The book and the model
Patrick Lencioni presented the model in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (2002), written as a fable about a new CEO who rebuilds a divided executive team. The model is shown as a pyramid - each dysfunction stems from the one below.
Five dysfunctions
| Level | Dysfunction | Symptoms | Opposite |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (base) | Absence of trust | hiding mistakes and weaknesses, not asking for help | vulnerability-based trust |
| 2 | Fear of conflict | artificial harmony, boring meetings, “corridor” conversations | open, productive debate about ideas |
| 3 | Lack of commitment | ambiguous decisions, revisiting the same issues | clear decisions everyone supports |
| 4 | Avoidance of accountability | tolerating mediocrity, no peer-to-peer challenge | holding one another to commitments |
| 5 (top) | Inattention to results | ego, status and departmental interest above the common goal | focus on collective results |
The logic of the model
- Without trust people will not risk honest conflict about ideas.
- Without conflict - without voicing their views - they will not commit to a decision. Lencioni: people do not have to agree to commit, but they must feel heard.
- Without commitment nobody will hold others accountable for what they themselves did not support.
- Without accountability people focus on their own interests instead of the team's results.
The leader's task
The leader should be the first to show vulnerability (admit a mistake), surface hidden conflict (mining for conflict), close discussions with a clear decision, confront difficult behaviour and put collective goals above individual ones.
Assessment and use
The model is popular in practice and workshops; it was not built on scientific research, but its elements are consistent with research on trust, psychological safety and task conflict.
In Church communities the second dysfunction is especially common: a pious “artificial harmony” in which difficult matters are discussed outside the meeting. “Growth environment and team dysfunctions” is one of the modules of the Animator and Leader Toolkit course of the Akademia Przywództwa. See Patrick Lencioni, team leadership.
Sources
P. Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, Jossey-Bass 2002 P. Lencioni, Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Jossey-Bass 2005 Akademia Przywództwa, Animator and Leader Toolkit, akademiaprzywodztwa.pl/narzedziownik