Dysfunction in any team dynamic can hold back the potentials of gaining major leads, becoming a highly recommended business, and a place where everyone wants to work.

The choice is yours. Here are five dysfunctional behaviors that would be holding you back:

1.    Absence of trust. Lack of trust is very harmful to the team. And trust starts at the top. If leaders trust their team to get the work done, they will trust each other to do so.

2.    Fear of conflict. In order to grow a team must have healthy conflict. Instead of fearing conflict, the leader needs to insure that healthy discussions are encouraged and that the best decisions are made.

3.    Lack of commitment. The two greatest causes of lack of commitment are the desire for consensus and the need for certainty. It’s therefore important to set a clear direction and get buy in from all team players.

4.    Avoidance of accountability. A team that avoids accountability has a lot of finger pointing and fuzziness of responsibility. This can be countered by publishing an article that establishes goals and standards, simple and regular progress reviews, and team rewards.

5.    Inattention to results. The promoting of team and individual status work contrary to a results oriented organization. This can be offset by the public declaration of results and results-based rewards.

Effectively countering the five elements of dysfunction will allow your company to prosper in teamwork and profitability. 

Mike Moore is the HVAC Training Director at HVAC Learning Solutions, an HVAC industry expert in sales, technical, and business training. Visit Mike’s blog for more insights. Mike can be reached on Twitter @hvaclearning or on Google+ at gplus.to/hvactraining.