The Five Disfunctions of the Team
One of the books I read last year was The Five Disfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. Vic has blogged several times about what has made us successful. I suggest that one of the things is our ability to work as a team. That’s not always easy, but, in general I think all our folks work really hard to be a team. Those teams vary from the task level to project level to office level to management. Mr. Lencioni’s book identifies five primary disfunctions of teams and describes what it takes to pull teamwork off. I’m going to post five posts on this topic - one on each of the five disfunctions.
Disfunction - ABSENCE OF TRUST
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 areas of responsibility.
- Jump to conclusions about the intentions and aptitude 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.
- Dread meetings and find ways to avoid spending time together.
Members of trusting teams €¦
- Admit weaknesses and mistakes.
- Ask for help.
- Accept questions and input about their area 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 office politics.
- Offer and accept apologies without hesitation.
- Look forward to meetings and other opportunities to work together as a group.
Are you doing all you can to be a good teammate?
