Risk & Business Magazine Gifford Associates Fall 2017 | Page 17

FEATURE STORY
Patrick Lencioni
Conquering Team
Dysfunction
IMPROVING YOUR TEAM
L
ike it or not, all teams are
potentially dysfunctional.
This is inevitable because
they are made up of fallible,
imperfect human beings.
From the basketball court to the
executive suite, politics and confusion
are more the rule than the exception.
However, facing dysfunction and
focusing on teamwork is particularly
critical at the top of an organization
because the executive team sets the
tone for how all employees work with
one another.
A former client, the founder of a billion
dollar company, best expressed the
power of teamwork when he once told
me, “If you could get all the people in
the organization rowing in the same
direction, you could dominate any
industry, in any market, against any
competition, at any time.”
Whenever I repeat this adage to a group
of leaders, they immediately nod their
heads, but in a desperate sort of way.
They seem to grasp the truth of it
while simultaneously surrendering to
the impossibility of actually making it
happen.
“IF YOU COULD
GET ALL THE
PEOPLE IN THE
ORGANIZATION
ROWING IN THE
SAME DIRECTION...”
Fortunately, there is hope. Counter to
conventional wisdom, the causes of
dysfunction are both identifiable and
curable. However, they don’t die easily.
Making a team functional and cohesive
requires levels of courage and discipline
that many groups cannot seem to muster.
ADDRESSING THE DYSFUNCTIONS
To begin improving your team and
to better understand the level of
dysfunction you are facing, ask yourself
these simple questions:
• Do team members openly and
readily disclose their opinions?
• Are team meetings compelling and
productive?
• Does the team come to decisions
quickly and avoid getting bogged
down by consensus?
• Do team members confront one
another about their shortcomings?
• Do team members sacrifice their
own interests for the good of the
team?
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