Notes from the Field: Ineffective Team
You might recognize this team meeting because it’s not unusual.
- Eleven people: seven men, four women; three Asian, one black, one Hispanic, six white
- Context: weekly meeting with department manager
- I was there to observe in preparation to facilitate an off site for the group
- Meeting lasted almost two hours
Everyone seemed to have a tacit agreement about seating. The manager sat at the head of the table and no one sat until she did. The second most influential person sat at the other end of the table to balance out the power.
The manager handed out an agenda to everyone and that kicked off the meeting. The first item on the agenda took almost the entire meeting time. Following are the highlights that I shared with the team afterwards:
1. No apparent process or agreement on meeting ground rules.
The effect:
- people interrupted with impunity
- no acknowledgement of one another’s opinions, facts, feelings
- speaker didn’t check for understanding about what s/he said
- little attention paid to agenda timing or content
2. Lack of support for key actions
The effect:
- little agreement about any possible solution(s)
- went off in different directions several times
- attendees often seem confused and lost
- no attempt to follow any decision-making process
3. Advocated individual ideas with very little inquiry
The effect:
- constant revisiting of the same ideas and topics—tried to wear one another down to accept a point-of-view
- promoted opinions with few facts
- incomplete understanding of a position/theory because no one asked for clarification or more information
- power determined results instead of knowledge
If you were coaching this team, what would be the first few things you’d do with them?
