N. Anand

Jean-Louis Barsoux

<article-ideainbrief class="article-ideainbrief">
 <h4 class="ideainbrief-title">Idea in Brief</h4>
 <div class="ideainbrief-contents">
  <h5>The Problem</h5>
  <p>Teams under pressure often regress to unhealthy coping mechanisms, instinctively looking for ways to allay their members’ collective anxiety. They may become stuck in pathological patterns that sabotage their mission and work.</p>
  <h5>The Forms It Takes</h5>
  <p>Such teams may unconsciously appoint one member to solve their problems—a <em>sole savior</em>—or cast two people in that role, becoming dependent on a <em>dynamic duo.</em> Or they may expend their energy in a <em>fight</em> against or a <em>flight</em> from a common enemy, real or perceived.</p>
  <h5>How to Overcome It</h5>
  <p>Sociograms—simple drawings showing how each member perceives the group’s interactions—can help teams surface and break out of dysfunctional patterns of behavior.</p>
 </div>
</article-ideainbrief><p class="mag-icon-leading-teams-w30">The CEO of a European city’s public transit authority recently called us in to coach the organization’s new head of HR. Having joined the executive committee six months earlier, Jocelyn (not her real name) was having difficulty integrating with the team. According to the CEO, her attitude was holding back its efforts to develop a strategy for meeting the city’s growing transportation needs in a more sustainable way.</p>

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<p>Teams under pressure often fall back on dysfunctional coping mechanisms that are deeply rooted in human evolutionary psychology. The group works like a pack, instinctively looking for ways to alleviate its members&#8217; collective anxiety. It might unconsciously ascribe an unwanted role, such as scapegoat or savior, to one or more members and lapse into skewed interactions&#8212;for example, directing its energy toward fighting a common enemy, whether real or perceived, rather than advancing its actual mission. The authors discuss how to spot these harmful patterns and break their hold. They describe a powerful tool deployed in their work with top teams: sociograms, or pictorial representations of team members, their connections, and their interactions. By understanding the unconscious forces that influence them in times of stress, teams can become less captive to such forces and more engaged with improving performance.</p>

Fixing a Self-Sabotaging Team

Teams under pressure often fall back on dysfunctional coping mechanisms that are deeply rooted in human evolutionary psychology. The group works like a pack, instinctively looking for ways to alleviate its members’ collective anxiety. It might unconsciously ascribe an unwanted role, such as scapegoat or savior, to one or more members and lapse into skewed interactions—for example, directing its energy toward fighting a common enemy, whether real or perceived, rather than advancing its actual mission. The authors discuss how to spot these harmful patterns and break their hold. They describe a powerful tool deployed in their work with top teams: sociograms, or pictorial representations of team members, their connections, and their interactions. By understanding the unconscious forces that influence them in times of stress, teams can become less captive to such forces and more engaged with improving performance.

Fixing a Self-Sabotaging Team

Summary.

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