Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Countries disintegrate, place of worship and corporation fail, people become dysfunctional, descendants lose their direction, and mankind drift from God on behalf of one distracting reason; insufficiency of leadership. These disappointments are often for the reason that of the deficiency of instruction, appropriate leadership, and misperception on what Christian leadership subsists and exactly how that leadership is pertinent to every component of professional and personal life. From a Christian worldview perspective, Psalm 112:5 explains, “A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion” (NKJ). A Christian manager should always keep in mind that bounteousness and admiration for God, demonstrates that one has placed trust in Him, and not our material possessions.

In collaboration, all parts of the team are working together to achieve the same mission. Collaboration builds espirit de corps, which is directly connected to mutual trust. Research shows that teams with a higher sense of espirit de corps trust each other more. They have a sense of comradeship. These teams know that each individual is going to pull their own weight and do what they need to do in order to accomplish a mission. This heightens teamwork, as team members are more inclined to collaborate with each other. A leader must also get to know their subordinates individually. When each person feels like their leader has their best interest in mind, this fosters a climate that develops mutual trust and shared understanding. Through all these concepts, the leader may establish a climate which continues the development of trust and understanding between leaders and subordinates produced through the distributive and collaborative leadership process.

Throughout the beginning of the book ‘The Five Dysfunction of a Team” by Patrick Lencioni it was apparent that the DecisionTech, Inc. executive team was not a team at all. This group of individuals lacked some of the key attributes that make great teams. One of the most important attributes that was being neglected was that the executive group did not have interdependent members. This attribute was highlighted in the beginning of the book when the author said “Backstabbing among the executives had become an art. There was no sense of unity or camaraderie on the team, which translated into a muted level of commitment” (7). Due to the executive teams lack of interdependence, critical deadlines began to slip and morale deteriorated.

She is expected to build a system that demonstrates trust, understands conflict, commits to collective decision making, and have the ability to hold one another accountable for the betterment of the company. Furthermore, Lencioni incorporates his real life theory the five dysfunctions of a team, into the fable in hopes to persuade the reader to use his methods in real world scenarios. Moreover, Lencioni then describes the five levels of dysfunctions in depth supporting his stance that teamwork is the most important aspect of any successful business. “Teamwork comes down to the mastering of set behaviors that are once theoretically uncomplicated, trust.” (Lencioni, 2002, pg. 21) Furthermore, inspiring the first team dysfunction in absences of trust. The absence of trust ultimately stems from a team being unable to open up to one another about their strengths and weaknesses. “Trust is the foundation of real teamwork and failure also referring the failure on the part of the team members to open up to one another.” (Lencioni, 2002, pg. 42) Furthermore, supporting the authors purpose of the fable, in which is, success depends being committed to enforcing

The process of leadership requires self-identification of behaviors and reflection on one’s attitude (Bell, 2010). Among the thousands of leadership books in print today, this book is one that takes a different approach to examining leadership from a Christian perspective as well as relating to the process of leadership along with many

Over the past semester there have been so many great things I have learned in this class. Since the start of my education at Southwestern Assemblies of God, I have looked forward to taking this course more than any other. I am glad I had the opportunity to take it with a knowledgeable and wise professor. Throughout my life, the concepts of management and leadership have always been intriguing. Prior to my time here at SAGU I attended a leadership school called Masters Commission USA in Lewisville, Texas. There I learned the basic principles of how to become an effective leader. Although I have had a small amount of training in the past, it has been amazing to learn under your teaching. Being an effective manager is a daunting task to say the least because of the weight it carries. I definitely feel more equipped after taking your course. The concepts I am going to discuss in this paper have been reiterated over the course of the semester and have changed the way I view management. These principles that have changed my perspective are: the idea that Jesus is the center of our success, the core of management is servant leadership, and finding the balance in being a goose, an eagle, and a turkey. These principles are the key to becoming a successful

running one group for six months or longer seems quite exorbitant! The theme of this book was based on an organizational approach to effective team building skills. The fable began by giving a brief background of the cooperation, DecisionTech, Inc. which was what this story was centered around. There was a new CEO, of the corporation, Kathryn, and her main task was to create effective teamwork among her staff who were the key leaders of this company. After observing the interaction and dialogue of all team members for several weeks, she finally decided to call an off-site meeting and invited her staff members to attend. The meeting was to take place just far enough to where

Absence of trust (among team members) - this is where the team members is not open with one another and their unwillingness to be vulnerable. Not open with one another about mistakes and weaknesses makes it impossible to build trust in a team.

The fourth aspect of a dysfunctional group is lack of communication. I believe that this is by far the most important aspect of a good team. Without good communication it is hard to maintain accountability, trust, and to express opinions. The key to success in all the ice breaker games was being able to communicate with your team effectively in a manner that everybody you were working with understood the point you were trying to make. We have learned that communication is more than just verbal it is also nonverbal, such as the body language and hand gestures that you use. In my group’s ice breaker game and presentation we tried to demonstrate that non verbal communication was important through the use of video as well as when we required our groups of to use charades type gestures to explain to the person assigned to draw what they were supposed to be drawing.

If we were randomly asked to define the word “team” many of us would have numerous variations of this multifaceted word; some would proclaim it means helping others, backing one another while others might define it as unanimity or culpability. The French associate the word team, with the slogan “Esprit de corps” a majestic word that was adopted by the United States Marine Corps. This matchless catchphrase means: “a sense of unity, of enthusiasm for common interests and responsibilities.” As early as childhood it has been ingrained into us that teamwork is congenial and effortlessly achieved. When in fact it wasn’t until society was introduced to Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team, written by Patrick Lencioni, did civilization start to realize that teamwork is hard to measure and even harder to achieve because the has been loosely used as well as misinterpret. Lencioni understands that teamwork is a difficult thing to measure and achieve, his book reminds us that the power that comes from teamwork cannot be denied. It would be hypothesized that through the authors’ comprehensive exploration and methodical examination, he reveals ways for civilization to comprehend the term as well as employ each other successful; conversely this can’t be done until the dysfunctional factor is properly identified and controlled. Hence the reason for his in-depth plunge in explaining the five dysfunctions and method that can be utilized by teams to overcome the dysfunctionalities.

Effective leadership approaches from a biblical perspective consist of God’s nature in his manifested character. Christian leaders are willing to pay the price to lead in Christ’s affliction. Paul said there is a price to pay in order to lead and Jesus reminded us, “Remember what I told you: 'A servant is not greater than his master. ' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also” (John 15:20, New International Version). Christian leaders need core attributes of God’s styles and approaches, support and linkage from scriptures, and knowledge of his leadership models of truth for effective leadership. However, these perspectives will gave me a better appreciation and insight of who God is and who I can be with his guidance.

Communication is the key to success. A team without communication could never be successful. Communication is important because the group needs a clear goal and also they need to have shared objectives. For example, in football a defense needs to be on the same page; if two players on the defense are on different pages then the defense will not be successful. You need everyone to share the same objective in order to succeed, not just a few people but all as one. To ensure a team’s success, everyone on the team has to be accountable. Everyone has a job on the team to contribute to becoming successful as a whole. Also you need trust in order to become successful; you have to be able to trust in your team that they will give their all for the team.

Nations crumble, churches and business fail, families become dysfunctional, children lose their way, and men stray from God for one disturbing reason; lack of leadership. These failures are often because of the lack of instruction, proper leadership, and confusion over what Christian leadership is and how that leadership is applicable to every facet of business and personal life.

The science of team building is an art. The uncontrollable variables are people. Just putting a group of talented individuals together for the sole purpose of goal achievement can be met with disastrous results. It can leave individuals left feeling unfulfilled and lead to costly mistakes in the long run. While team building can be considered an art, there are some methods and approaches that can assist with successful builds. While no approach is full proof, taking time to acclimate oneself with human

This paper will discuss how to make a dysfunctional project team successful. Project managers sometimes go through experiences of great success and dysfunctional failure. Some projects become "behind schedule, over budget, members quit due