Getting Team Commitment

Knowing that everyone on a team is on the same page is important to achieving goals. But how do we make sure everyone on the team is actually committed? In my last two blogs, I talked about the first two principles of Patrick Lencioni's 5 Dysfunctions of at Team. The principles of establishing trust and allowing healthy conflict are what leads to commitment for the team. Once you get the first two down, it allows for the following process to happen.

Real Listening - team members that trust each other will listen to each other respectfully. In this way, perspectives and input from all members of the team are heard.

Hashing it out - by allowing all team members to speak and share opinions in an environment that supports healthy conflict, disagreements will be heard and put on the table for discussion and resolution.

Choosing - a decision can now be made where everyone involved has had an opportunity to contribute to the outcome. Feeling heard and having a chance to resolve differences of opinion in a trusting work culture enables team members to feel that have had a choice.

All on board - by making a conscious choice on a decision, there is buy in from team members. Participating in the process increases involvement and understanding of why a decision was made.

United Vision - this, in turn, will create a unified group that can have one voice moving forward with true commitment to a direction.

Gaining commitment from team members doesn't happen with blind enthusiasm but it is an essential ingredient for high performance on teams. Creating a trusting culture that can deal effectively with conflict enables a process to emerge that will ensure that team members are committed to achieving a common goal.