Leadership & Team Dynamics
In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni uses storytelling to describe how a CEO unites a team under crisis. In this story, the “five dysfunctions” that every team struggles with are revealed. Through work on Applied Health Leadership Projects, dysfunctional dynamics such as these may arise in our teams and in the larger coalition that we are a part of. The lessons in this story may be applied to make the work of any team more effective.
Lencioni's model includes conflict, commitment, and accountability. This combination creates a triangle, with “trust” as the foundation and “results” as the apex. Lencioni identifies the role of a leader in relation to each of the five dysfunctions:
For an absence of trust, a leader should be vulnerable.
For fear of conflict, a leader should demand debate from the team.
For lack of commitment, a leader should force clarity and closure.
For avoidance of accountability, a leader should confront difficult issues.
For inattention to results, a leader should focus on collective outcomes.
Two areas worth exploring in depth and in this context are trust and conflict. Lencioni adeptly points out that trust in a team context might be very different than trust in a more traditional situation. Trust for a team 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" and that "teammates must get comfortable being vulnerable.” With deep trust comes the ability to truly debate, seek clarity, confront difficult decisions, and focus on collective outcomes.
image from amazon.com