Over 90% of today’s work teams are dysfunctional!

In the business environment today, the vast majority of work teams are dysfunctional. In fact, dysfunctional teams represent over 90% of today’s work teams ! Furthermore, the level of dysfunctionality correlates directly with the level of vulnerability to competitors and changes in your marketplace.

Why is it meaningful to me and to you?

Dysfunctional teams waste time and money. They cannot serve their clients well enough to retain them, hence they cannot support business profitability. Consequently, the business loses customers to competitors (online or not). They cut payroll costs in a losing battle for survival; or they rely on expensive incentive programs to bring in one-time customers. The alternative being to close doors and generate more losses for all stakeholders and in our economy.

Here is a quick and easy way for you to find out how dysfunctional is your team? Following are 20 indicators of dysfunctionality present in teams. They are in no particular order. How many of them can you perceive in your team?

1. Team goals and objectives are not met.
2. Customers complain about quality, service or missed deliveries dates.
3. Project(s) are behind schedule additional hints.
4. Introduction of changes in goals, targets, tools, methods, is received negatively.
5. Changes introduced do not generate the expected results.
6. Team members do not offer solutions to ongoing / recurring work issues omeprazole dr.
7. Team members do not know/ understand the role of other team members in the business cycle.
8. Team members do not “see” how they “fit in” to serve the customer and their teammates.
9. Team members are not aware of their team performance and results.
10. Team members are not aware of their contribution to the global results of the team.
11. Team members’ absenteeism is high (absenteeism >1.5%)
12. Employee turnover and churn are high.
13. Finger pointing is often used to identify causes of problems.
14. Team members “complain” about each other to the leaders.
15. Leader listen to team members’ recriminations about each other.
16. Sales does not consider customer requests outside rigid pre-established parameters. Orders outside of the “sweet spot” are not considered.
17. Individual sales rep consistently met their monthly quotas within few percentage points.
18. The answer to the question: “How to increase sales?”, is consistently “to lower prices”.
19. There has been no employee/ team member recognized for innovative contribution in a quarter.
20. You overhear answers like “We cannot do that!” or “That is impossible!” from your team members responding customer or teammates requests.

Do you recognize some traits of your organization and your business? If you can identify more than 4 of the 20 signs, above, you need to take action as a leader, or to flag the situation to your leaders.

You do not know exactly what to do or how to do it, we can help you. Reach us at www.org-coaching.com or e-mail me at agardner@agardnerassociates.com

Wish continued success to you and your team.