What is it?

Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team framework helps develop actionable steps to mend and strengthen your team.

Why is it useful?

Have you seen a team fall apart due to bickering, infighting, or a general lack of respect? The Five Dysfunctions of a Team framework created by Patrick Lencioni sheds light on the root causes of team dysfunction and provides guidance on how to address them effectively.

Objective

• To use Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team framework to help develop actionable steps to mend and strengthen your team.

Resources Required

• Flipchart, pen and paper.
• Open space for people to move around.
• No tables and chairs.

Process

1. Setup a room - 1 flipchart for each dysfunction. Place them apart in different areas of the room.
2. Discuss the 5 Dysfunctions - Make sure everyone has a clear understanding of what each of the dysfunctions is. You can use the summaries I’ve given you in the slide pack as the basis of a discussion and/or print off the table in the pack and hand them out. Speak about team characteristics generally at this stage. You don’t want to discuss your team’s positives and negatives. That comes later.
3. Think - Give your team 5 minutes to think (in silence) about this question - “How is our team doing in relation to each of the Five Dysfunctions?”
4. Write & Share - Ask them to write points on Post-its and put them up on the flipcharts. One point per note. Invite them to walk around the room taking in what others have written and use that as inspiration to add more.
5. Plenary - Discuss as a group key insights.
   • What jumps out?
   • Which of the 5 dysfunctions should we concentrate most on improving? - Is there anything easy/simple/cheap we could do right away that will make a big difference?
   • What should we do next to take this forward?
6. Create an action plan for the next steps.

Secret Sauce

• Don’t allow discussion in the Think step. You don’t want any consensus-building at this stage.
• Don't miss the Think step. This is where the magic happens as each person forms their own opinion independently before moving on to the Write and Share step.
• If people don’t seem to understand what the Five Dysfunctions are when you start on Step 3 then don’t be afraid to rewind and spend more time discussing as a group the definitions of the Dysfunctions and general characteristics. It’s important everyone understands what each Dysfunction means before they start considering their own team.