The Five Dysfunctions of a team by Patrick Lencioni

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The Five Dysfunctionsof a team by Patrick
Lencioni

• A Book Review in Action

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Expectations

• Ask questions to clarify your understanding of
  the five dysfunctions.
• Discuss and share with one another some of the
  actions weve used to address these dysfunctions
  and with what level of success.
• Share and discuss some of the actions the author
  recommends for addressing these dysfunctions.

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Patrick Lencioni
In the course of my experience working with CEOs
and their teams, two critical truths have become
clear to me. First, genuine teamwork in most
organizations remains as elusive as it has ever
been. Second, organizations fail to achieve
teamwork because they unknowingly fall prey to
five natural but dangerous pitfalls, which I call
the five dysfunctions of a team.
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Inquiry

• How many have read The Five Dysfunctions of a
  Team by Patrick Lencioni?
• What made it most readable, in general?
• What stood out most for you?

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Defining the Dysfunctions and the Associated
Issue/s
Absence of Trust Trust is the confidence among
team members that their peers' intentions are
good, there is no reason to be protective or
careful around the group. Teammates must get
comfortable being vulnerable with one another.
(Invulnerability) What does a leader have to
know, and do, to address this dysfunction? Fear
of Conflict Productive ideological conflict that
focuses on concepts and ideas versus destructive
fighting and interpersonal politics. (Artificial
Harmony) What does a leader have to know, and
do, to address this dysfunction?
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Defining the Dysfunctions and the Associated
Issue/s Continued
Lack of Commitment Great teams understand the
danger of seeking consensus, and find ways to
achieve buy-in even when complete agreement is
impossible. (Ambiguity) What does a leader
have to know, and do, to address this
dysfunction?
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Defining the Dysfunctions and the Associated
Issue/s Continued
Avoidance of Accountability Willingness to call
peers on performance or behaviors that might hurt
the team. (Low Standards) What does a leader
have to know, and do, to address this
dysfunction? Inattention to Results Results
here isnt just limited to financial measures, it
also refers to a far broader definition of
results related to outcome-based performance.
(Status Ego) What does a leader have to know,
and do, to address this dysfunction?
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These dysfunctions can be mistakenly
interpreted as five distinct issues that can be
addressed in isolation of the others. But in
reality they form an interrelated model, making
susceptibility to even one of them potentially
lethal for the success of a team. Patrick
Lencioni How many have used this model in team
building? How did you use it? How did it work
out?
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Behaviors Characteristics of a Trusting Team

• Admits weaknesses
• Asks for help
• Accepts questions and input about
  responsibilities
• Gives one-another benefit of the doubt
• Takes risks in offering feedback and assistance
• Taps into one-anothers skills and experiences
• Focuses on important issues
• Offers and accept apologies
• Looks forward to working as a team

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What are some of Lencionis suggestions for
addressing these dysfunctions, starting with,
Absence of Trust?
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Suggestions for Overcoming Dysfunction 1 Absence
of Trust
Vulnerability-based trust cannot be achieved
overnight. It requires shared experiences over
time, multiple instances of follow-through and
credibility, and an in depth understanding of
unique attributes of the team members. To
accelerate the process, here are some
tools Personal history exercise. Team
effectiveness exercise, this requires each team
member to identify the single most important
contribution each of their peers makes to the
team, focusing on one person at a
time. Personality and Behavioral Preference
profiles, these help breakdown barriers by
allowing people to better understand and
empathize with one another. 360 Degree Feedback
tools. Experiential Team Exercises i.e ropes
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Behaviors and Characteristics of a team that
Confronts Conflict

• Engaging in productive conflict growth
• Have lively and interactive discussions
• Extract exploit ideas
• Solve real problems quickly
• Minimize politics
• Put critical topics on the table for discussion

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Suggestions for overcoming Dysfunction 2 Fear of
Conflict
Acknowledge that conflict can be productive and
that many teams avoid it - awareness. Practice
mining someone extracts buried disagree-ment
call out issues and help team members work
through them. Coach one another not to retreat
from healthy debate interupt people in debate
to remind them it is necessary. Use of style
assessments or instruments like the
Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument.
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Behaviors and Characteristics of a Committed Team

• Committed teams
• Create clarity around direction and priorities
• Align around common objectives
• Are able to learn from mistakes
• Take immediate advantage of opportunities
• Move forward without hesitation
• Change direction without hesitation or guilt

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Suggestions for overcoming Dysfunction 3 Lack
of Commitment
Commitment is a Function of two things clarity
and buy-in. The 2 greatest causes of lack of
commitment are the desire for consensus and the
need for certainty. Conflict underlies the
ability to commit without perfect
information/certainty. In many cases, teams have
all the information they need, but it resides
within the hearts and minds of the team and must
be extracted through unfiltered
debate. Cascading messages decide you needs to
share in the information from a meeting and who
will deliver it. Use of clear deadlines. Conting
ency and worst case senario analysis. Low Risk
exposure Therapy demonstrate decisiveness in a
low risk situation.
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Behaviors and Characteristics of a Team with
Accountability

• Holding one-another accountable includes
• Clarify publicly goals standardswhat needs to
  be done, who needs to deliver what, how everyone
  must behave to succeed
• Provide simple and regular progress reviews
  communicate feedback on performance
• Reward team achievements

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Suggestions for overcoming Dysfunction 4
Avoidance of Accountability
Willingness to call peers on performance or
behaviors that might hurt the team. Publish
goals and standards. Simple regular progress
reports. Shift rewards away from individual
performance to team achievement.
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Behaviors and Characteristics of a Team that
Attends to Results

• To focus on results
• Reward behaviors and actions that contribute to
  success
• Commit publicly to specific results
• Tie rewards to the achievement of specific
  outcomes
• Avoid distractions
• Enjoy success and suffer failure together

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Suggestions for overcoming Dysfunction 5
Inattention to Results
Make results clear and rewarding only those
behaviors and actions that contribute to those
results. Public declaration of results. (uses
of a paperclip) Results based rewards tied to
specific team outcomes.
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In Closing
In Teams discuss What went well? What did you
find most helpful? What could we have done
differently to make your experience more valuable?