What Are the Five Dysfunctions of a Team?

An experienced academic nursing leader, Dr. Devon Berry most recently served as the executive associate dean at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Possessing more than two decades of consulting, teaching, and leading experience in academics, nursing dean Dr. Devon Berry regularly references several books in his work, such as Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

According to Lencioni, there are five things that limit a team’s effectiveness: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. These five dysfunctions are hierarchical and stacked in a pyramid, with absence of trust being at the base. Here is a brief description of each dysfunction:

Absence of Trust
When team members cannot trust one another, they become fearful and are hesitant about honestly communicating. They subsequently spend more time and energy being defensive instead of working together.

Fear of Conflict
Since teams without trust cannot productively debate things that matter, they instead adopt behaviors that help them avoid conflict. This means team members will not openly share their concerns or opinions about certain decisions, thus impeding the decision-making process.

Lack of Commitment
Team members often cannot commit to any decisions they make because those decisions are often inferior due to conflict avoidance. As a result of this lack of commitment, employees often feel unheard and disgruntled about their work environment.

Avoidance of Accountability
If no one is committed to a particular decision, they refuse to accept any accountability if that decision ultimately ends up creating problems. Team members cannot hold each other accountable for ambiguous decisions made by their team, nor can they rely on accountability from their leader or peers.

Inattention to Results
Finally, ineffective teams do not care about the results of their work. No one is being held accountable on the team because no one is committed to its decisions due to a fear of conflict and distrust among team members. Rather than working toward collective success, each team member instead pursues personal goals and status.

Originally published at http://www.behance.net on April 10, 2020.