How to Fix Challenged Teams by Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions

What are the Five Dysfunctions of a Team?

At some point in your career, you’ve likely taken over managerial responsibilities for an extremely challenged department or company. It’s the ultimate leadership crisis: How do you unite a team in such a state of dysfunction that it threatens to bring down the entire company?

In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, renowned author Patrick Lencioni asks that very question and arrives at a surprising answer: Building a cohesive team isn’t complicated. In fact, simplicity is key, whether you oversee a small department or the entire staff of a multinational corporation.

That, says Lencioni, is because there are just five dysfunctions of a team at the root of all team struggles: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. While these dysfunctions can easily be viewed as five distinct issues, Lencioni points out that in reality they are all part of an interrelated model. As a result, falling prey to even one of them could mean falling prey to all—and that could be lethal to your team’s success.

Lencioni details these dysfunctions through the story of Kathryn, an imaginary CEO, and outlines actionable steps to overcome them and build a cohesive, effective team.

Behind this story is a deceptively simple yet powerful message for those seeking to be exceptional leaders.

Kathryn’s Story

In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Lencioni uses his familiar writing style, which incorporates a story—this time that of Kathryn Petersen, the new CEO of an imaginary company called DecisionTech.

Once a well-funded and promising startup company in Silicon Valley, DecisionTech had fallen from grace in just two years. Despite having more cash, better core technology, and a more powerful board of directors than its competitors, DecisionTech lagged behind those competitors in both customers and revenue growth.

Kathryn identified the company’s lack of teamwork as part of the problem.

Despite impressive backgrounds and skills, team members behaved badly at meetings—worse, in fact, than Kathryn had ever seen in the business world. The tension was undeniable, discussions were slow, and decisions were never made.

In response, Kathryn announced a series of two-day executive retreats, and at the first, introduced her theory about why the team wasn’t working: It was dysfunctional on five levels.

The best teams succeed not because they’re perfect, but because they’re human, and they overcome their members’ natural tendencies to hide weaknesses.

Kathryn’s Team-Building Strategies

Kathryn implemented several strategies focused on building a cohesive team to address and prevent the five dysfunctions.

• Annual leadership meetings (three days, off-site). Topics might include strategic planning and budget discussions; time might also be dedicated to leadership development.
• Quarterly staff meetings (two days, off-site). Topics might include a review of major goals, such as strategic or financial objectives, discussions of employee performance, and resolution of key issues.
• Weekly staff meetings (two hours, on-site). Topics might include a review of recent activities and progress toward goals; time might also be dedicated to resolving key issues.
• Ad-hoc topical meetings (two hours, on-site). Topics might include discussion of issues that cannot be adequately addressed during weekly staff meetings.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

According to Lencioni, companies fail to build a cohesive team because they unknowingly succumb to the five dysfunctions of a team, which unfold progressively like falling dominoes, each one triggering the next and undermining teamwork.

Dysfunction 1: Absence of Trust

Lencioni states that trust lies at the heart of a functioning team, and teamwork cannot exist without it.

In this context, trust is the ability of team members to make themselves vulnerable— essentially revealing weaknesses without concern about repercussions.

Achieving vulnerability-based trust isn’t easy. It requires an in-depth understanding of each team member’s skills and weaknesses, which can only be revealed through shared experiences over time. But a team can dramatically accelerate the process with a few tools:

• Conduct a personal-histories exercise: Have team members answer a short list of questions about themselves during a meeting.
• Facilitate a team-effectiveness exercise: Ask team members to identify each person’s most significant contribution and the area most in need of improvement.
• Complete personality profiling: Have team members undergo personality assessments, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and share their results.

Lencioni emphasizes that as a leader, you must take the initiative and demonstrate genuine (not staged) vulnerability first—even if doing so may entail losing face in front of your team.

Dysfunction 2: Fear of Conflict

Lencioni explains that an absence of trust creates the foundation for the second dysfunction: fear of conflict. Distrusting teams avoid engaging in passionate debates of ideas.

In this context, fear of conflict is the unwillingness to engage in healthy debate. It’s important that team members know that the only purpose of discussion is to produce the best possible solution as quickly as possible. Teams that understand this accept conflict, resolve issues, and emerge from heated debates with no collateral damage.

Developing the ability to engage in healthy debate without the fear of conflict requires acknowledging that conflict is necessary, then taking steps to make conflict productive. Lencioni suggests a few tools:

• Use the Thomas-Kilmann conflict mode instrument (TKI): This tool helps team members understand their natural tendencies in conflict situations, recognize their patterns, and adjust their behavior as needed.
• Assign a miner: Designate a team member to act as a “miner,” someone who uncovers hidden disagreements within the team and brings them to light.
• Provide reminders: While mining, team members should encourage one another to stay engaged in healthy debate by reminding them that the process is essential and productive.

Lencioni emphasizes that as a leader, you must exercise restraint when your team engages in conflict. Even if it feels messy, allow your team to work through it.

Dysfunction 3: Lack of Commitment

When team members haven’t aired their opinions, they rarely commit to decisions.

Lencioni explains that in this context, clarity and buy-in drive commitment. In other words, functioning teams make clear decisions and move forward with complete buy-in from every team member, including those who voted against the decision. As a result, no one harbors doubts about whether to support the agreed-upon course of action.

Lencioni argues that a lack of commitment often stems from a desire for consensus and certainty, which are not necessary. Functioning team members, he says, understand that people don’t need to get their way in order to support a decision; they only need to know that their opinions have been considered. Functioning team members also unite and commit to clear courses of action even when they’re not sure the decision is correct.

Lencioni states that ensuring commitment requires using a few simple tools to maximize clarity and secure buy-in:

• Cascade messaging: At the end of each meeting, review key decisions made and agree about what needs to be communicated to constituencies about those decisions.
• Set deadlines: Establish and clearly communicate deadlines for decision-making, and commit to those dates with consistency.
• Plan for contingencies: Identify the worst-case scenario for each decision and discuss contingency plans.
• Begin with low-risk scenarios: Build confidence in decision-making by starting with situations that involve minimal risk.

Lencioni emphasizes that as a leader, you must feel comfortable making decisions that might be wrong, push for closure, and enforce adherence to schedules.

Dysfunction 4: Avoidance of Accountability

When there is a lack of commitment, team members develop a fourth dysfunction: an avoidance of accountability.

In this context, accountability refers to the willingness of team members to call out their peers on behaviors that might hurt the team.

It makes sense why this dysfunction is so linked to the third: When there is no clear plan of action, how do you identify counterproductive actions? The essence of this dysfunction, however, is an unwillingness to tolerate the discomfort that accompanies difficult conversations.

Lencioni explains that ensuring accountability relies on peer pressure, as team members hesitate to let down others, particularly those they respect. A few classic management tools can help in this regard:

• Publish objectives and standards: Clearly define what the team needs to achieve and identify who is responsible for each deliverable to facilitate accountability.
• Conduct progress reviews: Regularly evaluate and discuss how team members are performing against the established objectives and standards.
• Reward team efforts: Shift rewards from individuals to the team as a whole to foster a culture of accountability and encourage collective success.

Lencioni emphasizes that as a leader, you must let the team serve as the primary accountability mechanism, stepping in as a disciplinarian only when the team fails, which should happen rarely.

Dysfunction 5: Inattention to Results

Avoidance of accountability creates an environment in which team members put their individual needs (such as career) or even divisional needs (such as status) above the team’s need for results.

Lencioni identifies caring about something more than the team’s collective goals as the ultimate dysfunction. A good organization defines its objectives for a specific period, and achieving these goals drives its success.

As a result, an unrelenting focus on team objectives and clearly defined outcomes is essential. To achieve this, it’s important to make results clear and reward only those behaviors that contribute to results. Ideas include:

• Declare the desired results publicly: Make a public commitment to specific outcomes, including financial goals and other objectives that support overall success.
• Establish results-based rewards: Link team members’ rewards, such as compensation, to achieving specific team outcomes, and reward only those who contribute meaningfully to team goals.

Lencioni emphasizes that as a leader, you must set the tone. If team members see you prioritizing anything above the team’s collective goals, they will follow suit.

How to Fix a Dysfunctional Team

Most people dread attending team meetings. That’s no surprise: Rarely have I encountered a highly functional team that addresses the “meta” of the meeting—the underlying dynamics that drive or hinder success. Teams are often so focused on the task at hand that they fail to step back and assess the team dynamic. That’s unfortunate, because the team dynamic can deeply impact how effectively a team approaches and executes its goals. Without a keen, in-the-moment, observational review of the team dynamic, teams seldom improve. Dysfunction can take root, leaving the team stuck at its current level of performance. They risk becoming stuck at their current functional (or, more often, dysfunctional) level. This stagnation often leads to frustration, disengagement, and a lack of commitment among members. Understanding how to fix a dysfunctional team starts with addressing these issues head-on.

Team meetings don’t have to be dreadful, however. By applying Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team Pyramid, teams can transform meetings from dreaded obligations into energizing sessions that drive efficiency and execution. Lencioni’s framework emphasizes the importance of trust, healthy conflict, commitment, accountability, and results. Investing time in identifying and addressing these dysfunctions may seem like extra effort at first, but it yields measurable improvements in team cohesion and performance.

When teams embrace Lencioni’s dysfunctions of a team model, they create an environment where meetings are purposeful, goals are achieved, and every member contributes with energy and engagement. They should also increase efficiency and improve execution. Cultivating awareness of Lencioni’s five dysfunctions may require investing additional time, but it will pay dividends many times over in measurable results.