March Read/1

Title: Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Author: Lencioni, Patrick

Subjects: Teams in the Workplace

Call Number: 658.4022 L563O 2005

ISBN: 9780787976378

Number of Pages: 156 P

Book Description:

            In the years following the publication of Patrick Lencioni’s best-seller The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, fans have been clamoring for more information on how to implement the ideas outlined in the book. In Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Lencioni offers more specific, practical guidance for overcoming the Five Dysfunctions—using tools, exercises, assessments, and real-world examples. He examines questions that all teams must ask themselves: Are we really a team? How are we currently performing? Are we prepared to invest the time and energy required to be a great team? Written concisely and to the point, this guide gives leaders, line managers, and consultants alike the tools they need to get their teams up and running quickly and effectively (amazon.com book description).

My Read:

            To me, asking questions are one of the sure ways for self-improvement and making progress when a person does reflection. Lencioni did this from the beginning of the book. He said: Before embarking on a team-building effort, your team needs to answer two big questions: 1) Are we really a team? A team or a working group? He commented: Do not waste time and energy pretending you’re something you are not. This is a wakeup call and leads me to ask some important questions of my own. He also said: A smaller subset of the group that might be a real team is called sub team. This comment resonates some wisdom acquired from experiences and reflects some reality. It provokes some insightful pondering. 2) Are we ready for heavy lifting? To build up and have a true teamwork takes considerable time and emotional energy. This reminds me of a question I have had: what is a true and healthy team?

            1^st dysfunction: Absence of Trust. According to Lencioni, the key ingredient to building trust is not time. It is courage. Members of a team, starting with the leader, must be willing to take risks without a guarantee of success (p18). The real breakthrough in term of vulnerability and trust, suggested in the book, come when you introduce a behavioral profiling tool that allow team members to accurately and openly assess their strengths and weaknesses (p29). For instance, MBTI: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

            2^nd dysfunction: Fear of Conflict. The following is a collection of the author’s points. “If team members are never pushing one another outside of their emotional comfort zones during discussions, then it is extremely likely that they’re not making the best decisions for the organization” (p38). Fix: having members to think about how an outsider to the team would feel sitting in on a team meeting. “When a team recovers from an incident of destructive conflict, it builds confidence that it can survive such an event, which in turn builds trust” (p40). Plenty of history stories do support such concept. When facing threats the negative forces would bring out potentials and strengths of people involved. And the collective forces and energy could make miracles and do wonders. “The leader is going to have to be ready to not only light the fuse of good conflict but to gently fan the flames for a while too” (p45). Good conflict, similar to a healthy and productive argument in a relationship, would provoke creativity, build common grounds, and invite genuine appreciation.

            3^rd dysfunction: Lack of Commitment. “Commitment is about a group of intelligent, driven individuals buying in to a decision precisely when they don’t naturally agree. In other words, it’s the ability to defy a lack of consensus” (p51). If a group of people is able to make commitment to common goals, the positive energy and force will form some momentum needed to achieve such goals. When reading this chapter about commitment the concepts remind me of an image: a group of people onboard of a boat fighting and struggling with some overwhelming tidal waves. The common goal of these people is to survive and overcome the obstacle.

            4^th dysfunction: Avoidance of Accountability. Reading about accountability, the following words from Lencioni do touch my heart. He said: Peer pressure and the distaste for letting down a colleague will motivate a team player more than any fear of authoritative punishment or rebuke (p61). Having been working at the library for more than six years, I found myself pretty competitive and truly appreciative of winning. Once a goal was reached, it became history and another new goal automatically surfaced. The definition of accountability in this book: the willingness of team members to remind one another when they are not living up to the performance standards of the group (p61) sounds so real and true to me. High performance and accountability go hand-in-hand. The author suggests that for a culture of accountability to thrive a leader must demonstrate a willingness to confront difficult issues. Such leaders would have guts to rock the boat and ask truth and seek answers even when others are afraid to do so.

            5^th dysfunction: Inattention to Results. Talking about the issues of team success and performance Lencioni hit the bull’s eye stating that there is always that little voice in a person’s head saying, “What about me?” Sometimes that little voice drowns out the cry of the team, and the collective results of the group get left behind (p75). Ego is the ultimate killer on a team (p75). I totally agree with Lencioni when he states that anything that stands in the way of performance must be addressed openly and directly even if it is something that is sensitive to one or more members of the team. It’s like the human body and its functions. Once an illness or dysfunction of a body part is detected, one has to pay attention and seeks professional help before the sickness goes worse or becomes beyond hope of being healed.

            Building trust, mastering conflict, achieving commitment, embracing accountability, and focusing on results would make a team work and work to the excellence. This makes me think of the difference between a brand name and a generic. The later one is a product without a brand. The brand name acquires its respect and reputation by working hard on building its brand-its name and what it stands for with the name attached to its products.

            A name or a brand name? A good question.

Reference:

Lencioni, P. Overcoming the five dysfunctions of a team, a field guide for leaders, managers, and facilitators. Jossey-Bass Inc Pub, 2005. Print.