Do you know the FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM?

Few experiences are better than feeling the energy and power of being in a successful team. So often though, they are a tragic mix of conflict and lethargy. For a good insight into why teams can be dysfunctional, ,Patrick Lencioni in his New York Times Best-Seller The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, tells us what we need to know.

The dysfunctions he sets out are familiar to us all:

1. An absence of trust that stems from an unwillingness to be vulnerable within the group.

2. A fear of conflict grows from an absence of trust resulting in teams being incapable of engaging in plassionate debates of ideas.

3. A lack of commitment grows because team members feign agreement because real opinions haven't been aired.

4. Avoidance of Accountabilty is the fourth dysfunciton. It deveops because the buy-in and commitment is not there.

5. These failures result in an inattention to results.

Like a chain, each dysfunction breaks the power of a team.

If you are thinking about how to improve your team, you have the answers:

1. Ensure they trust one another

2. Let members engage in unfiltered discussion and conflict, if necessary around ideas

3. Get real commitment to decisions and plans of action.

4. Have members hold one another accountable for delivering against agreed plans.