The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable - By Patrick M. Lencioni

Date read: 2018-05-13
How strongly I recommend it: 8/10
(See my list of 150+ books, for more.)

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Split into an easy to follow fable and followed by the five dysfuntctions of a team and techniques to overcome them. Great for anyone who wants to maximize the output and effectiveness of their team.

My Notes

If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time.

Trust is the foundation of real teamwork. And so the first dysfunction is a failure on the part of team members to understand and open up to one another.

Great teams do not hold back with one another. They are unafraid to air their dirty laundry. They admit their mistakes, their weaknesses, and their concerns without fear of reprisal.

Teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.

The key is to define our goals, our results, in a way that is simple enough to grasp easily, and specific enough to be actionable.

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.

If we don’t trust one another, then we aren’t going to engage in open, constructive, ideological conflict. And we’ll just continue to preserve a sense of artificial harmony.

Once we achieve clarity and buy-in, it is then that we have to hold each other accountable for what we sign up to do, for high standards of performance and behavior. And as simple as that sounds, most executives hate to do it, especially when it comes to a peer’s behavior, because they want to avoid interpersonal discomfort.

Be intolerant of behavior that demonstrates an absence of trust, or a focus on individual ego. Encourage conflict, driving for clear commitments, and expecting everyone to hold each other accountable. Call out bad behavior when you see it, and make sure your team is doing the same.

The first dysfunction is an absence of trust among team members. Essentially, this stems from their unwillingness to be vulnerable within the group. Team members who are not genuinely open with one another about their mistakes and weaknesses make it impossible to build a foundation for trust.

This failure to build trust is damaging because it sets the tone for the second dysfunction: fear of conflict. Teams that lack trust are incapable of engaging in unfiltered and passionate debate of ideas. Instead, they resort to veiled discussions and guarded comments.

A lack of healthy conflict is a problem because it ensures the third dysfunction of a team: lack of commitment. Without having aired their opinions in the course of passionate and open debate, team members rarely, if ever, buy in and commit to decisions, though they may feign agreement during meetings.

Because of this lack of real commitment and buy-in, team members develop an avoidance of accountability, the fourth dysfunction. Without committing to a clear plan of action, even the most focused and driven people often hesitate to call their peers on actions and behaviors that seem counterproductive to the good of the team.

Failure to hold one another accountable creates an environment where the fifth dysfunction can thrive. Inattention to results occurs when team members put their individual needs (such as ego, career development, or recognition) or even the needs of their divisions above the collective goals of the team.

DYSFUNCTION 1: ABSENCE OF TRUST
Trust is the confidence among team members that their peers' intentions are good, and that there is no reason to be protective or careful around the group. In essence, teammates must get comfortable being vulnerable with one another.

Members of Trusting Teams:

Admit weaknesses and mistakes.
Ask for help Accept questions and input about their areas of responsibility.
Give one another the benefit of the doubt before arriving at a negative conclusion.
Take risks in offering feedback and assistance.
Appreciate and tap into one another's skills and experiences.
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.

Suggestions for Overcoming Dysfunction 1

Personal Histories Exercise - This low-risk exercise requires nothing more than going around the table during a meeting and having team members answer a short list of questions about themselves. Questions need not be overly sensitive in nature and might include the following: number of siblings, hometown, unique challenges of childhood, favorite hobbies, first job, and worst job.

Team Effectiveness Exercise - It requires team members to identify the single most important contribution that each of their peers makes to the team, as well as the one area that they must either improve upon or eliminate for the good of the team. All members then report their responses, focusing on one person at a time, usually beginning with the team leader.

Personality and Behavioral Preference Profiles - Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and Everything DiSC.

360-Degree Feedback.

Experiential Team Exercises.

The Role of the Leader:

Demonstrate vulnerability first.
Create an environment that does not punish vulnerability.

DYSFUNCTION 2: FEAR OF CONFLICT
Acknowledge that conflict is productive, and that many teams have a tendency to avoid it.

Teams that Engage in Conflict:

Have lively, interesting meetings.
Extract and exploit the ideas of all team members.
Solve real problems quickly.
Minimize politics.
Put critical topics on the table for discussion.

Suggestions for Overcoming Dysfunction 2:

Mining - Members of teams that tend to avoid conflict must occasionally assume the role of a “miner of conflict”— someone who extracts buried disagreements within the team and sheds the light of day on them.

Real-Time Permission - Recognize when the people engaged in conflict are becoming uncomfortable with the level of discord, and then interrupt to remind them that what they are doing is necessary.

Other Tools - Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, commonly referred to as the TKI.

The Role of the Leader: Demonstrate restraint when their people engage in conflict, and allow resolution to occur naturally, as messy as it can sometimes be.

DYSFUNCTION 3: LACK OF COMMITMENT
Consensus - Great teams understand the danger of seeking consensus, and find ways to achieve buy-in even when complete agreement is impossible.

Certainty - Great teams also pride themselves on being able to unite behind decisions and commit to clear courses of action even when there is little assurance about whether the decision is correct.

A Team that Commits:

Creates clarity around direction and priorities.
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.

Suggestions for Overcoming Dysfunction 3:

Cascading Messaging - At the end of a staff meeting or off-site, a team should explicitly review the key decisions made during the meeting, and agree on what needs to be communicated to employees or other constituencies about those decisions.

Deadlines - Use of clear deadlines for when decisions will be made, and honoring those dates with discipline and rigidity.

Contingency and Worst-Case Scenario Analysis.

Low-Risk Exposure Therapy - Demonstration of decisiveness in relatively low-risk situations.

The Role of the Leader:

Be comfortable with the prospect of making a decision that ultimately turns out to be wrong.
Be constantly pushing the group for closure around issues, as well as adherence to schedules that the team has set.

DYSFUNCTION 4: AVOIDANCE OF ACCOUNTABILITY
A Team 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 excessive bureaucracy around performance management and corrective action.

Suggestions for Overcoming Dysfunction 4:

Publication of Goals and Standards.
Simple and Regular Progress Reviews.
Team Rewards - Shifting rewards away from individual performance to team achievement, the team can create a culture of accountability.

The Role of the Leader: Accountability has not been relegated to a consensus approach, but merely to a shared team responsibility, and that the leader of the team will not hesitate to step in when it is necessary.

DYSFUNCTION 5: INATTENTION TO RESULTS
Team that Focuses on Collective Results:

Retains achievement
oriented employees.
Minimizes individualistic behavior.
Enjoys success and suffers failure acutely.
Benefits from individuals who subjugate their own goals/interests for the good of the team.
Avoids distractions.

Suggestions for Overcoming Dysfunction 5:

Public Declaration of Results - Teams that are willing to commit publicly to specific results are more likely to work with a passionate, even desperate desire to achieve those results.

Results-Based Rewards.

The Role of the Leader: Be selfless and objective, and reserve rewards and recognition for those who make real contributions to the achievement of group goals.

Contents:

My Notes