Transcript Dysfunctions of a Team (Extra)

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team:
A Leadership Fable
New York Times Bestseller
 Authored by Patrick Lencioni 1965Present.
 Copyright 2002 Published by Jossey-Bass
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What are the Five Major Dysfunctions
of A Team or an Organization?
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Come up with a short list of 5 to 10
dysfunctions of a team that you have been
on or one that you have seen previously?
Five Major Dysfunctions According to
Lencioni
1.
 2.
 3.
 4.
 5.
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Absence of Trust
Fear of Conflict
Lack of Commitment
Avoidance of Accountability
Inattention to Results
Five Major Dysfunctions According to
Lencioni

1. Absence of Trust
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Trust is the foundation of real teamwork.
Great teams do not hold back on one another.
Look at your vulnerability. What is your
greatest strength and your greatest weakness?
Five Major Dysfunctions According to
Lencioni
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2. Fear of Conflict
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Have you ever been a part of a team where
people are afraid of confrontation?
How are people going to be held accountable
for their actions?
Doesn’t everyone on the team want to become
the best they can? What if they are doing
something, or acting in a way, that unknown
to them, is hurting the group. Should they be
told?
Five Major Dysfunctions According to
Lencioni

3. Lack of Commitment
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My favorite saying is; “it is never a matter of
time it is only a matter of commitment.”
Have to have clarity and buy in.
Clarity comes when everyone is clear on the
direction the team is heading.
When they have buy in everyone has to be
bought into the same plan and direction.
Worse thing for a team to have is ambiguity
when it comes to ideas and deadlines.
Five Major Dysfunctions According to
Lencioni
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4. Avoidance of Accountability
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Biggest dysfunction that happens with number
4 is that the group possesses low standards.
Once everyone knows what they have signed
up for they then need to hold each other
accountable even with awkward conversations
between one other.
Five Major Dysfunctions According to
Lencioni

5. Inattention to Results
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Status and Ego of the teams individuals.
The individual can never be bigger than the
team.
This becomes a dysfunction when members of
the team care about something other than the
collective goals of the group.
Roles of the Leader to Change and
Avoid these Dysfunctions
The most important action that a leader
must take to encourage the building of
trust on a team is to demonstrate
vulnerability first.
 The team leader must create an
environment that does not punish
vulnerability.
 They also must be genuine.
 Staged things don’t work; it will never
pass the sniff test.
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Roles of the Leader to Change and
Avoid these Dysfunctions
First Dysfunction of an Absence of Trust
 A leader must demonstrate restraint when
their people engage in conflict, and allow
resolution to occur naturally, as messy as
it can sometimes be.
 A leader must also model appropriate
conflict behavior.
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Roles of the Leader to Change and
Avoid these Dysfunctions
Second dysfunction of fear of conflict.
 More than any other member of the team,
the leader must be comfortable with the
prospect of making a decision that
ultimately turns out to be wrong.
 A leader cannot place too high a premium
on certainty or consensus.
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Roles of the Leader to Change and
Avoid these Dysfunctions
Fourth Dysfunction of Avoidance of
Accountability.
 Once a leader has created a culture of
accountability on a team they must be
willing to serve as the ultimate arbiter of
discipline when the team itself fails.
 The team must have a shared
responsibility in holding each other
accountable where the leader doesn’t
hesitate to step in when necessary.
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Roles of the Leader to Change and
Avoid these Dysfunctions
Fifth Dysfunction of Inattention to results
 The leader must set the tone for a focus
on results.
 The team leader must be selfless and
objective, and reserve rewards and
recognition for those who make real
contributions to the achievement of group
goals.
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Other Thoughts of Team Building
Team work comes down to practicing a
small set of principles over a long period
of time.
 Success is not a matter of mastering
subtle, sophisticated theory, but rather of
embracing common sense with uncommon
levels of discipline and persistence.
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A Positive Way to Look at how a
Functional Team Operates
1. They trust one another.
 2. They engage in unfiltered conflict
around ideas.
 3. They commit to decisions and plans of
action.
 4. They hold one another accountable for
delivering against those plans.
 5. They focus on the achievement of
collective results.
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