Lessons on Leadership: Reflections from “The Five Dysfunctions of A Team”

Recently, I read the book “The Five Dysfunction of a Team” by Patrick Lencioni. The book narrates the pitfalls, discords and failures faced by the leadership team, and how the newly appointed leader deconstructs and rebuilds the leadership team for business success. Even though it is a fictional narrative that is not based on research or empirical data, the story is simple and highly relatable to many leaders of people and teams. Reading it gave me fruit for thought, and made me reflect on my personal leadership journey.

Key points from the book

According to the book, the five team dysfunctions are:

• Absence of trust. This is defined as the unwillingness to be vulnerable within the team. Team members are worried that others will use their vulnerabilities against them. Thus, team members hesitate to open up about their fears or concerns about a project.
• Fear of conflict. This is defined as seeking artificial harmony over constructive passionate debate. Team members are worried about retribution or political consequences. Thus, team members end up being ‘political’: they choose their words and actions based on how they want others to react rather than how they really think.
• Lack of commitment. This is defined as the state of ambiguity throughout the organization. Team members have little or no involvement in how decisions are shaped or evolved, whether it is due to inadequacy in process or culture. Thus, team members feign buy-in for the so-called group decisions.
• Avoidance of accountability. This is defined as acceptance of low standards for the deliverables. Team members shrink from the responsibility to call on peers or superiors on their counterproductive behavior that can result in the low standards. Thus, team members readily produce excuses when the targets are not met.
• Inattention to results. This is defined as focusing on personal success, status and ego before team success. Team members invest valuable time and energy in the politics of self-protection. Thus, team members focus on making themselves look good, and place self-preservation over the team’s interests.

The book ends with a list of suggestions and tools how each of the dysfunctions can be addressed or solved.

My Reflections

1. Vulnerability-Based Trust is a powerful tool for building High Performance Teams.

Why this reflection? A team is defined not only by its purpose, systemic structure and processes; but more importantly, the quality of relationships. Ultimately, a team is made up of human beings. Trust is not about expecting the team to behave in a certain way. With Vulnerability-Based Trust, you know that your team members will not use your vulnerabilities against you and will have your back. Therefore, you are more willing to speak up about your ideas and concerns, you are more ready to handle intra-team conflicts, and you are more prepared to take risks. These will lead to a high performance team.

What are the implications for a leader? As a leader,

• You should seek to understand your team members, appreciate their concerns and address the issues accordingly.
• You should create an open and supportive environment in which your team members are comfortable in sharing their concerns with one another.
• You should celebrate success, even though it may involve overcoming small adversities, and look for other opportunities to build stronger bonds among the team.

2. Productive Conflicts improves the Quality of Decisions.

Why this reflection? In the Asian society where I’m from, the tendency is to avoid open debate, and simply defer to the decision of the group or ‘take it offline’. (But I’m observing the shift among the millenniums and gen-Z, who are more prepared to question the rationales.) With Vulnerability-Based Trust, the quality of relationships will improve, team members will be more open to challenge one another and suggest novel alternatives, leading to better quality of decisions. Another benefit is that open debate helps to build commitment to the decisions.

What are the implications for a leader? As a leader,

• You should involve as many of your team in problem solving (subject to ground reality), especially when the problems are complex or wicked ones.
• You should encourage open debate, and seek a balance between intervening when situation warrants, and allowing the team to sort out the situation themselves.
• You need to put together the different inputs, weigh the tradeoffs, and synthesize the optimal solution; this will involve making judgement calls, which must come from the leader.

3. A High Performance First Team is key to Organization Success.

Why this reflection? As a leader, you belong to at least two teams: the team(s) you lead, and the team led by your supervisor and which you are a member of. The latter is your First Team. You should prioritize for the success of the First team, even though this may incur sub-optimization and trade-offs for the team that you lead. When leaders at every level prioritize for their respective First Teams, everyone will focus on delivering the key outcomes for organization success.

(During my coaching session with my coachee, I had narrated this concept as a leader wearing two hats. You wear the functional hat and ensure the best quality output from your functional team. More importantly, you also wear the hat of your leadership team, and you need to optimize for the success of the larger organization.)

What are the implications for a leader? As a leader of a team of leaders,

• You need to set the context for the First Team, and the expectations from your team of leaders.
• You should drive collaborative goal-setting, so that there is alignment of the goals between the First Team and the teams led by your leaders. (See my article on OKR, a tool for alignment and focus.) This is important so that the work of the functional teams is also optimized towards meeting the organization success, not merely the team success.
• You should acknowledge the trade-offs made by the different teams, and recognize the contributions of the many parts for the success of the First Team.

Closing

Reflection comes from personal experiences (e.g. events, activities or reading of book), overlayed with one’s values and beliefs that are formed over time. Each of us can come up with different reflections, even though we might have gone through the same experiences. The takeaways and learning through reflection will help each of us grow in our own ways in our personal leadership journey.

Chee Kin