The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by P. Lencioni - Book Summary
This is my summary of ‘The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team’ by Patrick Lencioni. My notes are informal and tailored to my own interests at the time of reading. They mostly contain quotes from the book as well as some of my own thoughts. I enjoyed this book and would recommend you read it yourself (check it out on Amazon).
Dysfunction #1 - absence of trust
The fear of being vulnerable with team members prevents the building of trust within the team. This happens when team members are unable to show their weaknesses; be vulnerable and open with one another. Being vulnerable is more or less being receptive to constructive feedback. Vulnerabilities include weaknesses, skill deficiencies, interpersonal shortcomings, mistakes, and requests for help.
The absence of trust is a huge waste of time and energy as team members invest their time and energy in defensive behaviors, and are reluctant to ask for help from – or assist – each other.
Signs of absence of trust in a team:
People conceal their weaknesses and mistakes from one another
They hesitate to ask for help or provide constructive feedback
They hesitate to offer help outside their own areas of responsibility
They jump to conclusions about the intentions and aptitudes of others without attempting to clarify them
They waste time and energy managing their behaviors for effect
They hold grudges
They dread meetings and find reasons to avoid spending time together
How to overcome it:
Teams can overcome this dysfunction by sharing experiences, following through in multiple ways, demonstrating credibility, and developing strong insight into the unique characteristics of team members.
Run a personal histories exercise.
Go around the table during a meeting and have team members answer a short list of questions about themselves.
Questions might include: number of siblings, hometown, unique challenges of childhood, favorite hobbies, first job, and worst job
By describing these relatively innocuous attributes or experiences, team members begin to relate to one another on a more personal basis, and see one another as human beings with life stories and interesting backgrounds.
Run a team effectiveness exercise.
Team members 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.
Have all team members complete personality and behavioral preference profiles.
Example: MBTI.
Collect and share 360 degree feedback.
Make sure to divorce it entirely from compensation and formal performance evaluation. Rather, use it as a development tool, one that allows employees to identify strengths and weaknesses without any repercussions.
The leader has to go first.
The only way to get there is when the leader goes first. When the leader cannot be vulnerable, the rest of the team cannot.
This requires that a leader risk losing face in front of the team, so that subordinates will take the same risk themselves. Create an environment that does not punish vulnerability.
When there are team members with trust issues, you have to work with them to get over it. If just one member of the team cannot be vulnerable, the whole team will be affected.
—
Dysfunction #2 - fear of conflict
When teams lack trust and are incapable of having unfiltered, passionate debate about things that matter. This causes team members to avoid conflict, replacing it with an artificial harmony.
In a work setting where team members do not openly express their opinions, inferior decisions are often the result. When working in teams you need to understand that conflict is productive.
When we fail to disagree around ideas and issues with people, it ferments into conflict. We need to disagree with people to keep healthy relationships.
Teams that fear conflict…
Have boring meetings
Create environments where back-channel politics and personal attacks thrive
Ignore controversial topics that are critical to team success
Fail to tap into all the opinions and perspectives of team members
Waste time and energy with posturing and interpersonal risk management
How to overcome it:
As a leader, demonstrate restraint when your people engage in conflict, and allow resolution to occur naturally, as messy as it can sometimes be.
—
Dysfunction #3 - lack of commitment
Without conflict, it is not easy for team members to commit and buy-in to decisions, resulting in an environment where ambiguity prevails.
In the context of a team, commitment is a function of two things: clarity and buy-in. The two greatest causes of the lack of commitment are the desire for consensus and the need for certainty:
Consensus. Great teams ensure that everyone’s ideas are genuinely considered, which then creates a willingness to rally around whatever decision is ultimately made by the group. And when that is not possible due to an impasse, the leader of the team is allowed to make the call.
Certainty. Great teams are able to unite behind decisions and commit to clear courses of action even when there is little assurance about whether the decision is correct. Dysfunctional teams try to hedge their bets and delay important decisions until they have enough data to feel certain that they are making the right decision. This is not to say that research and analysis are not necessary or important, but rather that teams with this dysfunction tend to overvalue them.
A team that fails to commit…
Creates ambiguity among the team about direction and priorities
Watches windows of opportunity close due to excessive analysis and unnecessary delay
Breeds lack of confidence and fear of failure.
Revisits discussions and decisions again and again. Encourages second-guessing among team members.
Watch out for passive commitment:
People say ‘yes’ in the meeting, but then afterwards hate on the idea, don’t participate, and in the end when things go wrong say, “I told you!”
The executive team is extremely important.
An executive team that does not commit to clear decisions causes unresolvable discord deeper in the organization. More than any of the dysfunctions, this one creates dangerous ripple effects for subordinates. When an executive team fails to achieve buy-in from all team members, even if the disparities that exist seem relatively small, employees who report to those executives will inevitably clash when they try to interpret marching orders that are not clearly aligned with those of colleagues in other departments.
How to overcome it:
People will buy into something when their opinions are included in the decision-making process – even if they disagree with the decision.
Productive teams make joint and transparent decisions and are confident that they have the support of each team member. This is not as much about seeking consensus but making sure everyone is heard.
Cascading messaging.
At the end of a staff meeting or offsite, a team can explicitly review the key decisions made during the meeting, and agree on what needs to be communicated to stakeholders about those decisions.
What often happens during this exercise is that members of the team learn that they are not all on the same page about what has been agreed upon and that they need to clarify specific outcomes before putting them into action.
Deadlines.
Use clear deadlines for when decisions will be made, and honor those dates with discipline and rigidity.
Contingency and worst-case scenario analysis.
Discuss contingency plans up front. Better yet, clarify the worst-case scenario for a decision you are struggling to make.
This helps reduce your fears by helping you realize that the costs of an incorrect decision are survivable, and far less damaging than you had imagined.
Low-risk exposure.
Demonstrate decisiveness in low-risk situations.
When teams force themselves to make decisions after substantial discussion but little analysis or research, they usually come to realize that the quality of the decision they made was better than they had expected.
What is more, they learn that the decision would not have been much different had the team engaged in lengthy, time-consuming study.
—
Dysfunction #4 - avoidance of accountability
When teams don’t commit, you can’t have accountability: “people aren’t going to hold each other accountable if they haven’t clearly bought into the plan”.
Accountability here refers to the willingness of team members to call their peers on performance or behaviors that might hurt the team. The essence of this dysfunction is the unwillingness of team members to tolerate the interpersonal discomfort that accompanies calling a peer on their behavior and the more general tendency to avoid difficult conversations.
A team that avoids accountability:
Creates resentment among team members who have different standards of performance.
Misses deadlines and key deliverables.
Places an undue burden on the team leader as the sole source of discipline.
In a well-functioning team, it’s the responsibility of each team member to hold one another accountable and accept it when others hold them accountable.
How to overcome it:
Publish goals and standards.
Clarify publicly exactly what the team needs to achieve, who needs to deliver what, and how everyone must behave in order to succeed. The enemy of accountability is ambiguity.
Simple and regular progress reviews.
A little structure goes a long way toward helping people take action that they might not otherwise be inclined to do.
Team rewards.
By shifting rewards away from individual performance to team achievement, the team can create a culture of accountability. This occurs because a team is unlikely to stand by quietly and fail because a peer is not pulling their weight.
—
Dysfunction #5 - inattention to results
An unrelenting focus on specific objectives and clearly defined outcomes is a requirement for any team that judges itself on performance.
A team can only become results oriented when all team members place the team’s results first. When individuals aren’t held accountable, team members naturally tend to look out for their own interests, rather than the interests of the team.
A team that is not focused on results…
Loses achievement-oriented employees
Encourages team members to focus on their own careers and individual goals
How to overcome it:
Public declaration of results.
Teams that are willing to commit publicly to specific results are more likely to work better to achieve those results.
Teams that say, “we’ll do our best,” are subtly, if not purposefully, preparing themselves for failure.
Reward the behaviors that contribute to the team’s results.
Be careful not to focus too much on extrinsic rewards.
—
‘The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team’ also covers a few more insightful topics. You’ll find them below.
Decision making
A decision is better than no decision. It is better to make a decision boldly and be wrong - and then change direction with equal boldness - than it is to waffle.
Productivity
Success is not a matter of mastering subtle, sophisticated theory, but rather of embracing common sense with uncommon levels of discipline and persistence.
Click here to browse more book summaries.