The Five Dysfunctions of a Cabinet

Week one into the life of the new Irish Government and they are facing into intensive pressure from France and Germany on our beloved Corporation tax rate, the increased likelihood that the Banking stress tests will highlight the need for many more billions of euro and hence a renegotiated IMF bail-out and continuing fears about the house repossession monster.

So much to deal with and respond to. Yet the new Cabinet is a brand new team and so needs to also stay focused on ensuring it has in place the key ingredients that make any team a success or a failure. After all, they are the most important team in the country!

So what should Enda Kenny and co do about ensuring they work well as a cohesive successful team?

Patrick Lencioni highlighted 5 dysfunctions of a team that I believe are even more crucial based on a coalition of two political parties:

1. Absence of Trust – the key building block for successful teams is trust. Failure is guaranteed if ministers are not genuinely open with each other about their mistakes and weaknesses. Sound familiar – I doubt our previous Cabinet of FF and the Greens scored too high on trust as a team.

2. Fear of Conflict – no trust in a team leads to guarded comments, veiled discussions and whispers outside of meetings. Successful teams have lively meetings, get ideas from all the members and keep it real. Cabinet meetings need to hear what Ministers are really thinking and not just what is the right thing to say.

3. Lack of Commitment – no healthy conflict means no full commitment. Instead team members feign agreement and say one thing and do another. A clear set of common objectives can keep this Cabinet focused. Its about defining what winning is

4. Avoidance of Accountability – no commitment means no accountability and actions promised never happen and mediocrity and passing the buck prevails. This starts with the leader and needs to stay with each team member

5. Inattention to Results – the four previous dysfunctions result in a team where individual needs and glory come before the collective goals of the team and indeed the country.

So while its great to hit the ground running, I hope the First 100 Days plan includes time for this new team to start at the key first step and build trust with each other. Time to connect; learn about each other in terms of experience and strengths; and creating personal relationships with fellow team members.

The huge challenges of any government will always be there – that makes it even crucial that the Cabinet learns how to start being a team as quickly as possible.