The Five Dysfunctions of a Teamby Patrick Lencioni

Presented by Leon Britz

• The Five Temptations of a CEO• Death by Meeting• The Three Signs of a Miserable Job• The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive• The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family• Silos, Politics and Turf Wars

Tonight…

1. What are the 5 dysfunctions?2. What does each dysfunction cause?3. How do they connect to each other?4. How do we overcome them?

• Tools & activities• The leader’s role

My team…The team I’m in…

1. Trust each other2. Engages in unfiltered conflict around ideas3. Commits to decisions and plans of action4. Hold one another accountable for delivering

against those plans5. Focuses on the achievement of collective results

Absence of TRUST

Fear of CONFLICT

Lack of COMMITMENT

Avoidance of ACCOUNTABILITY

Inattention to RESULTS

1. Absence of TRUST

Members of a team with an absence of trust…• Conceal their weaknesses and mistakes from each other• Hesitate to ask for help or provide constructive feedback• Hesitate to offer help outside their own areas of responsibility• Jump to conclusions• Fail to recognise or tap into each others’ skills• Waste time and energy on behaviours• Hold grudges• Dread meetings and avoid spending time together• Usually have a low morale

1. Absence of TRUST

Members of a trusting team…• Admit weaknesses and mistakes• Ask for help• Accept questions and input about their areas of responsibility• Give one another the benefits of the doubt• Take risks in offering feedback and assistance• Appreciate and tap into one another’s skills• Focus time and energy on important issues, not politics• Offer and accept apologies without hesitation• Look forward to meetings and other opportunities to work as a group

Absence of TRUST

Fear of CONFLICT

Building trust makes conflict possible

2. Fear of CONFLICT

Teams that fear conflict…• Have boring meetings• Create environments where politics and personal attacks thrive• Ignore controversial topic• Fail to tap into all the opinions/perspectives of team members• Waste time and energy with posturing & interpersonal risk management

2. Fear of CONFLICT

Teams that engage in conflict…• Have lively, interesting meetings• Extract and exploit everyone’s ideas• Solve real problems quickly• Minimise politics• Put critical topics on the table

Absence of TRUST

Fear of CONFLICT

Lack of COMMITMENT

Building trust makes conflict possible

By engaging in productive conflict (understanding eachothers’ perspectives & opinions) a team can confidently commit

3. Lack of COMMITMENT

Teams that fails to commit…• Creates ambiguity about direction and priorities• Let opportunities slip by due to excessive analysis or unnecessary delay• Breeds lack of confidence and fear of failure• Revisits discussions and decisions again and again• Encourages second-guessing

3. Lack of COMMITMENT

A teams that commits…• Creates clarity around direction and purpose• Aligns the entire team around common objectives• Develops an ability to learn from mistakes• Takes advantage of opportunities before competitors do• Moves forward without hesitation• Changes direction without hesitation or guilt

Absence of TRUST

Fear of CONFLICT

Lack of COMMITMENT

Avoidance of ACCOUNTABILITY

Building trust makes conflict possible

By engaging in productive conflict (understanding eachothers’ perspectives & opinions) a team can confidently commit

You cannot hold someone accountable for somethingthat was never bought into or made clear in the first place

4. Avoidance of ACCOUNTABILITY

A teams that avoids accountability…• Creates resentment towards members who have different standards of

performance• Encourages mediocrity• Misses deadlines and key deliverables• Places an undue burden on the team leader (or Scrum Master)

as the sole source of discipline

4. Avoidance of ACCOUNTABILITY

A teams that holds one another accountable…• Ensures that poor performers feel pressure to improve• Identifies potential problems quickly by questioning one another’s

approaches without hesitation• Establishes respect among team members who are held to the

same high standards• Avoids bureaucracy around performance management

Absence of TRUST

Fear of CONFLICT

Lack of COMMITMENT

Avoidance of ACCOUNTABILITY

Inattention to RESULTS

Building trust makes conflict possible

By engaging in productive conflict (understanding eachothers’ perspectives & opinions) a team can confidently commit

You cannot hold someone accountable for somethingthat was never bought into or made clear in the first place

If teammates are not being held accountable for their contributions,they will focus on their own needs, and not collective results

5. Inattention to RESULTS

A team that is not focused on collective results…• Fails to grow• Rarely defeats competitors• Loses achievement-oriented employees• Encourages team members to focus on their own careers• Is easily distracted

5. Inattention to RESULTS

A team that focuses on collective results…• Retains good employees• Minimises individualistic behaviour• Enjoys success• Benefits from individuals who subjugate their own goals/interests

for the good of the team• Avoids distractions

How do we overcome them?

1. Absence of TRUSTHow to overcome• Vulnerability-based trust cannot be achieved overnight• It takes shared experiences over time and• a deep understanding of your team members• Take a focused approach

Activities• Personal histories exercise (30 min.)• Team effectiveness exercise (60 min.)• Personality/behavioural profiling, i.e. Myers-Briggs (4 hr)• 360 degree feedback• Experiential team exercises

Role of leader• Be vulnerable• Risk losing face• Don’t fake it

How to overcome• Acknowledge that conflict is productive• Many teams try to avoid it

2. Fear of CONFLICT

Activities• Conflict mining• Real-time permission• Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI)

Role of leader• Guard against your desire to protect members from harm• Allow resolution to occur naturally, even if it’s messy• Let (necessary/productive) conflict happen

3. Lack of COMMITMENTHow to overcome• Take specific steps to maximize clarity• Achieve buy-in• Resist the lures of consensus or certainty

Tools and principles• Cascading messaging• Deadlines• Contingency and worst-case scenario analysis• Low-risk exposure therapy

Role of leader• Be comfortable with the prospect of making a decision that might be wrong• Push group for closure around issues• Enforce team to stick to their own schedules• Stress certainty and consensus

4. Avoidance of ACCOUNTABILITYHow to overcome• Adhere to classic management tools

Tools• Publication of goals and standards• Simple and regular progress reviews• Team rewards

Role of leader• Strong leaders can naturally create an accountability vacuum in the team

leaving themselves as the only source of discipline• Be willing to serve as the ultimate arbiter of discipline

when the team itself fails (should be a rare occurrence)

5. Inattention to RESULTSHow to overcome• Make results clear• Only award actions that contribute to those results

Tools• Public declaration of results• Results-based rewards

Role of leader• Leader must set a tone for a focus on results• Stay objective by giving rewards/recognition to those

who make real contributions to the achievement of group goals

Absence of TRUST

Fear of CONFLICT

Lack of COMMITMENT

Avoidance of ACCOUNTABILITY

Inattention to RESULTS

The Role of the Leader

Focus on collective outcomes

Confront difficult issues

Force clarity and closure

Demand debate

Be vulnerable

The opposite approach…

Imagine how members of truly cohesive teams behave…1. They trust each other2. They engage in unfiltered conflict around ideas3. They commit to decisions and plans of action4. They hold one another accountable for delivering

against those plans5. They focus on the achievement of collective results

Q & A

Resources

Activities & games• www.americanjourney.net/5_dysfunctions.pdf• www.fundoing.com