Achieving Commitment: Overcoming Dysfunction #3
Photo Credit: Kaleidico on Unsplash
Once an organisation has mastered vulnerability-based trust and the ability to deal with conflict constructively, the team is then able to overcome the third dysfunction of a team; the lack of commitment.
One of the key aspects of all great teams is that they can make rational, timely decisions and commit to them wholeheartedly. This should be the case even when the outcome may seem uncertain, or there has been initial disagreement.
Patrick Lencioni asserts that achieving organisational commitment involves two separate, but interconnected, concepts: buy-in and clarity.
Why Commitment Matters
Commitment is essential for any team to function both productively and effectively. A study published by the Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology found ‘that organisational commitment had a more persistent influence on performance at the business unit level than vice versa’.
Commitment matters because it creates a shared vision. As Peter Senge, systems scientist and lecturer at MIT explains, ‘In a corporation, a shared vision changes people’s relationship with the company. It is no longer “their company”; it becomes “our company”.’
This means team members truly ‘buy-in’ to the company and all decisions that are agreed to.
The Buy-In
‘Good leaders achieve commitment among the team by first extracting every possible idea, opinion, and perspective. Then, comfortable that nothing has been left off the table, they have the courage to step up and make a decision, one that is sure to run counter to at least one team member, and usually more. The fact is, however, that most people don’t really need to have their ideas adopted in order to buy in to a decision. They just want to have their ideas heard, understood, and considered within the context of the ultimate decision.’
Patrick Lencioni
It is important to understand that commitment is not the same thing as consensus.
Attempting to achieve consensus on business decisions is time-consuming, frustrating and in most cases ultimately leads to mediocrity.
In fact, in many ways, commitment and consensus are opposing sides of the one coin. Genuine commitment is not about everybody agreeing, but rather about a team deciding to commit to a decision 100%, regardless of their initial opinions.
Intel, the multinational technology company based in Silicon Valley, actually has a ‘disagree and commit’ policy as part of their company culture.
Leaders at Intel are expected to drive the decision-making process by expressing themselves freely and openly about where they stand on any decision in question. At Intel, conflict, tension and debate are seen to be a healthy part of the company culture, as long as the focus is on attacking the ideas and issues on the table and not the people sitting at it.
Further to this, once a decision is made, everyone must accept and support the decision unconditionally. This means everyone putting aside personal agendas and coming together as a whole to get things done. As Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon puts it ‘complaining is not a strategy’.
But how can you ensure that your team is genuinely ‘buying in’ to company decisions?
Essentially this comes down to two elements: A healthy culture of conflict where everyone feels that their opinion has been heard, and every option and perspective has been considered, and; influential leaders that are able to extract these ideas successfully and, more critically, have the courage and wisdom to step up and make a decision.
Clarity
Once teams have mastered the ability to ‘disagree and commit’, I often see them failing to benefit from this commitment. This is usually because, despite their commitment to a decision, there is a lack of clarity and alignment about the nature of what they have agreed to. Assumptions come into play, and confusion and frustration reign.
Real commitment cannot occur if people are unclear about what it is they are committing to. There are two simple tools that I have adapted from Lencioni’s work to help teams achieve this clarity.
Commitment Exercises
The first exercise I use with teams to achieve commitment is the Clarity Conversation. Five minutes before the end of a meeting – any meeting – the team leader asks the group: ‘What is it exactly that we have decided today?’.
The group then shares their understanding of what decisions have been made, which is shared on a whiteboard. More often than not, you will find one or more members of your team reacting: ‘Hang on a minute. I didn’t think that was what we agreed to’. From here, you work on clarifying exactly what was agreed upon until you are sure everyone in the room is on the same page.
The second exercise I use, is the Decision Transmission. This involves the leaders communicating the above resolutions within twenty-fours of the meeting. Furthermore, they must transmit this information face-to-face (in an ideal, post-COVID workplace), not via an email or phone call.
The Decision Transmission serves two critical purposes; firstly, when executives know they will have to communicate a decision to their staff in person, they are far more likely to call out any issues they envisage. Secondly, it allows staff to ask any questions for clarification.
As the founder of Infinity HR, Iolanda Hazell works with SMEs to build strong company cultures through people first systems and strategies. Contact Iolanda on 0400 489 743 or email iolanda@infinityhr.com.au to learn how Infinity HR can transform your business.
References
Amazon: Our Leadership Principles
Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of The Learning Organization, 1990, Currency Doubleday, New York