Let's face it. Most teams look and feel nothing like the photo shown above. Teams are made up of real people, with all their hang-ups, anxieties, moods, and history with others on the team. And that is what makes people interesting! Whether we are an external facilitator or part of the team, we have to work with who we have. But what should we do when we encounter behavior that is dysfunctional? People who are actively disengaged from the meeting. Outright hostility. Repeated

Someone asked me a while ago why I named my company HappyTeams. To my own disappointment, I couldn't answer properly, so here is one attempt. I want to help teams become happier, because happy teams are better teams. Recent research has shown that there is a compelling link between worker engagement and productivity. In short, happy people work harder and smarter (Goleman et al, 2001) Yet the dismal reality in the U.S. is that only a minority (33%) of workers are engaged at w