And for good reason, most people fail at fixing broken teams.

The broken team chews up the "fixer" and spits them out. It's not a pretty sight.

However, with the right tool, fixing a broken team can be easy, exciting and rewarding. 

First, some don'ts and do's.

Don't

Rely on your ability to present knowledge or on your ability to persuade.

Why?

A broken team will take your information and turn it against you.

And your efforts at persuasion will fall on deaf ears.

Do

Engage team members in a proven process.

Why?

Once you get a process going, the team will take over and be a success.

You don't have to do much more than cheer them on.

So which would you rather do...

Constantly come up with new information in the hopes it will help, and constantly be in persuasion mode?

Or

Be a cheerleader for a successful team (and get loads of credit for their success.)

Yes, being a cheerleader is the much better choice.

Step 1: Ask, "What are the shared purposes of this team?"

Common answers are support, make money, create, etc.

Write these up for all to see. (You need to keep this for later use.)

Step 2: Ask, "What kind of feelings can show up inside of team members and get in the way of moving toward the shared purposes?"

Common answers are fear, anger, jealousy, etc.

It is very important to write the answers so all the team can see.

Step 3: Ask, "What kind of behaviors do team members do to avoid or lessen feelings like fear, anger, jealousy, etc.?"

Common answers are call in sick, don't show up, gossip, dominate team meetings, etc.

You guessed it, write these up for all to see.

Step 4: Ask, "What can team members do to move toward the shared purposes?"

Common answers are support each other, communicate, be open, etc. 

Write the answers up for all to see.

These four questions establish a new communication pattern in your team.

Since teams are made up of people, you "fix" them by changing the communication process.

Think about how much better your team would do if the members had a communication process that promoted clear shared purposes and soothed their egos.

Again there are two keys to fixing your team.

1. Establish clear shared purposes that everyone on the team knows.

2. Deal with the egos in the room so they don't trash your communication process.

The four questions above automatically "fix" both of these problems.

I recommend going through the four questions at least twice a week until your team is on track.

Once things are going better, you can do the four questions once per week for a few weeks.

Even well-functioning teams should do the questions once per month.

What's going on during the four questions?

I'm glad you asked. There is much science at work in the questions.

Question 1: "What are the shared purposes of this team?"

If a team is pulling a wagon, all team members need to know which direction to pull.

The majority of teams in the world DO NOT have clear shared purposes.

This questions starts solving that problem.

Question 2: "What kind of feelings can show up inside of team members and get in the way of moving toward the shared purposes?"

This is an ego-soothing question. Much of the emotions that show up and get in the way of teams have to do with protecting the ego.

This question gets people sharing about these feelings.

When teams talk about this stuff they feel safer, and that safety soothes their egos.

Question 3: "What kind of behaviors do team members do to avoid or lessen feelings like fear, anger, jealousy, etc.?"

These are the things the team members do to protect their egos. 

We all do these things.

Again, talking about them in the open makes for psychological safety as team members talk about their fears instead of acting out.

Question 4: "What can team members do to move toward the shared purposes?"

Back to the wagon pulling metaphor...

Each team member needs to know what to move the wagon in the chosen direction. 

Together, the four questions promote Psychological Safety.

Team members feel that they can speak up without getting their head bit off.

Many things are happening when you write the answers in front of the team.

1. The team is getting distance from the issues.

2. The team is sharing.

3. The team is going through a process.

4. The team is getting out of their heads and into the team.

This process is best done using the ProSocial Matrix diagram above.

Using the diagram better establishes the process.

You need this process to "fix" your team.