Teams obsess over goals and KPIs but miss the invisible forces that actually determine success or failure. The truth? Most team dysfunctions come down to five DNA blocks often missing to make a team effective

In post two I will share how I typically run my TeamOS, with team across of the whole of a business from C-suites to Call centres and everything in between

This was suppose to be one post however to make this more scanable and easier to read it needed two…sorry!

Things that caught my eye

• If you’ve read the insightful innovator you will know I value curiosity so when I read they are “three styles” of curiosity of course I was gonna read it - here 

• The legend that is Seth Goldin sharing truths, Its a nice reminder to ask yourself have your “thought leaders” done what they are sharing - here

• Maybe it pays off to be a bit of a ass, if the end goal is deeper convos - here

^{Want to design better products, services, and experiences for your customers and employees? Want to move faster from problem to product? The People Product OS digital deck is perfect for you, its all my tips and tricks for designing services, products Interactions and experiences for the likes of Dyson, HSBC, and TalkTalk}

Most teams focus on the obvious: goals, roles, KPIs. But the real reason some teams thrive while others stall?

The unspoken dynamics. The invisible forces shaping collaboration, decision-making, and trust.

For HR, L&D, and design professionals, understanding these hidden elements is essential.

You can't fix what you don't see, and traditional team assessments rarely go deep enough and struggle to turn insight into action.

Understanding Team Effectiveness

Every company says they want high-performing teams. When you ask what does that even mean you get the typical response… it about delivering results.

While that isn’t wrong it also often isnt the full picture

A team can be hitting its targets but still be ineffective. If work feels forced, ideas get shut down, or stress levels are through the roof, something is off.

Great teams don't just produce great work. They create environments where people feel safe, valued, and motivated to contribute

The best way to achieve this is through Intentional design. Effective teams aren't built by accident. They are shaped through strategy, structure, and shared values that show up every single day.

Various “thought leaders” have developed team effectiveness models, each offering different strategies for improving collaboration.

Patrick Lencioni's model focuses on overcoming dysfunctions like lack of trust or accountability which tends to do the rounds every other year on LinkedIn

Bruce Tuckman's golden oldie of forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning model tracks how teams evolve through these key stages

Jon Katzenbach and Smith model links personal growth, accountability, and skill-building to team success.

Googles Model which is less about the who and more about how a team is effective and how they work and add value

No matter the framework, it’s clear to me that teams don't just become effective. They need to be crafted to be effective and need a mix of some key personalities

Understanding this is the first step. The reality is there's 5 DNA blocks that need to exists in every team.

Factors of team effectiveness

Every struggling team thinks their issues are unique. But nearly every team dysfunction comes down to five key factors

Psychological Safety: The Permission to Speak Up

A quick litmus test for this is answer these questions:

• When was the last time someone in your team admitted a mistake without fear.

• When did your or a team member take a risk or challenge the status quo

• When was the last time the team had a open debate with good intentions

If you answer the questions above with never or rarely then perhaps you have a low level of psychological safety

How it often looks is silent meetings, slow decision making, small issue bubbling up in the background next to no educated risk taking or new voices and ideas being shared

Team with high psychological safety make the jump from playing defence and reactive and move to playing more creative attack

High ROD (Ride or Die) Energy aka Dependability:

ROD energy simply put is about trust and reliability it about can each of the team trust that one another will deliver on commitments and look out for each other when they need to and ultimately have each others back

This means playing each other's critical friend giving feedback positive and constructive when needed. it means each other being clear on expectations and hold each other to account.

When this is missing, commitments are broken, deadlines get missed and the buck is passed, over time this erodes trust and drive frustration along with client whispers of bitching about your peers

Dependability isn't just an individual trait either It's a team culture. And it has to be reinforced daily from your manger to the team and also the team to the manger

Structure and Clarity: Who's Doing What and Why?

I imagine we have all worked in a team where nobody knew who owned what, in fact when I run TeamOS this is often one of the top things that come out, along with the relaxation of waste in resource and duplicate effort.

This lack of structure and clarity is a killer for effective teams it drive chaos, unspoken frustration and disengagement it also makes it easy to hide from ownership and accountability usually with… Oh I thought (insert other team member name here) was doing that

Team need clear roles, empowerment or defined decision making processes along with clear objectives

The most effective teams ive worked with remove ambiguity. They align expectations early and revisit them often and when it get confusing the realign fast

Meaning: Why This Work Matters

When meaning is missing you can look around and see people just delivering output over outcomes and being honest you see the sparks has gone in their eyes.

When people lack meaning disengagement slides in fast, we deliver things that don’t align to a strategy do turn into a nice group of nodding Churchill dogs

People don't just work for payday, they work because they want purpose, growth, and impact they want to feel they are adding value be it big or small

Effective teams connect daily mapping tasks to the bigger picture, helping people see the why behind their work

When meaning is clear, motivation has a nice big hockey style tick, but without it, even the best crafted strategy will fail.

Impact: Seeing the Results

Nothing kills motivation faster than feeling like your work doesn't matter.

Effective teams ensure that progress is visible, achievements are celebrated, and contributions are recognized.

If people can't see the impact of their work, they disengage. It's that simple.

Great teams make success tangible they highlight wins, share progress and learning and ensure that every team member feels valued.

The best teams don't just focus on the obvious they pay attention to what's unspoken. Trust, alignment, and collaboration dynamics

Great teams aren't built by accident. They are designed.

In our next article, I will share with you a typical high-level approach to TeamOS. I will share my doctor inspired approach to culture and performance using my TeamOS: CP scan to reveals hidden misalignments between managers and teams, and discover the power of a tactics that I nearly always end up using because the issue come up time and time again.

We'll explore how to move beyond surface-level fixes to create lasting, meaningful change in how teams operate and collaborate and I will share some example from the last TeamOS I ran in December.

Here a little hint at the impact it can have

Thanks for reading if you’ve got thoughts to share just hit reply I always enjoy hearing from you Speak soon, Danny

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