Management insights: “The so-called team is composed of imperfect individuals. The first thing a leadership team needs to know is each person’s weaknesses!”

I recently read a book about leadership teams: ” The Five Dysfunctions of A Team -–A Leadership Fable “, Chinese version: “Top 5 Barriers to Team Leadership“The key to successful teamwork mentioned in it is to first overcome the organizational dysfunction (Dysfunction) caused by human nature, because these weaknesses will corrode the team and foster internal politics. One of the things mentioned in it impressed me deeply: a good team requires both leaders and team membersUnderstand the weaknesses of everyone on the team firstRather than advantages⋯⋯

Author introduction

The author, Patrick Lencioni, is the founder of The Table Group, an internationally renowned management consultant. He has been selected as “The Management Guru You Must Know” by “FORTUNE” and “The Most Popular Business Lecturer” in the United States by “Wall Street Journal”. His books have sold more than 3 million copies worldwide and are very popular with senior executives and managers.

Overcoming the Five Big Barriers to Team Leadership

The author proposes that every team fails because of the “five major team obstacles” (the following 5 items), which are often misunderstood as five different themes. In fact, these five obstacles are an interrelated relationship, they affect each other, and even the absence of one of them can destroy the success of the team.

• Obstacles (1)Build trust:This stems from members’ reluctance to expose their personal weaknesses in front of the team.If team members can’t communicate honestly about each other’s mistakes and weaknesses, it’s impossible to build a trusting relationship.
• Obstacles (2)Managing conflict: Teams that have lost trust,Inability to engage in unreserved and vigorous debate, will only beat around the bush and avoid the important.
• Obstacles (3)Reaching Commitments: Team members are unable to express their opinions in a spirited and open debate, soIt is difficult to develop a true consensus on decisions, and then fully implement it.
• Obstacles (4)The courage to take responsibility: If team members lack commitment to a clear action plan, they will often hesitate to move forward when they discover that their colleagues have behaved in ways that are detrimental to the interests of the team and must be corrected.
• Obstacles (5)Focus on results: When team members put their personal needs (such as self, future development, or praise), or even the needs of their department, over the overall goals of the team, the team will develop the obstacle of neglecting results.

Playing volleyball as a metaphor for a team? Perfect fill-in vs taking credit

Add my little opinion, for a team to be successful, it isNeed to be very open about your strengths and weaknesses, there may be competition at work, we will try our best to put away our weaknesses, butTeam success requires honest communication of each other’s mistakes and weaknessesof! Let me give you an analogy. I have been playing volleyball for 10 years. Returning serve is a very important part. I am not a very good returner. If I quickly express my shortcomings to my teammates, I can achieve the first point above:Obstacles (1) Building trust. Then immediately go to the second point and team up with your teammatesConstructive debate (Anything that is not constructive is a fight), and when we can reach a consensus on the third point, let’s find another team member to fill each other’s positions! With tacit understanding and open communication, it will be easier to win the game.

Share common team weaknesses

I have collected many anonymous personal weaknesses and team weaknesses to share with you:

• A shared that the team’s weakness is persistence, which is required by the position.Extremely committed to perfection and accuracy, cooperation may be affected by people who do not understand flexibility and time control.
• B I feel that my personal weakness is myselfExpression skills are too direct, may cause harm to co-workers and may be unpleasant
• C’s main responsibility is to communicate with customers. There are many cases where customers are late in providing product information, causing the work of colleagues at one level to be hindered. This situation also happens from time to time.
• D’s personal weaknessesNot quick to adapt, but impatient and careless。
• E’s personal weakness isForgetful, due to their responsibilities, they have to face a large number of frontline colleagues,Need different ways to remind yourself。

In a good team, “communication” is always the first priority

Have you noticed that all the above sharings require communication to improve? We need atime for constructive debate,that isEveryone has a say too, not just one word, express your opinions in a safe environment, and your opinions will be “heard”, not necessarily accepted, but will also be given space for consideration, and then,Come to a consensus together, the best decision at the moment. (There can be no hindsight in the future.) We will also work together as a team to complete the final decision.

Cultivate the team to establish the following 5 attitudes, namelyEssential tasks for all team leaders：

1. Team members trust each other.
2. Team members express constructive opinions without reservation.
3. Team members are unanimously committed to reaching resolutions and action plans.
4. Team members help each other and take responsibility for decisions and plans together.
5. Team members focus on collective results.

If you want to understand yourself/different personalities, you can start with the Type 16 Personality Test

Type 16 personality test or go to the following website:
https://www.16personalities.com/

Q1 question:What is Type 16 Personality Test?
Answer: The MBTI Occupational Personality Test is used as a reference by quite a few companies in the workplace. It can be used as a basis for self-understanding. It can not only test career aptitude but also understand your own orientation towards love and social life.

Q2 question:What are the English letters representing each character?
Answer: MBTI categorizes people by their following preferences

1. How to focus their attention or their source of energy (extroversion or introversion)
2. How to receive information (feeling or intuition)
3. What you mainly rely on to make decisions (emotions or thinking)
4. How to deal with the external world (judgment or understanding)