1. A Healthy Team
Source: The Five Dysfunctions of
a Team; Lencioni, Patrick (2002)

2. The Foundation
TRUST

3. Absence of trust
• There is no team if
members are not
comfortable being
vulnerable with one
another
• Time and energy are
then spent managing
behaviors and
interactions within the
group
• Trust is the
confidence among
team members that
their peers’ intentions
are good, and that
there is no reason to
be protective or
careful around the
group.

4. Members of teams with an absence
of Trust:
• Conceal their weaknesses and mistakes from one another
• Hesitate to ask for help or provide constructive feedback
• Hesitate to offer help outside their own area of responsibility
• Jump to conclusions about the intentions and aptitudes of others without
attempting to clarify them.
• Fail to recognize and tap into one another’s skills and experiences
• Waste time and energy managing their behaviors for effect
• Hold grudges and are not genuinely open
• Dread meetings and find reasons to avoid spending time together

5. Members of Trusting Teams:
• Admit weaknesses and mistakes
• Ask for help
• Accept questions and input about their areas of responsibility
• Give one another the benefit of the doubt before arriving at a
negative conclusion
• Take risks in offering feedback and assistance
• Appreciate and tap into one another’s skills and experiences
• Focus time and energy on important issues, not politics
• Offer and accept apologies without hesitation
• Look forward to meetings and other opportunities to work as a group

6. NO TRUST sets the tone
FEAR OF CONFLICT
NO TRUST = Invulnerability

7. Absence of Conflict
• Team members do
not engage in
passionate and
emotional debate
• Group think and loss
of creativity
• Veiled discussions
and guarded
comments
• ARTIFICIAL
HARMONY
• ‘Back door’ politics
• Tension and
avoidance
• Issues are revisited
again and again
without resolution
• Alliances formed
outside of the team

8. Teams That Fear Conflict:
• Have boring meetings
• Create environments where back-door
politics and personal attacks thrive
• Ignore controversial topics that are critical
to team success
• Fail to tap into all the opinions and
perspectives of team members
• Waste time and energy with posturing and
interpersonal risk management

9. Teams That Engage in Conflict:
• Have lively, interesting meetings
• Extract and exploit the ideas of all team
members
• Solve real problems quickly
• Minimize politics
• Put critical topics on the table for
discussion and do not retreat from healthy
debate

10. NO CONFLICT sets the tone
LACK OF
COMMITMENT
FEAR OF CONFLICT
NO TRUST = Invulnerability

11. Absence of Commitment
• No confidence that others
aren’t quietly harboring
doubts whether to
support the actions
agreed upon
• No clarity, purpose or
buy-in: AMBIGUITY
• ‘going along’ or group
think
• Invalidating environment,
not being heard
• No willingness to rally
around the team
• Hedging bets and
delaying important
decisions
• Ripple effects for clients,
uncertainty
• Team is not clearly
aligned which causes
confusion for clients
• Fear to commit to
decisions

12. A Team that Fails to Commit:
• Creates ambiguity among the team about
direction and priorities
• Watches windows of opportunity close due to
excessive analysis and unnecessary delay
• Breeds lack of confidence and fear of failure
• Revisits discussions and decisions again and
again
• Encourages second-guessing among team
members

13. A Team that Commits:
• Creates clarity around direction and priorities
• Aligns the entire team around common
objectives
• Develops an ability to learn from mistakes
• Takes advantage of opportunities before missing
out; allows for contingencies
• Moves forward without hesitation
• Changes direction without hesitation or guilt

14. NO COMMITMENT sets the tone
AVOIDANCE
OF
ACCOUNTABILITY
LACK OF
COMMITMENT
FEAR OF CONFLICT
NO TRUST = Invulnerability

15. Avoidance of Accountability
• No clear plan of action
• Fear of calling out
problems
(disempowered)
• No clear expectation
• Unwillingness to tolerate
personal discomfort
• Personal relationships
interfere, alliances are
reinforced outside of the
group
• Relationships deteriorate
and issues become
‘personal’
• Loss of respect for one
another
• Loss of motivation
• Loss of enthusiasm
• Standards of the group
erode- LOW
STANDARDS

16. A Team that Avoids Accountability:
• Creates resentment among team members who
have different standards of performance
• Encourages mediocrity
• Misses deadlines and key opportunities
• Places an undue burden on the team leader as a
source of discipline
• Starts to function like a dysfunctional family with
sibling rivalry, discord, and seeking parental
(leader) approval

17. A Team that Hold One Another
Accountable:
• Ensures that poor performers feel pressure to be
successful by SHARED responsibility
• Identifies potential problems quickly by
questioning one another’s approaches without
hesitation
• Establishes respect among team members who
are held to the same high standards without
‘sibling rivalry’ or seeking ‘parental approval’
• Avoids excessive bureaucracy around
performance management and corrective
actions / disciplinary actions / paternalistic
cultures

18. AVOIDANCE OF
ACCOUNTABILITY sets the tone:
NO
RESULTS
AVOIDANCE
OF
ACCOUNTABILITY
LACK OF
COMMITMENT
FEAR OF CONFLICT
NO TRUST = Invulnerability

19. Inattention to Results:
• Members care about something other than the
collective goals of the group (or the client)
• Individual needs are more important then
collective goals or results for the client
• Ego, career, self recognition and territory
• Status and power struggles, competition in
getting own needs met at the expense of the
client and the team
• No meaningful results or objectives

20. A Team that is NOT focused on
RESULTS:
• Stagnates / fails to grow
• Rarely achieves positive outcomes
• Loses achievement-oriented employees
• Encourages team members to focus on
their own needs and individual goals at the
expense of the client
• Is easily distracted

21. A team that FOCUSES on
COLLECTIVE RESULTS:
• Retains achievement-oriented employees
• Minimizes behaviors that are ego-driven
• Enjoys success and suffers failures
• Benefits from individuals who subjugate
their own goals/interests for the good of
the team (and the client)
• Avoids distractions

22. A Healthy Team
Collective
RESULTS
ACCOUNTABLE
FOR
DELIVERY
COMMITS to Decisions
and TAKES ACTION
ENGAGES IN UNFILTERED CONFLICT
TRUST

23. Teams succeed because they are
human, not despite their humanity
• By acknowledging the imperfections of their
humanity, members of functional teams
overcome the natural tendencies that make
trust, conflict, commitment, accountability, and a
focus on results so elusive.