If your team's mediocre, or falling apart, or not kicking goals.....you have, my friend, a _dysfunctional_ team. Dysfunctional teams are the polar opposite of what you need right now. With a complex, volatile, and uncertain future business landscape, you need smooth-running teams with [impact players](https://www.thegrowthfaculty.com/blog/LizWisemanImpactPlayers) and[ Level 5 leaders](https://www.thegrowthfaculty.com/blog/levelfiveleadership) working towards a common goal. In his interview with The Growth Faculty, Patrick Lencioni told us key concepts behind his book _'The Five Dysfunctions of a Team'_ and what simple steps leaders and teams can make to improve team dynamics:

Teams can be destroyed if members are not capable of being vulnerable with each other.

* Its only in **building trust** that we give our teams a fighting chance.
  * We have to **know each other** and be comfortable being real with each other. Thats the foundation of true performance-based teamwork.
  *  **Simple 10 minute exercise:** Have each team member share This is where I grew up. Heres how many kids were in the family, and where I was in the order, and this was the most challenging thing about my childhood.
  *  **Personality testing tools** go a long way to helping teams understand one another. Some people like to keep their options open, others like closure. Some think out loud, others think on their own; until you understand that about one another its really difficult to admit what youre not good at. Pat uses the _Myers_ - _Briggs_ Type Indicator.
  *  **If the leader cant be vulnerable first** , if the leader doesnt take that risk, other people wont and shouldnt. The leader has to say, I will put myself out there and be vulnerable, and 99 times out of a hundred that is honoured, and it works.
  *  **Its why a leader is a leader**. They have to be selfless more than the people they lead. See also [What Makes a Good Leader in 2022: The Definitive Guide](https://www.thegrowthfaculty.com/blog/Definitiveguideleadershipqualities2022)

Dysfunction number one: Lack of Trust

Trust means that even if you disagree, even if youre frustrated at each other on an intellectual level, its not going to transfer to interpersonal conflict. Youre just trying to find the best answer.

*  **Mining for conflict.** Look below the surface, like youre mining for gold or for coal or something else. Youre looking and saying, Okay, theres a disagreement here, but nobodys surfacing it.

Dysfunction Number Two: Fear of Conflict

When theres no conflict, when people dont weigh in, they dont really buy in.

They sit in a meeting and they nod their heads and go, Okay, well we can do that. And then they go back to their team and they say, I dont think this is a very good idea.

Dysfunction number three: Lack of Commitment

The primary source of accountability on a team should be peers.

The best teams in the world don't see a problem and tell their manager. Rather, they do something about it themselves. On a really good team up to 99% of the accountability is peer to peer.

Dysfunction number four: Avoidance of accountability

The CEO has to say the results of the company are more important than any of the departments. Otherwise, theyll pay attention to their _own results_ , their department, their budget, their career, their ego.

Dysfunction number five: Inattention to results

**What's a book you'd recommend?**_Resisting Happiness_ by Matthew Kelly

**If you could co-author a book with anyone, who would it be, and what is the book title?** Fiction writer Dean Koontz. He wrote a series of books about a neurodivergent character whose name was Odd Thomas, O-D-D Thomas, so itd probably be something about him.

**What's a great bit of advice you could share?** Be humble because its the ultimate virtue. Its what allows us to build deeper relationships with people.

**What's been your lowest moment, and how did you recover?** My father passing away \(also\) eight or nine years ago I hit the wall in my career and in my work and in my life, because I wasnt finding any joy in it anymore, because I think I lost sight of why I was doing it. And so I had to stop everything for two weeks, and really pray and find my purpose, and realise that everything I thought I was working for wasnt real.

**How do you relax?** That is my biggest challenge. I dont relax. I have four boys, I love them and I love my work and its all very busy and I love my wife. Relaxing for me is if I can go out and play nine holes of golf with one of my boys, theres really nothing else I can do. So it kind of contains me. Im terrible at it, but its fun. So, golfing, which I should probably commit to doing more.

**Whats a fun fact thats not widely known about you?** Oh, oh, heres one. I think this is kind of fun. I have obsessive compulsive disorder and Ive had it since I was five years old, which means I did all these little quirky things that most people didnt know about, like counting on things. And every number has a gender and a personality, leading up to 12.

**What's the secret of success?** Loving what youre doing in that moment. Dont do something because it can make you rich, or because you think its going to lead to something later. Love it in the moment.

**What's a prediction for 2025?** I think people are going to realise that tech, the promises of technology are vastly overrated.... that its not satisfying, and in fact its dangerous. Hopefully theyll realise that they need God to be satisfied.

_If you'd like to increase the leadership qualities in every team in your organisation why not consider a Growth Faculty 'team' Leadership Pass? 12 months of unlimited access to 40 live virtual events with the world's brightest minds - PLUS, you get access to year-round leadership content on demand with videos, podcasts and book summaries._

_Join a community of knowledge seekers who are inspired by the best._[ **_Choose the plan_**](https://join.thegrowthfaculty.com/#plans) _that's right for you and your team and_[ **_See who's up next_**](https://www.thegrowthfaculty.com/?promoCode=Blog#liveevents)[ **_._**](https://growth.lightning.force.com/lightning/r/Blog_Post__c/a1d4G000004oYwKQAU/view)

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