Investment
Healthy: The team operates from a foundation of anchored mission, meaningful values, and clear vision. Everyone is aligned with the team’s goal despite enjoying different ideas about how to achieve it.
Sick: An antiquated mission statement is framed on the wall but doesn’t serve as a filter for decisions. The team is split in factions based on unspoken norms and conflict is avoided at all costs.
Trust
Healthy: Teammates feel connected and engaged in the work of the organization. Accountability is shared and mutual respect shapes the tenor of the workplace.
Sick: Lack of accountability sanctions under-performance. The absence of safety pervades most interactions. Teammates protect their turf and punish behavior that threatens the status quo.
Innovation
Healthy: There are many paths to the same destination. Diversity is cherished as fuel for creating the new and different. The foundation of investment and trust supports the courage to take smart risks.
Sick: The prospect of failure causes immobilizing fear. Staying the same provides a false sense of security that changes won’t threaten comfort. Teammates keep new ideas to themselves for fear of criticism.
Distancing
Healthy: Change is seen as a natural component of growth. Teammates carefully move away from old realities while doing justice to history with appropriate goodbyes. Energy is refocused on the opportunities afforded by new circumstances.
Sick: Overwhelming anger and bitterness depletes the strength of the team leaving them unable to move forward. Holding tightly to the past replaces energy that would otherwise be devoted to reinvesting in the future.
Teams that rate high on the healthy side of the organizational wellness continuum have strong and enduring cultures. Invisible to onlookers, strong cultures provide the resources for sustainability. Sick teams need a diagnosis and a treatment plan. How does your team measure up?
