5 Dysfunctions and Other Management Challenges

So, I finally finished Lencioni's 5 Dysfunctions of a Team. Here is the model, in a nutshell:

1. Absence of Trust
2. Fear of Conflict
3. Lack of Commitment
4. Avoidance of Accountability
5. Inattention to Results
   

Note: I put the dysfunctions in their positive forms to convey them to staff members. Meaning, these are the things you want teams to have.

1. Trust
2. Healthy Debate
3. Commitment
4. Accountability
5. Results without Ego

I'll give my take on these below.

Trust:
This is really as straightforward as it sounds. Before a team can get down to "brass tacks," its members must trust one another. I think about the lessons I've learned from working in groups, and this is so true. In my experience, I was most comfortable when I knew my group members had my back, were going to pull their weight, etc. It's a key foundation to teamwork.

Healthy Debate:
I really like the author's explanation of this one. He compares team meetings to movies. "Why do we like movies more than meetings?" He asks. "There's dramatic tension in movies," is the answer.

He goes on to explain that teams need to be able to argue passionately with each other with no fear of reprisal from other group members. If issues aren't addressed then productivity-killing frustration builds until there's a blow up of some kind. This is true in my experience, too. People have to be able get their ideas out on the table, no matter how unpopular they are. They can only do this if they trust their teammates won't maliciously attack them for it.

Commitment:
This one is also straightforward. Team members must be committed to making the team work, to solving problems, and agreeing to disagree. Lencioni is very clear on the point that it is not consensus. In fact, being committed means you must challenge ideas as they are presented.

Communication is also covered in this section. He calls it "cascading communication," and that just means that decisions are passed down through administrative channels so everyone is on the same page.

Accountability:
Again, it's a simple concept: hold people to what they say they'll do. Lencioni argues that you can't do this without dealing with the first three dysfunctions. He stresses that it's peer-to-peer accountability that is what's important, with the manager taking a back seat unless things get out of hand (people start to take criticism personally, for example, which is a sign of the second dysfunction.)

Results without Ego:
All this means is to put the needs of the team ahead of one's individual needs. For instance, if managers are working on a team, individual managers shouldn't put their own department's agenda ahead of the management team's goals. By supporting the team effort, all departments are affected positively.

I should also point out is that these "dysfunctions" kind of build on one another. In the book, it's presented graphically as a pyramid, the foundation of which is "Absence of Trust." Absence of Trust leads to "Fear of Conflict," and so on.

In Conclusion:
I really like Lencioni's approach in talking about the model. The fable was easy to follow and the steps are simple to understand and remember. I think the best thing is that he takes a common sense approach to these issues. While these concepts are not particularly complex, they provide a framework to bring honest and open communication back into the workplace.

Since I finished 5 Dysfunctions, I've become intrigued by his other books. I've not read them cover to cover, but my two favorites so far are Death by Meeting and Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars. They're very similar in style to the one I just read and have some great suggestions for combating some negative institutions of workplace culture.