“I AM NOT INTIMIDATING!  I’m just to-the-point.  If people just did what I told them to everything would be fine.”

“I didn’t think you really wanted me to [enter behavior].  I thought you were just kidding.”

“It’s not that I don’t like change.  But …”

“I’m not being a perfectionist. I’m just being careful.”

“I’m a [fill in the blank]. That’s just what we do.”

“Because I’m the boss.”

There are all sorts of excuses for bad behavior.  On a dysfunctional team the team lets those bad behaviors slide because they don’t feel comfortable challenging their peers.  Let’s face it, 84% of the population considers confrontation and conflict to be way outside their comfort zone.  And 68% of executives tested using the five dysfunctions Team Assessment consider holding others accountable to be the hardest part of overcoming team dysfunctions.

Do you think it might help if we started to look at all excuses as being as lame as “my dog ate my homework?”

When team members consistently enter a meeting late; or they frequently use their laptop or their cell phone during meetings; or they constantly interrupt / boss people around / refuse to listen to or express an opinion it hurts the team.  So team members have to step up and say so.

To get started, try what we do in synergize! facilitated team sessions:  Each team member commits to one specific behavior toward accomplishing a team goal.  And then identifies one Accountability Partner to hold them accountable for that one behavior.

Don’t let “it’s just really hard to do” become your excuse.