitment means that no one is willing to decide.
• 03:05 As the team sees opportunities slipping past, they lose confidence,
• 03:09 making it even harder to make a decision.
• 03:11 Soon the team is overcome with fear of failure.
• 03:14 They aren't committed to the team goal, and
• 03:16 now feel that they are victims of the team performance.
• 03:20 Every decision is revisited several times before anyone takes action,
• 03:24 leading to more missed opportunities and failure.
• 03:27 The team eventually starts second guessing each other and
• 03:30 telling others what they should have done, but not talking about their own failures.
• 03:35 So what does it take to overcome this lack of commitment?
• 03:38 We'll start by reemphasizing the need for clarity and buy-in.
• 03:42 Be crystal clear about what needs to be done, and the team members
• 03:46 add their perspective so that it becomes their idea and not just yours.
• 03:50 Don't succumb to the siren song of needing more data and getting full consensus.
• 03:55 There will often be uncertainty.
• 03:57 Acknowledge it, gets everyone's input, then make the best decision you can and
• 04:01 go forward.
• 04:02 We talked in an earlier session about team decision making.
• 04:05 Apply those skills and tools.
• 04:08 Some of the tools that I have used to build commitment over the years include
• 04:11 cascading messages.
• 04:13 Decide who needs to know what and when about your decisions, and
• 04:16 ensure that the communication happens.
• 04:19 Another is to set deadlines for decisions.
• 04:21 Let everyone know that at a certain point in time, a decision that the team must
• 04:25 make will be made with whatever information is available at that time.
• 04:30 Encourage everyone to provide their input before that time so
• 04:33 that their voice is heard.
• 04:35 Another technique that is helpful for making decisions when there's still
• 04:38 uncertainty is to set contingency triggers and review worst case scenarios.
• 04:43 As team members understand the options and
• 04:45 learn that the team will be monitoring results in case contingency is needed,
• 04:50 it becomes easier for them to buy-in with the decision.
• 04:53 Another approach is to use what is referred to as low risk exposure therapy.
• 04:58 If the team is too timid and afraid to make decisions,
• 05:01 force them to make a low risk decision based only upon the team discussion.
• 05:06 This will help them to gain confidence in their ability to make a decision and
• 05:10 to trust each other.
• 05:14 Teams that lack commitment can't seem to get anything done.
• 05:17 Fortunately, there are a number of tools to help the teams gain clarity and
• 05:21 build buy-in, the two essential elements for commitment.
• 05:25 When your team has this dysfunction, lack of commitment,
• 05:28 start using some of these tools.

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