Leading Your Teams to Higher Performance

As Christian business leaders, we often hear about the importance of stewardship. It’s an idea deeply rooted in Christianity and something fundamentally important to running a Kingdom-focused business.

While stewardship is often referenced in relation to money and talent, it is a concept that can be applied to all of our available resources—the most important of which is our team. 

A wonderful resource for developing high-performing teams is Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. In this article, we’ll dive into those five dysfunctions and how learning new behaviors can help you lead your teams more effectively. 

So if you’re ready to make the most of your people—and the gifts God has bestowed upon you—read on. 

Building Trust Among Your Teams

Lencioni’s first dysfunction in a team is the absence of trust. 

Trust is the foundation of any successful partnership. Without it, people fear being vulnerable. And, when teammates hide their weaknesses, the growth of the entire organization is hindered.

Instilling trust starts with you. Strive to lead by example. Be transparent and open. Show that it’s okay to not have all the answers. By remaining authentic and humble in leadership, you set the tone for others to do the same. 

Another way to root trust is to show your teammates you care. When your people sense you genuinely care about their well-being—and not just the bottom line—individuals begin to feel safe enough to take a chance and contribute their best. 

Encouraging Healthy Conflict

Many individuals—leaders and teammates alike—shy away from conflict. Fearing it will only bring division, they avoid one of the most powerful ways to further develop trust and growth among the team.

Conflict, when handled well, leads to better ideas, sharper solutions, and a deeper understanding of one another. The key is to master productive conflict—where team members feel safe to challenge ideas without feeling attacked. 

Lencioni points out that avoiding conflict creates a false harmony. One where teammates smile and nod but secretly hold back thoughts that may propel the organization forward. Therefore, it is important to encourage honest, respectful discussion in an open forum.

Imagine rowing a boat. If half the crew rows in one direction while the other half silently disagrees, yet still rows along, the boat eventually veers off course. But with everyone in alignment—hashing it out to find a common course—the boat moves forward swiftly toward your goals.

Instilling Commitment to the Team

With the bedrock of trust and the skills of healthy conflict in place, the next step is instilling a sense of commitment. 

Teams lacking commitment often hesitate in making decisions or taking action. They’re unsure of the path forward because they haven’t fully bought into the team’s goals.

Developing high-performing teams requires a clear cut and shared commitment. Everyone must know the goals and believe in them. And more than that, they should be excited about achieving them together.

One way to foster commitment is through clarity. Teams perform better with a clear understanding of their roles and what is expected of them. A lack of clarity simply creates confusion, which leads to hesitation and poor execution. 

When leading your teams, make sure everyone knows the score—exactly what they do, why they do it, and your business’s expectations for how that is to be done.

Creating Accountability Among Your Teams

Lencioni’s fourth dysfunction is the avoidance of accountability. When teams lack accountability, members don’t hold each other to high standards. As a result, mediocrity creeps in and the team’s overall performance begins to suffer.

As a leader, you must be willing to give tough feedback. While it can be uncomfortable, it is often necessary for teams to reach higher levels of performance. Additionally, the team must be willing to hold one another accountable.

When teams are in the habit of helping one another maintain higher standards, a culture of excellence and mutual respect arises. When everyone knows their teammates are depending on them to show up and do their best, it raises the bar for performance. And when we build each other up, the entire team succeeds.

Paying Attention to Results

Lencioni’s final dysfunction of a team is when members focus on their own individual goals rather than the overall results of the team. This can happen when people are more concerned with their own personal success or job security than with the success of the team as a whole.

To avoid this trap, keep everyone focused on the collective results. Just as the rowers must all pull together to move the boat forward, your team must be unified in pursuing shared goals. 

Regularly discuss and review your teams’ goals. When work is completed, debrief and see how well you achieved your goals together. Reviewing your results as a team is a sure-fire way to get everyone on the same page and rowing in the same direction.

Developing Team Synergy

When trust, healthy conflict, commitment, accountability and focus or results come together, something powerful happens: team synergy.

Synergy is when the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Everyone on the team is rowing in the same direction with enthusiasm and energy. Your team becomes high-performing, productive and a valuable asset to all it serves.

However, there’s more to it than boosting the bottom line. A team exhibiting the five strong behaviors you’ve just learned creates a culture where people can bring their best—where they work together in harmony and ultimately fulfill the mission God has called them to.

If you’re curious what that looks like for your team, check out Integro’s Five Behaviors of a Team training session. It’s not only a fun team gathering, but also one of the best ways to build an organization that betters God’s Kingdom.

Check it out here.