Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

What happens when managers are the problem … and when a culture of dysfunctional teams results? That’s the question I took to the book discussed here. 

I really enjoyed the pitfalls and possibilities highlighted in … The Five Dysfunctions Of a Team … by Patrick Lencioni …. So often we see where teams run into trouble … but this book goes beyond problems and wherever you see details of  team failure you also find pathways back to restoration of the team’s purposes and developmental levels. I was reminded from stories about the characters  … throughout this entire book … that each person comes to a team with flaws and with talents. At time the flaws seem dominant while talents can be unused or hidden.

It takes great skill to do teamwork well and to optimize people’s capabilities, and Patrick offers good practical advice to make it happen. The book differs from many of its kind … in its honesty and forthrightness. For instance … the management team from hell is rarely so well portrayed … in places other than ... in the memory of the observer.

It’s good to also see stages of recovery that can occur in any firm when the right moves are made to recover health in a team. Sometimes that involves a new player … as seen here in  Kathryn Peterson … a new CEO to turn the place around.

Patrick relied on the pyramid model to lay out reasons that teams fail. Each dysfunction from top to bottom … is fed from and feeds to other problems.


Inattention to Results
Avoidance of Accountability
Lack of Commitment
Fear of Conflict
Absence of Trust

What do you do to recover dysfunctional teams and how do you ensure you build successful groups.

My questions ... concerning each of Patrick’s five dysfunctional elements....

1. What would it take to motivate all members to buy into quality for winning results?
2. How could accountability become an intrapersonal even where each reports weekly the personal progress they’ve made?
3. What are the factors about a team that get higher commitment from some and how can these inspire commitment from all?
4. What brain based tactics that would allow each team member to solve conflicts for the group and to add improvements to their offering?
5. What would it take to both trust and be trusted in this group? 

A person's offering could be great and often the person in conflict simply needs to find a way to contribute in new ways.