Review: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

One of the books many of us have heard about and that has undoubtedly been recommended to you at some point is The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni.

Overview

It is an interesting book and one that I recommend to HR professionals and leaders all the time. The reason I recommend it for HR is because HR is not only responsible for working with their respective leader and managers to identify team dysfunctions and issues but also curing and solving them.

This book will help you not only see the symptoms of issues with a team but also identify the root causes, and help you cure them.

The way book uses a narrative to explain what the five dysfunctions are and how they can be overcome. It focuses on a new CEO and her journey and trials of getting a dysfunctional team to function as a team. So it makes for a more entertaining and interesting read than most other books.

Key Takeaways

(1) The only true measure of a team is the results that they achieve. But team dysfunction can hamper and impede results.

We live and work in the realm of business. This realm is ruled by results. At the end of the day, we are paid to achieve results and we can only do this as a team. Hardly anyone achieves anything without the help of someone else. So it is essential that people are working together as a team if results are to be achieved.

(2) Great teams do not hold back. They admit their mistakes, their weaknesses, and their concerns without fear or reprisal.

The foundation that is needed for people to be able to argue, disagree, and innovate is trust. Today, we call this psychological safety. It is essential that team members trust (1) that each member of the team shares the same common goal and (2) that each member cares about the other and would not harm them.

(3) It is a leader's job to create the best team possible.

From hiring, to firing, to managing performance, it is a leader's job to ensure they are creating the best team possible. Leaders must view things from the perspective of the greater good versus any one individual. HR is a leader. HR must also adopt this perspective and correct and challenge leaders when they see decisions that individual focused and not team focused.

(4) Define goals and results in a way that is simple enough to grasp but specific enough to be actionable. Make it so they are related to what you do on a daily basis. Identify a list of result categories to serve as the team's scoreboard.

Teams need to have a north start that guides them. Leaders must work with their teams to set this and provide this to them. HR should have a hand in this. We need to be reinforcing these goals through our work and actions. We also need to help leaders set their goals. Some of the goals that need to be established relate to diversity and inclusion and just work rules in general that leaders may sometimes forget to establish or enforce. But HR needs to have this in mind and push leaders to establish these goals and ways of working.

(5) Think like an owner. We all are responsible for everything.

Leaders, and HR included, sometimes become siloed. We focus on just our stated responsibilities. But in doing so we become a collection of individuals and cease being a team. Remember that you are not just a HR professional but a business professional. Look at the whole picture and think like an owner.

(6) Engage in debate and conflict. Do not hold back if you disagree with a course of action and do not be afraid of conflict.

Most people shy away from conflict. They fear it. But conflict is healthy. It is also what produces the best results. Differing perspectives, thoughts, and opinions are what make outcomes stronger. Strong leaders are those who are not afraid to voice their dissent. In doing so, they are adding value.

HR professionals need to voice their dissent when they have it. They need to be the voice of those who are not present and share the perspective of those who that may have been forgotten.

The Model

1. They trust one another.

2. They engage in unflitered conflict and ideas.

3. They commit to decisions and plans of action.

4. They hold one another accountable for delivering against those plans.

5. They focus on the achievement of collective results.

My One Critique

(1) Disagree but commit

Overall, I believe that this is a very good book. As a business professional, I agree with a lot of it and would recommend it. It has a number of good teachings that leaders and HR professionals could benefit from.

The one critique I have of it is more personal. There was a repeated notion in the book that I had trouble digesting. This was the notion that team members should disagree but ultimately commit to decisions. This idea was popularized recently by Jeff Bezo. But I want to caution against this.

Disagree and commit works in regards to decisions that do not have a ethical or moral elements to them. For example, product choices are benign decisions where it is easy to disagree and commit. However, decisions that highlight moral or ethical issues are harder and I do not advocate for it use in regards to these type of decisions.

As a HR professional, you may encounter a situation where a leader that you are supporting wants to commit an act that you disagree with and do not believe in morally. What will you do? How will you rationalize things? What do your actions say about the type of person you are?

You will have to answer these questions for yourself. Because this is a risk that a HR professional may find themselves faced with, I always encourage HR professionals to really scrutinize the organizations that they join and the leaders they will support. Do your due diligence.

In my career, I have had to make the tough decision on whether I stayed with a nefarious organization that allowed and furthered inequity, harassment, discrimination, and unfairness or I left. Time and time again I have chosen to leave. The treatment of others is more important to me than a job.

So I encourage you to not be a cog in the machine. Remain true to your principles and who you are as a person. Be brave. If you do disagree with a decision, voice it. If it is contrary to who you are as a person and how you live your life, be strong and have the fortitude to move on.

#TeamBuilding #HRStrategy