5 Dysfunctions of a Team

In today's digital world, how much does team work matter?

This was a thought that I had before the CoVid-19 or coronavirus hit, but it seems like an even more pressing question now. After all, we typically think of team work in a physical sense. At the writing of this blog post, a large portion of the country (and the world) is working remotely and alone.

The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni has the answer to this question. In this book, Lencioni's main character, Kathrine Peterson, joins an organization as the new CEO. She is not only tasked with leading her new company through a troubling time as the company was once seen as a leader their software, but recently, their performance is more than disappointing.

Peterson, showcases how her team's 5 Dysfunctions are limiting their performance:

1. Lack of trust
2. Inability to engage in conflict
3. lack of commitment
4. no accountability
5. no shared results

Looking at this list, if we, as a remote workforce, engage in any of these dysfunctions, our organizations are still in trouble. If anything, stronger teams are MORE important than ever. 

Let's look at the first dysfunctions from the 5 Dysfunctions of a Team (lack of trust). In a digital environment, if I want to offer feedback to my colleague using a digital platform like Slack - they might not receive my feedback as 'constructive feedback' if we haven't established a firm sense of trust.

As an example, I might offer to them "when you suggested that they use a poll in module one, I felt you could have used an example to really bring home your point". Potentially, they might read this suggestion and just feel that I'm nitpicking. We don't have an established foundation for where feedback can be viewed as constructive. In this sense, no matter what type of feedback I offer, they will view it negatively.

Lencioni's 5 Dysfunctions of a Team explains that each level ties in with the level above it. Continuing with the previous feedback example, if my co-worker and I had foundation of vulnerability-based trust, where we were open with each other past only what we know about each other, they might push back on my feedback and challenge it in a way where we are seeking the truth of the best way to present the information that our organization is presenting to our client.

Regardless of us having this conversation on Slack, these types of conversations will continue happen. If we don't have a strong team, we won't be able to best serve our clients.