Team management is not easy work. Each person has a different personality, interests, goals and needs, and motivations. Dealing with all these aspects and aligning them with the same goals could be a pain in the ass.

Our goal as a leader is to create a cohesive team that works together to achieve the team goals that must be aligned with the company’s goals. But sometimes, depending on the company culture, structure, or leadership style, we don’t hit the bull, and the team becomes dysfunctional.

There are 5 team management mistakes every leader needs to avoid that often end up in a dysfunctional team.

#1 Absence of trust

Lack of trust usually comes in the hand of a lack of vulnerability, and use to start at the top of the team. Humility and admitting what you don’t know generally affect the trust among the rest of the team members, and is a double direction flow. This means that team members are not willing to be vulnerable or truthful which reduces the health of the team and its behavior.

Psychological safety is key for the team members. Express respectfully your self opinions, thoughts, concerns, etc., without thinking that they are not going to be valued or welcomed. Encourage the rest of the members to do the same, don’t criticize them, and help them to improve their communication skills.

#2 Fear of conflict

Cohesive teams set up over relationships based on trust, humility, and vulnerability can afford healthy conflicts. Conflict should not be postponed, impacts directly the culture of the team (the worst behavior you allow will be part of the culture).

Dysfunctional teams don’t assume positive intents in conflict. They don’t try to understand each other, and work toward and support the same team goals. They use to have different purposes and do not take care of the collective resolution of the conflict.

Use tools to create shared knowledge on the conflict, confirm everyone understands each opinion and position, and work collaboratively to commit to a resolution that aims for the collective benefit, and prevents conflicts.

Cohesive teams that know well each member, learn how to prevent conflicts in the future, and work hard to promote a healthy working environment.

#3 Lack of commitment

Another mistake to avoid is the lack of commitment as a consequence of a conflict. Sometimes, even cohesive groups, can’t agree or disagree and move forward with a commitment to the next steps. There could be personal goals or interest that the absence of trust keep hidden.

Try to make the team goals and mission visible to the team, and map agreements, disagreements, and root cause to create a collective sense of buy-in about the friction, over the foundations they are on board with.

#4 Avoidance of accountability

Team members need to know who is responsible and accountable for the activities they do on a daily bases, as well as the outcome commitments of the conflicts and meetings.

A dysfunctional team usually doesn’t determine who’s accountable for a task and no one is held to it, so it becomes a big headache for a leader and the company. Be aware of feeling like you live inside an infinite loop where things have always the same status.

Make your teamwork visible and assign a responsible for every task. Hidden work could become an excuse to justify the inattention of accountability and it impacts directly on the lack of trust of the team.

#5 Inattention to outcomes

It’s not possible to create a positive impact on the outcomes if the previous situations are patent in your team. In those cases, people don’t care about the outcomes of their actions. They usually try to do their job without attracting attention, but without committing to the results and outcomes obtained.

As opposed, cohesive and effective teams are measuring, comparing, and re-evaluating how results and outcomes are compared with the team goals constantly.

This is not the end of the story, dysfunctional teams could be fixed but it’s not easy work. Find the root cause of the problems that the team has and start building a baseline of trust to create healthy working relationships between the team members.

I recommend you a reading that can help you on the path, “The five dysfunctions of a team” by Patrick Lencioni.