Five dysfunctions of a Team

It is important to keep in mind that every team needs constant work because without it even the best ones deviate toward dysfunction.

Watch this short video (~2 minutes) of Patrick Lencioni giving a brief overview of the Five dysfunctions of a team.

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Absence of Trust:

  • Unwillingness to be vulnerable with each other

  • Team members are not genuinely open with each other about mistakes or weaknesses

  • Sets a tone for avoidance of conflict

  • Hold grudges

  • Dread meetings

Fear of Conflict:

  • Incapable of engaging in passionate debates of ideas

  • Resort to veiled discussions and guarded comments

  • Have boring meetings

  • Ignore controversial topics

  • Fail to tap into all the opinions and perspectives of the group

Lack of Commitment

  • Without having aired their opinions in the course of passionate debate team members rarely, if ever, buy into and commit to decisions of the group even though they may feign agreement during the meeting

  • Creates ambiguity about directions and priorities

  • Revisits discussions and decisions again and again

  • Breeds lack of confidence and fear of failure

Avoidance of Accountability

  • Lack of buy in leads to avoidance of accountability

  • “I’m not accountable because it wasn’t my idea and I didn’t really support the decision in the first place”

  • Without commitment to a clear plan of action, peers often hesitate to call each other on actions and behaviours that seem counterproductive to the good of the team

  • Encourages mediocrity

  • Places undue burden on the leader as the sole source of discipline

Inattention to Results

  • Team members put their individual needs (ego, career, recognition) or even the needs of their department above the collective goals of the team

  • Stagnates/fails to grow

  • Rarely defeats competitors

  • Loses achievement oriented team members

  • Encourages team members to focus on their own career and goals


To see what you can do to avoid deviating towards dysfunction download the attached overview of The Leader’s Role in Teamwork.

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Operating as an 'adult' (transactional analysis)

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How to achieve balanced teamwork