In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, Patrick Lencioni uses a well developed and very realistic fable about a person who has taken over a company, and what he maps out can help you see why your teams may not be functioning the way they can.

The five team dysfunctions are illustrated through the words and actions of the company's executive team. The first dysfunction is an absence of trust among team members. When team members are not vulnerable such as not being willing to admit their mistakes and weaknesses, they show an absence of trust. They show trust when they ask for help, take risks in offering feedback, tap into another person's skills, and focus time and energy on important issues, not politics (when people choose their words and actions on how they want others to respond rather than based on what they really think).

Built on the absence of trust is the second dysfunction, fear of conflict. Teams members who have a fear of conflict do not engage in unfiltered and passionate debate of critical issues; they resorted to veiled discussions and guarded comments. When team members engage in conflict, they solve problems quickly, explore the ideas of all team members, and put critical topics on the table for discussion.

The next dysfunction is lack of commitment. When team members cannot air their opinions in open debate, they do not have buy in and do not commit to decisions. They are unsure of the team's directions and priorities; the team constantly revisits the same discussion. Committed team members align the whole team around the common clearly stated direction and priorities. They learn from their mistakes and move forward without hesitation.

The absence of trust, the fear of conflict and the lack of commitment lead to the dysfunction of the avoidance of accountability. In this dysfunction team members often hesitate to call their peers on actions and behaviors that are counterproductive to the good of the team; likewise, team members have different standards of performance. When team members are accountable, they identify potential problems quickly by questioning one another's approaches without hesitation and they have high respect among each other since they all are held to the the same high standard. Everyone feels the pressure to improve.

The final dysfunction is inattention to results. In this dysfunction, team members put their own individual needs (ego, career development, recognition or the needs of their own division), among the collective goals of the team. When a team is not focused on common results, it stagnates or fails to grow, is easily distracted, and encourages self-interests. When a team is focused on the specified results, they enjoy success, retain achievement-oriented people, minimize individualistic behavior, benefit from everyone's focus on the team's goals, and avoid distractions. Teams should never “do their best”; they should succeed in their critical results. The team leader must set the tone for a focus on results. If the team senses that the leader values anything other than the results, then they take it as permission to do the same for themselves.

This book helps teacher leaders and administrators to understand why their teams are not effective. It provides valuable insights into what changes can be made to have teams that truly produce results. The author includes a team assessment survey. After schools discuss this book, they can change the ways in which teams operate to produce efficient results-producing teams that are a win-win for all team members.

Dr. Harry Grover Tuttle focuses on assessing and improving student learning through low- and high-tech tools.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed