What makes a team great? And what makes it dysfunctional? There are five key behaviors that are required for successful teamwork, according to organizational health expert Patrick Lencioni. In this blog series, we’ll examine them all.
I’m often obsessed with corporate teams. Granted, as a coach and trainer, I’m always thinking about how teams can best function. But in particular, I’m really focusing on what makes a team awesome … and what makes it dysfunctional and reactionary.
I just completed my certification and have been exploring the concepts presented by Patrick Lencioni in his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Within this book, Lencioni presents a model he calls the Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team, which are:
- Trust
- Conflict
- Commitment
- Accountability
- Results
Besides being an author, Lencioni is also the founder and president of the Table Group, a management consulting form focused on organizational health. Studies have shown that these five behaviors are essential for well-functioning and healthy teams. In addition, they build upon one another, and cannot be viewed in isolation. In other words, you must have all of these behaviors in place – one at a time – in order to have a results driven outcome.
“Successful teamwork is not about mastering subtle, sophisticated theories, but rather about combining common sense with uncommon levels of discipline and persistence,” Lencioni states. “Ironically, teams succeed because they are exceedingly human. By acknowledging the imperfections of their humanity, members of functional teams overcome the natural tendencies that make teamwork so elusive.”
Because I’m so excited about this concept – and because I want to help you strengthen your teams and ultimately reach your professional and personal goals – I became a certified facilitator of The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team. I will also be presenting the key concepts of these behaviors in a series of blogs.
So are you ready to get started? Check back here next week, when I’ll discuss the first behavior on the list. Trust measures the willingness of individuals to be open and vulnerable with others. It also measures the level of confidence found among team members, which in turn allows each person to feel safe and secure in sharing ideas and being open and unreserved.
So get ready, because we’re going on a fun ride! It’s all about cohesive teamwork … are you in?
