1. The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team
Based upon the material by
Pat Lencioni – President,
The Table Group
www.tablegroup.com
Presented by Eric Brown

2. Pat Lencioni “Teamwork remains the one
sustainable competitive
advantage that has been largely
untapped.”
From Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team

3. Dysfunctions #1
The fear to be vulnerable with
team members prevents the
building of trust within the
team.
This is vulnerability based
trust: “I was wrong”, “I made
a mistake”, “I need your help”
Absence of
TRUST
Work with people to gain trust

4. Absence of Trust
• One person can destroy a team’s trust and,
consequently, the decision making process.
Example: the person that talks in meetings and no
one comments on his ideas because ALL he will do
is defend his position until someone changes the
subject.
This shuts a team down

5. Building Trust
• Trust is the foundation of teamwork.
• Building trust takes time, but the process can be
greatly accelerated.
• Like a good marriage, trust on a team is never
complete; it must be maintained over time.

6. Dysfunctions #2
The desire to preserve artificial
harmony stifles the occurrence
of productive, ideological
conflict.
Fear of
CONFLICT
Absence of
TRUST
This is healthy, passionate
debate: “What do you think of
this idea?”
Trust is essential for conflict

7. Fear of Conflict
• Are people holding back? Are they picking their
battles?
• The most important place for conflict is in
meetings!
Example: “why are there so many meetings?”,
“meeting don’t matter”, “why are they so long?”
It’s not that there are too many meetings, it’s
that they’re bad meetings
Meetings should matter, and the first 10 minutes
should be the best!

8. Mastering Conflict
• Good conflict among team members requires
trust, which is all about engaging in unfiltered,
passionate debate around issues.
• Even among the best teams, conflict will at times
be uncomfortable.
• Conflict norms, though they will vary from team
to team, must be discussed and made clear among
the team.
• The fear of occasional personal conflict should
not deter a team from having regular, productive
debate.

9. Dysfunctions #3
Lack of
COMMITMENT
Fear of
CONFLICT
Absence of
TRUST
The lack of clarity and/or fear
of being wrong prevents team
members from making
decisions in a timely and
definitive way.
This is all the cards on the
table: “Can you commit to this
idea?”
Healthy debate leads to
commitment

10. Lack of Commitment
• If people do not weigh in/debate during
meetings, then they will not actively commit to the
final decision.
Example: after the fact meetings, “can you believe
he said that?”, “I am not sure this is the best idea
for us at this time”, “I’m not 100% behind this.”
If people do not commit they will not hold each
other accountable. The leader has to be willing to
do this first.

11. Achieving Commitment
• Commitment requires clarity and buy-in.
• Clarity requires that team avoid assumptions and
ambiguity, and that they end discussions with a
clear understanding about what they’ve decided
upon.
• Buy-in does not require consensus. Members of
great teams learn to disagree with one another
and still commit to a decision.

12. Dysfunctions #4
Avoidance of
ACCOUNTABILITY
Lack of
The need to avoid interpersonal
discomfort prevents team
members from holding one
another accountable for their
behaviors.
COMMITMENT
Fear of
CONFLICT
Absence of
TRUST
This is holding others
accountable for their behavior
Peer to peer is powerful

13. Avoidance of Accountability
• This applies to all levels: team level; manager
level; director level; VP level; C level; Board level
Example: leaders usually have the hardest time
holding their people accountable. Peer pressure
and letting down a colleague will motivate a team
player more than any fear of punishment or
rebuke.

14. Embracing Accountability
• Accountability on a strong team occurs directly
among peers.
• For a culture of accountability to thrive, a leader
must demonstrate a willingness to confront difficult
issues.
• The best opportunity for holding one another
accountable occurs during meetings, and the
regular review of a team scoreboard provides a
clear context for doing so.

15. Dysfunctions #5
Inattention to
RESULTS
Avoidance of
The desire for individual credit
erodes the focus on collective
success.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Lack of
COMMITMENT
Fear of
CONFLICT
Absence of
TRUST
This is about what the team is
trying to achieve more than a
member’s personal interest

16. Inattention to Results
• By nature, people tend to drift and will pay
attention to other things if they are not held
accountable.
Example: a person more interested in personal
growth, own interests, or departmental goals than
the team results

17. Focusing on Results
• The true measure of a great team is that it
accomplishes the results it sets out to achieve.
• To avoid distractions, team members must
prioritize the results of the team over the individual
or departmental needs.
• To stay focused, teams must publicly clarify their
desired results and keep them visible.

18. The Five Functions
RESULTS
ACCOUNTABILITY
COMMITMENT
CONFLICT
TRUST
• Build Trust
• Master Conflict
• Achieve Commitment
• Embrace Accountability
• Focus on Results

19. Strategies
RESULTS
ACCOUNTABILITY
Build Trust
• Identify and discuss individual
strengths and weaknesses
COMMITMENT
CONFLICT
TRUST
• Spend time in face-to-face
meetings and working sessions

20. Trust Exercises
• Get team members to share about growing up
• Go around the table answering three
questions: where they grew up; how many
siblings they have and where they fall in the
order; what was the most difficult/important
challenge of their childhood
• Behavior Profiles
• Use Myers-Briggs, DISC, or other such tool
• Have team complete tests prior to session
• At beginning of session give test overview

21. Trust Exercises
• List all types on a white board and discuss
• Have team identify their type and read brief
descriptions
• Identify team strengths and the weaknesses
they must avoid
• Within a week have team members go back
to the teams they lead and discuss their
profiles

22. Strategies
RESULTS
ACCOUNTABILITY
COMMITMENT
CONFLICT
TRUST
Master Conflict
• Acknowledge that conflict is
required for productive
meetings
• Establish common ground
rules for engaging in conflict
• Understand individuals natural
conflict styles

23. Conflict Exercises
• Give real-time permission as it is happening
• As conflict arises, pause to let the team know
this is good for the success of the team
• Mine for conflict
• Actively look for areas/topics that people are
avoiding and lay it on the table for discussion
• Bring clarity to how the team can expect to
engage in debate
• Have team members write down their
preferences for acceptable and unacceptable

24. Conflict Exercises
behaviors around discussion and debate
• Have members review their prefs with the
rest of the team while someone captures key
similarities
• Discuss prefs while paying special attention to
areas of difference
• Formally record and distribute behavioral
expectations for conflict/debate

25. Conflict Exercises
• Review Depth-Frequency Conflict Model with
team
• Have members recreate model on blank sheet
with their name at the top
• Pass sheets to the right and have each person
place an X on the chart indicating how the
person named at top engages in conflict
• When sheet returns to original owner have
each review his chart then plot all members on
a large chart for discussion/implications

26. Depth-Freq Conflict Model
High
Rare but
substantive
conflict
Frequent
and
substantive
conflict
Rare and
shallow
conflict
Frequent
but shallow
conflict
Depth
Low
Low
High
Frequency

27. Strategies
RESULTS
ACCOUNTABILITY
COMMITMENT
CONFLICT
TRUST
Achieve Commitment
• Review commitments at the
end of each meeting to ensure
all members are aligned
• Adopt a “disagree and
commit” mentality – make sure
all members are committed
regardless of initial
disagreements

28. Commitment Exercises
• Commitment clarification
• Take last 5-minutes of meeting to go to white
board and ask, “what have we agreed upon
today?”
• If no consensus, provoke further discussion
• Everyone records all commitments and
distributes within 24 hours to needed parties
• Clarify team principles
• Have team discuss and come to resolution
around the following:

29. Commitment Exercises
1. Structure and schedule for meetings
2. Preferred methods for communication (i.e.
email, voice mail, etc.)
3. Timeliness of responding to one another
4. Use of common resources, human and
otherwise
5. Availability of members during non-work hours
6. Level of freedom to engage one another’s staffs
7. Extent to which being on time is a priority

30. Strategies
RESULTS
ACCOUNTABILITY
Embrace Accountability
• Explicitly communicate goals
and behavior
COMMITMENT
CONFLICT
TRUST
• Regularly discuss performance
versus goals and standards

31. Accountability Exercises
• Feedback forum for behavior and performance
• Have all team members answer the
following two questions about all other
members:
1. What’s the person’s most important behavioral quality
that contributes to strength of the team?
2. What’s the person’s most important behavioral quality
that detracts from the strength of the team?
• Begin with comments about the leader read all the positives
• Ask for response from leader: Any surprises?

32. Accountability Exercises
Any questions for clarifications?
• Continue to focus on leader reading all
negative comments
• Continue in this format for every team
member
• At the end have each member summarize
1-2 key take-away points for development
• At the next off-site meeting have members
report progress in these key areas

33. Strategies
RESULTS
ACCOUNTABILITY
Focus on Results
• Keep the team focused on
tangible group goals
COMMITMENT
CONFLICT
TRUST
• Reward individuals based on
team goals and collective
success

34. Results Exercises
• Establish a team scoreboard
• Have the team discuss and agree upon a
handful of supporting objectives that must be
accomplished for the overall goal to be
achieved
• Make goals public and real

35. Obstacles to Avoid
• The leader is not truly committed to building a
quality team
• Team members are holding back
• Someone is dominating the session
• Team members are dispersed and do not
generally spend much time together
• A top performer is not committed or interested in
the team-building process
• A team member reports to two different teams

36. The Role of the Leader
• Be Vulnerable
• Demand Debate
• Force Clarity & Closure
• Confront Difficult Situations
• Focus on Collective Outcomes