The Five Dysfunctions

of a Team
Sydney Stratford
Practice Management
March 23, 2022
“Not finance. Not strategy.
Not technology. It is teamwork
that remains the ultimate
competitive advantage, both
because it is so powerful and
so rare.”

-Patrick Lencioni

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 Each step is
The Model foundational

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Absence
of Trust

4
 Confidence among team members that their peers’ intentions are good and that
What does trust mean to you?
there is no reason to be protective or careful around the group

Interpersonal
Weaknesses Skill deficiencies
shortcomings

Mistakes Requests for help

Political

“Politics is when people choose their words and actions based on how they
want others to react rather than based on what they really think.”
-Kathryn

6
Absence of Trust Trusting Teams
+ Conceal weaknesses and mistakes + Admits weaknesses and mistakes
+ Hesitate to ask for help + Asks for help
+ Hesitate to offer help outside their own areas + Accept questions and input about their areas of
of responsibility responsibility
+ Jump to conclusions about intentions + Give one another benefit of doubt

+ Fail to recognize and tap into one another’s + Take risks in offering feedback and assistance
skills and experiences + Appreciate and tap into one another’s skills and
+ Waste time and energy managing their experiences
behaviors for effect + Focus time and energy on important issues, not
+ Hold grudges politics
+ Offer and accept apologies without hesitation
+ Dread meetings and finds reasons to avoid
spending time together + Look forward to meetings and other
opportunities

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Suggestions for Overcoming

+ Personal Histories Exercise

Encourages greater empathy and understanding
First Job? Worst Job?
+ Team Exercises, Personality and Behavioral Profiles,
Experiential Team Exercises

8
Role of the Leader

+ Demonstrate vulnerability first

+ Losing face in front of the team so that others will take the same
risk
+ Create environment that does not punish vulnerability
+ Displays of vulnerability must be genuine (not staged)

9
Fear of
Conflict
Subtitle

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 “Teams that lack trust are incapable of engaging in unfiltered and
passionate debate of ideas, Instead, they resort to veiled discussions and
guarded comments.”

“All great relationships, the ones that last over time, require productive
conflict in order to grow.”
Do you feel as though conflict is considered taboo in many
situations?
Why do you think this is?
 Ideological
conflict

Destructive
fighting

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Teams that fear conflict Teams that engage in conflict
+ Have boring meetings + Have lively, interesting meetings
+ Create environments where back-channel + Extract and exploit the ideas of all team
politics and personal attacks thrive members
+ Ignore controversial topics that are critical to + Solve real problems quickly
team success
+ Minimize politics
+ Fail to tap into al the opinions and
+ Put critical topics on the table for discussion
perspectives of team members
+ Waste time and energy with posturing and
interpersonal risk management

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Suggestions for Overcoming

+ Acknowledging that conflict is productive, and many teams tend

to avoid it
+ All team members must believe conflict is necessary
+ Mining
+ Real-Time Permission
+ Other Tools (personality style and behavior preference tools)

15
Role of the Leader

+ Demonstrate restraint when their people engage in conflict

+ Allow resolution to occur naturally
+ Personally model appropriate conflict behavior

16
Would you rather go to a movie or a meeting?

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Lack of
Commitment

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Two Great Causes of Lack of
Commitment
+ Desire for consensus
+ Need for certainty

“A decision is better than no decision”

Teams that fail to commit Teams that commit
+ Creates ambiguity among the team about + Creates clarity around direction and priorities
directions and priorities
+ Aligns the entire team around common
+ Watches windows of opportunity close due to objectives
excessive analysis and unnecessary delay
+ Develops an ability to learn from mistakes
+ Breeds lack of confidence and fear of failure
+ Takes advantage of opportunities before
+ Revisits discussions and decisions again and competitors do
again
+ Moves forward without hesitation
+ Encourages second-guessing among team
+ Changes direction without hesitation or guilt
members

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Suggestions for Overcoming

+ Cascading Messaging
+ Deadlines
+ Contingency and Worse-Case Scenario Analysis
+ Low-Risk Exposure Therapy

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Role of the Leader

+ Be okay to make a decision that ultimately turns out to be wrong

+ Pushing for closure around ideas
+ Adherence to schedules

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Avoidance of
Accountability

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Accountability

“Willingness of team members to call their peers on performance

or behaviors that might hurt the team.”

PEER PRESSURE
 Teams that hold each other
Teams that avoid accountability accountable
+ Creates resentment among team members + Ensures that poor performers feel pressure to
who have different standards of performance improve
+ Encourages mediocrity + Identifies potential problems quickly by
questioning one another’s approaches without
+ Fails to meet deadlines
hesitation
+ Places an undue burden on the team leader as
+ Establishes respect among team members who
the sole source of discipline
are held to the same high standards
+ Avoids excessive bureaucracy around
performance management and corrective
action

25
Suggestions for Overcoming

+ Publication of Goals and Standards

+ Simple and Regular Progress Reviews
+ Team Rewards

26
Role of the Leader

+ Encourage and allow the team to serve as the first and primary
accountability mechanism
+ Serve as ultimate arbiter of discipline when team itself fails

27
Inattention
to Results

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Individual vs. Team Results?
Team that is not focused on Team that focuses on collective
results results
+ Stagnates/fails to grow + Retains achievement-oriented employees
+ Rarely defeats competitors + Minimizes individualistic behavior
+ Loses achievement-oriented employees + Enjoys success and suffers failure acutely
+ Encourages team members to focus on their + Benefits from individuals who subjugate their
own careers and individual goals own goals/interests for the good of the team
+ Is easily distracted + Avoids distractions

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Suggestions for Overcoming

Public Declaration of Results Results-Based Rewards

Role of the Leader

+ Set the tone for a focus on results

+ Selfless and objective
+ Reserve rewards and recognition

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Questions to Ponder (internally)

+ Do team members openly and readily disclose their opinions?

+ Are team meetings compelling and productive?
+ Does the team come to decisions quickly and avoid getting bogged
down by consensus?
+ Do team members confront one another about their shortcomings?
+ Do team members sacrifice their own interests for the good of the team?

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How is your
team doing?

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Team Assessment

Evaluate your team’s susceptibility to the 5 dysfunctions

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