How Do You Assess a Team for Cohesiveness?
Lencioni offers these questions in The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive:
- Are meetings compelling? Are the important issues being discussed? Lack of interest in meetings is a good indicator the team may be avoiding issues because they are uncomfortable with one another. “There is no excuse for having continually boring meetings” (149).
- Do team members engage in unguarded debate? Do they honestly confront one another? Even teams that get along well should be experiencing regular conflict and intense debate during these meetings.
- Do team members apologize if they get out of line? Do they ever get out of line?
- Do team members understand one another? “Members of cohesive teams know one another’s strengths and weaknesses and don’t hesitate to point them out” (150).
- Do team members avoid gossiping about one another?
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About Matt Perman
Follower of Christ. Husband of one, father of three. Former director of strategy at Desiring God. This blog exists to help equip Christians in good works, because that's what productivity is really about.
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Excellent observations. I love debate that sharpens, encourages and accomplishes. A team that is united, but marshmallow soft, never does anything noteworthy. A team that is divided and all wear swords at their side, accomplishes a lot of things, but everybody hates each other. A team that is united, challenges one another while uplifting one another and understands one another, can do great things to the glory of God, the peace of the business and the joy of everyone involved.
Love the last one. I used to work at a church where, sadly, gossip and backbiting were rampant. There was even one ongoing ‘feud’ between 2 people, they fought it mostly behind each other’s back, that was a bit of a joke to the rest of the staff. But it was so distructive and wasteful of everyone’s time. I almost cried when I saw that part of joining my current church was signing a pledge not to gossip. And people really do make a genuine effort not to. The difference in teamwork, forgiveness, focus, etc., is huge.
Prov. 20:26 “For lack of wood, the fire goes out; and where there is no whisperer, contention quits down.”
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