The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team

The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni makes a great Principle Poster to share if the team you’re working with is hitting some interpersonal challenges. Draw it up on a flipchart and give the briefest of explanations:

”Before a team can be high performing, it has to have a solid foundation of trust. Once trust is established, After that, a team has to learn how to have healthy conflict, because it’s only natural that capable and experienced individuals won’t see eye to eye on everything. Then, they have to be prepared to commit to action, otherwise they get stuck in endlessly debating without ever committing to their decisions. After they commit, they have to be willing to be accountable to those decisions, otherwise they just agree to actions but don’t actually follow through. Finally, they have to focus on results in terms of time, cost, quality, or whatever is important to them, or they may get a lot of stuff done by dialing it in.”

Ask the group to discuss the model in small groups, then share their insights and recommendations with the large group. 

I like to use the 5 Dysfunctions if I get the sense that Tuckman’s Forming-Storming-Norming-Performing-Adjourning is too light and if Drexler-Sibbet’s Team Performance model is too heavy for the group.

If you’re interested in how your team can become high-performing, let’s talk. https://calendly.com/brian-lizardbrain/45-min-discovery-call