5 Dysfunctions of a Team

If you ever get the chance to read The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, do it.

Patrick Lencioni, author of the book and founder of The Table Group, created a leadership fable that demonstrates the top five ways a team can fall apart and how to prevent it from happening ahead of time. This was the topic of discussion for last unit in Elements of Team Leadership.

While all of them are detrimental to team cohesion, the dysfunction "Absences of Trust" is the one that has the greatest negative impact.  As you can see in the pyramid above, trust is the most basic building block of team relations. If that is missing, it will affect other aspects of the team and will eventually lead to a dysfunctional one.

One team that I was on had one member that did not want to have any personal connection with the rest of the team. He didn't tell us about his personal life, about his hobbies or his family. In fact, he openly stated that the only reason he was on the team was to accomplish the goals of the team, not to make friends with anyone else.  While the rest of the members of the team got along really well together, functioned well in group settings, and accomplished many goals, this person eventually became excluded, mostly because he didn't want to trust us with details about his life.  Now that the team has dispersed, that person decided that he wanted to build relationships with us, but now no one trusts him.

As I read through this book, I realized that the dysfunctions do not limit themselves to just a work situation. Lack of trust in any relationship, friends or family included, will ruin any type of personal connection or ability to work efficiently together.  Not only do I hope to apply the counteractions to prevent these dysfunctions from happening, but now I feel like in the future I will be able to be a better leader because I can foresee future problems within a team situation in class project groups, campus clubs, or even in the work setting.

Team's Today

This past unit of study in Element of Team Leadership focused on overcoming obstacles in today's work setting such as dealing with diversity, different cultures, virtual teams and how to evaluate, reward, and build teams according to those issues.
Of the topics, the section on virtual teams was emphasized during our class's Maroon/Orange Game. Following the definition of virtual teams, which is outlined in our Levi textbook as, "any team whose member interactions are mediated by time, distance, and technology," our team was assigned to compete in a game of trading cards. We were paired up with another unknown team in the class, and went through four rounds of trading either a maroon or orange card in an attempt to gain points. The only catch was that we were only allowed to communicate through the online resource, Scholar.
When I went home this weekend and was explaining this to my father, he was very confused. He couldn't understand why we were only allowed talk through the computer when we could call each other, or just talk in person while I was at school. My father has always stressed the importance of face to face communication to my siblings and I, partly because he says it leaves a better impression on people, and partly because he doesn't really understand technology (he didn't start keeping his business records and transactions on the computer until just a few years ago when he hired a bookkeeper). In fact, he has refused to let us get text messaging on our phones because, and this is an actual quote, "texting is the downfall of youth's ability to communicate."

However, this virtual communication comes in very handy. Not only have I used Skype to keep in touch with friends at different school and around the country, but I was getting my wisdom teeth removed during the Maroon and Orange Game, and I was the team leader. So even though I was at home during the game, I could still communicate efficiently enough to make decisions for the team.
As technology advances, there will be more and more opportunities to interact virtually, even if my dad doesn't necessarily agree with it. However, the lessons that I have learned from this chapter will better prepare me to understand how virtual teams interact, how to avoid the downfalls, and to appreciate the available technology.

The Issues Teams Face

This past unit of study in Elements of Team Leadership was one that focused on the issues that teams face. Managing conflict, power and social influences, leadership positions, problem solving, and creativity are all areas that could lead to potential issues in the work setting.
Of this section, the most interesting part of the reading that I was intrigued with was the problem solving topic. When you are working toward a common goal with a group of people, the process of accomplishing that goal can be interpreted as many different ways as there are members. Everyone has their own ideas and ways of trying to meet the expectations that the team sets for itself.
One team that I was on that exemplified the meaning of accomplishing it's  goal was the state winning livestock judging I was on in high school.

(A few of the girls that I judged with at another competition in Louisville for Skillathon.)

Our all girl judging team competed together for years in 4-H and FFA competitions up and down the East Coast and across the country. Over the years, the one piece of advice that our coach told us over and over again was "consistency, consistency, consistency." Whether we were looking at pigs, sheep, cattle, or the occasional goat, we tried to maintain the same goal - see the same thing your teammate sees, that way if one person does well, you all do well.
By keeping a constant eye on our goal, we went on to win the State FFA contest and placed in the top ten at National Convention in 2008.
I don't doubt that my team in this leadership class will excel with the goals we have set for ourselves! Hopefully we will make an impact with the elementary students as we discuss the importance of leadership, teamwork and brainstorming in the coming weeks.

Processing Teamwork

"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."

This quote from Henry Ford says a lot about teamwork in a few simple words. It also epitomizes what we have been discussing in our Elements of Team Leadership class. When working in a group, the first thing to realize is that there are multiple steps to reach the point of efficiency and success. As demonstrated by the case study we watched in class on General Rebecca Halstead of the United States Army, the baby steps of the team work process can begin by assessing what each person is good at and assigning them to roles that they will enjoy and work hard doing. Cooperation and communication are also essential elements that must be included in the team building process in order to be effective with the groups goals and projects and to avoid problems later down the road.


This held true in our in-class learning activity with the balloon challenge. The task was to simply keep our 7 balloons afloat and at the end of the allotted time, we would have collected points based on how many balloons refrained from touching the ground. Prior to the first round, we made a game plan and estimated how many points we thought we might be able to gain. Once the game started, however, we  were surprised to find that other team's plans had been to sabotage our success by trying to knock our balloons out of the air. So we reassembled and made a new plan, utilizing the strength of the boys in the group to act as defense, and  the girls relocated to a safer location in the room. After the second round was over, we had reached our points goal.


As my group gets ready to prepare a workshop for Harding Avenue Elementary for our service learning project, we can take many lessons out of this balloon activity. First, set high goals that will push us to succeed and find roles for each member of the group to excel in. Second, there will more than likely be roadblocks during our process, but through strategy and communication we should over come them or work around them. Finally, group cooperation is what is going to helps us successfully accomplish our goals, not competition within the team. I look forward to this learning process!

Characteristics of Teams

I've been on many teams over the years. Student Government Council, FFA, Forensics, Choir, School-Wide Committees: they all classified as teams, which, according to Daniel Levi, is a structured group of people that work together on a common project for which they all held accountable. Teams come in many shapes and sizes, have a variety of dreams and goals, and are motivated by different drives and passions. Teams are as diverse as the people that compose them.

However, looking back on all the teams that I have either been a member or a leader of, there seems to be a common trend: they want to succeed. Team oftentimes make committees or create goals that they wish to achieve during a limited time frame. There are five defined characteristics of successful teams as outlined in the Group Dynamics for Teams: clear goals, appropriate leadership, organizational support, suitable tasks, and accountability and rewards. Each and every team that I have been on in the past, and the ones that I am in now, have had at least one of these characteristics. Since joining the Elements of Team Leadership class, I have been able to pick apart these characteristics in almost all the groups I have been in, from CFFA to my team in Leadership 1016.

Now that I am able to recognize these traits of success, I can start to utilize them before my teams start projects.  Take for example: In CFFA, I am in charge of the bulletin board committee. As the leader of the committee, I provide an organized agenda of what needs to be accomplished, and once the group meets to put together the informational bulletin boards, the potential reward is that CFFA will gain more members. Also, as members of this class, we can use this information to include in our team contracts to achieve our goals for out team projects. This first unit has been beneficial in recognizing what a team is and how they can be successful in real world application and I plan to use this as a basis for future team compositions.

This is my most favorite team I have been on: the 2009-2010 VA State FFA Officer Team