SECOND Edition

The FIVE
DYSFUNCTIONS
of a TEAM
THE OFFICIAL GUIDE TO CONDUCTING THE FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS
WORKSHOPS FOR TEAMS AND TEAM LEADERS

FAC I L I TATO R ’ S GUIDE

P AT R I C K L E N C I O N I

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 Contents
PREFACE xi

PART 1 OVERVIEW 1
INTRODUCTION 3
ABOUT THIS FACILITATOR’S GUIDE 4
PREPARE YOURSELF TO CONDUCT TRAINING 5
GUIDELINES FOR A SUCCESSFUL WORKSHOP 6
CUSTOMIZING THE WORKSHOP 10

PART 2 THE FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM MODEL 11

A QUICK OVERVIEW 13
BUILDING TRUST 15
MASTERING CONFLICT 16
ACHIEVING COMMITMENT 17
EMBRACING ACCOUNTABILITY 19
FOCUSING ON RESULTS 20

PART 3 THE FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM:

A WORKSHOP FOR TEAMS 21
GETTING STARTED 23
WORKSHOP FORMATS 25
WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES 26
WORKSHOP AGENDAS 27
PLANNING A WORKSHOP 32
PRE-WORK 35
PLANNING CHECKLIST 36

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 SUPPLIES, MATERIALS, AND EQUIPMENT CHECKLIST 37
FACILITATOR’S SCRIPT FOR A TWO-DAY WORKSHOP FOR TEAMS 38
NEXT STEPS FOR A TEAM WORKSHOP 119
TEAMWORK ROADMAP 121
TEAM WORKSHOP FOLLOW-UP CHECKLIST 123
WORKSHOP FOR TEAMS SUGGESTED FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES 125

PART 4 THE FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM:

A WORKSHOP FOR TEAM LEADERS 127
GETTING STARTED 129
PAGE
WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES 130
VIII
WORKSHOP AGENDAS 131
PLANNING A WORKSHOP 134
PRE-WORK 137
PLANNING CHECKLIST 138
SUPPLIES, MATERIALS, AND EQUIPMENT CHECKLIST 139
FACILITATOR’S SCRIPT FOR A ONE-DAY WORKSHOP FOR TEAM LEADERS 140
NEXT STEPS AFTER A TEAM LEADER WORKSHOP 205

PART 5 GUIDELINES FOR DISTANCE AND

VIRTUAL LEARNING 209

APPENDIX 213
COMMON OBJECTIONS TO A WORKSHOP 215
SAMPLE PARTICIPANT NOTIFICATION E-MAILS 216
OWNER’S MANUAL EXERCISE 222
QUICK QUIZ ANSWERS 224
THEMATIC GOAL EXAMPLES 225
MANAGING AND ORGANIZING AROUND THE THEMATIC GOAL 229
ESTABLISHING A THEMATIC GOAL ROADMAP 231

CONTENTS

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 SUPPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES 234
STORIES 238
SAMPLE TEAM ASSESSMENT REPORT 247
SAMPLE TEAM ASSESSMENT COMPARISON REPORT 273
HOW TO DEBRIEF THE COMPARISON TEAM ASSESSMENT REPORT 285

RESOURCES 287
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 289
HOW TO USE THE FLASH DRIVE 291
PAGE

IX

CONTENTS

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 About This Facilitator’s Guide
This Facilitator’s Guide includes everything you need to plan, prepare for, conduct, and follow up
on each of the two workshops. You do not need any special expertise in team development, but
facilitating some of the exercises can be tricky, so experience in human resources, training,
or facilitation will be helpful.

The Facilitator’s Guide includes:

◾ An overview of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team model on which the two workshops are based

◾ The information you need to plan and prepare for each workshop, including notifying
participants and assigning pre-work
PAGE

4 ◾ Checklists to help you keep track during the planning process

◾ Guidelines for customizing your workshop to meet your group’s specific needs

◾ Guidelines to help you run a successful workshop

◾ Objectives and agendas for two-day, one-day, and half-day formats of the Teams Workshop
and one-day and half-day formats of the Workshop for Team Leaders

◾ Scripts for a two-day Workshop for Teams and a one-day Workshop for Team Leaders that you
can use as is or adapt for the group and the time you have available

◾ Suggestions for following up the workshops

◾ An appendix with supplementary information, including sample participant notification letters,

answers to common questions, supplementary activities, and additional information you
might find useful

◾ A flash drive with two PowerPoint presentations, one for each workshop

◾ A poster of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team model

◾ A sample of the Participant Workbook for each workshop (If you are conducting the
one-day or half-day format of the Teams workshop or the half-day format of the Team
Leader workshop, you will not use all the workbook pages. You can use the others in
follow-up sessions.)

◾ Samples of the Online Team Assessment Report and the Team Assessment
Comparison Report

◾ A sample of the print version of the Team Assessment

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 Guidelines for a Successful
Workshop
The best way to make sure that your workshop is successful is to prepare carefully, become as
familiar as possible with the material you will be delivering, and stay attuned to the group. Here are
some things to keep in mind.

These are highly interactive workshops. The exercises and discussions are designed to help the
participants remain engaged, draw on their own experiences, and apply the concepts to improve
the functioning of their teams. Thus, there is a minimum of theory and “lecture.” Keep explanations
brief, and if you make any adjustments to the workshop content, be sure not to replace interactive
PAGE
exercises with lectures.
6
Be set up and ready to go when participants arrive. A workshop will run more smoothly and you
will feel more confident if you arrive early enough to make sure that everything is ready. Leave
enough time to rearrange the seating if necessary, set up the flip chart easels, and make sure that
supplies, materials, and refreshments are in place. Check the equipment to be sure that it is in
working order and get the video ready if you plan to use it. Be ready in enough time so that you
can greet participants when they walk in the door.

Start on time and keep your eye on the clock. No matter which workshop you are conducting
or which format you choose, there is a great deal to accomplish in the available time. It’s very
important to start on time, move as quickly as you can without rushing through key explanations,
discussions, and activities, and make sure that people come back promptly from breaks. The script
includes estimated times, but each workshop will differ, so make sure to watch the time. Once you
fall behind, it will be difficult or impossible to catch up.

TIPS FOR MANAGING THE TIME

If you start a workshop late or spend too much time on a single activity,
you’ll always be trying to play catch-up. Here are some things you can do
to manage the time.

◾ Put a cushion in the start time. Instead of announcing the start

time as “8:30,” encourage people to arrive early for refreshments:
“Continental breakfast at 8:15, workshop begins at 8:30 a.m.”

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 TIPS FOR MANAGING THE TIME (CONT.)
◾ Keep your eye on the clock and the agenda. Track the time and be aware
of exactly where you are at a given moment in the sequence of
content and activities. Bring activities to a close when the time is
up. You can say things like, “You’ve brought up some great points,
but we seem to be veering off in another direction” or “It seems as if
we could talk about this issue all day, but then we’d get nothing else
done, so let’s capture the key points and move on.”

◾ Get people back from breaks on time. This is tricky. You can try setting
up a ground rule about coming back on time from breaks, putting PAGE

an “out-the-door” reminder on an easel near the door, asking for 7

volunteers to be “break monitors,” or incorporating breaks into group
activities. Let people know that you’re serious by starting as soon as
the break is over, even if everyone isn’t back.

Manage discussions so that they remain focused. When discussions go off track or go on longer
than necessary, you can fall behind very quickly. Keep discussions focused, and stop them when
they lose steam, they have accomplished their purpose, or the allotted time is up.

TIPS FOR MANAGING DISCUSSIONS

It’s not always easy to stop a discussion or get it back on track. Here are a
few suggestions:

◾ When a participant brings up side issues: Some side issues are

important, but if you stop to discuss them, you’ll find yourself at
the end of the day without having accomplished the objectives. It can
help to post a flip-chart page labeled “Parking Lot” to capture those
issues as they come up. Then you can say something like, “That’s a great
point, Mel, but we’ve got a lot to do today, so maybe this isn’t the best
time to discuss it. Let’s put it in the Parking Lot.” After the workshop, the
team or team leader can decide what to do with those items.

PART 1. OVERVIEW

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 TIPS FOR MANAGING DISCUSSIONS (CONT.)
◾ When the discussion is unusually productive: It’s hard to stop a
discussion in which participants are clearly engaged, focused on the
topic, and apparently productive. When that happens, you might
decide to drop or shorten another activity to allow time for the
discussion to continue a little longer. Be very careful, however, not to
drop or truncate essential activities. Also be selective: just because
participants are enjoying a discussion does not necessarily mean
that it’s productive.
PAGE

Make sure people understand the instructions for activities and remain available while they do
them. Be careful not to rush through the instructions for the activities—make sure that participants
know what they are expected to do. Stay in the room while they are working. Be unobtrusive, but
remain alert for signs that someone is confused or a discussion is going off track. Help people
keep track of the time: “You have five more minutes to. . . .” “Please wrap up your discussion
within the next five minutes.”

TIPS FOR ENCOURAGING ACTIVE PARTICIPATION

In any workshop, some people are more likely to speak up and
participate actively than others are. That’s fine—people have different
ways of learning. But be aware of any participants who seem unusually
reluctant to speak or to engage in the activities. It’s important not to
make anyone feel uncomfortable by forcing him or her to speak, but you
can try these strategies to encourage them:

◾ If one or two people are dominating the discussion, you can say
something like, “Leslie, you are making some great points. Can
anyone expand on that? Jason or Susan, do you have anything to
add?”

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 TIPS FOR ENCOURAGING ACTIVE PARTICIPATION (CONT.)
◾ Institute a round-robin rule: After someone has spoken, he or she
needs to wait for one or two other people to speak before speaking up
again.

◾ If someone is obviously holding back from speaking or participating

in activities, speak with the person quietly during a break: “Marcos,
I notice that you are sitting back instead of participating in the
workshop. Do you just prefer to listen, or is there something you’d like
me to know?”
PAGE

Keep things moving. When workshops move too slowly or become bogged down, people tend
to lose energy and become distracted. To keep people engaged and focused, move from one
topic and activity to another as quickly as you can without rushing. As mentioned above, manage
discussions so they do not go off track or go on too long; stop activities when the time is up, or
even before, if the purpose has been achieved; and answer team members’ questions succinctly,
avoiding long, rambling explanations.

Get people on their feet. Facilitators who are on their feet all day sometimes forget that sitting for
long periods can make it hard for people to stay engaged. Look for opportunities to get people out
of their chairs and moving around. For example, ask people to form new groups or change tables
before the start of an activity; do quick activities standing up; ask small groups to report from the
front of the room; and/or ask volunteers to help write on flip-chart pages.

Use the Team Assessment report to keep people focused on the fundamentals. As you go through
the modules for the five fundamentals, look for opportunities to remind participants of how they
are doing on that fundamental. For example, you can say something like, “Your team’s assessment
scores indicated that you could improve in this important area” or “Your scores indicate that your
team members handle conflict well.”

PART 1. OVERVIEW

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 Workshop Agendas
TWO-DAY WORKSHOP FOR TEAMS IN EIGHT MODULES

Day 1

MODULE ESTIMATED TIME

MODULE 1. WORKSHOP OPENING AND THE FIVE 25–30 MINUTES

DYSFUNCTIONS MODEL

◾ Open the Workshop (10 minutes)

◾ Present The Five Dysfunctions Model (15–20 minutes)
PAGE

27
MODULE 2. DEBRIEFING THE TEAM ASSESSMENT 50–80 MINUTES

◾ Initial Review (5–10 minutes)

◾ Walk Team Members Through Report (40–60 minutes)
◾ Summarize Insights (5–10 minutes)

MODULE 3. BUILDING TRUST 2 HRS, 10 MINUTES–

3 HRS, 20 MINUTES
◾ Introduce the Topic of Trust (15–25 minutes)
◾ Explain the Fundamental Attribution Error (5–10 minutes)
◾ Introduce the Personal Histories Exercise (40–60 minutes)
◾ Introduce the Behavioral Profiling Exercise
(60–90 minutes)
◾ Module Closing (10–15 minutes)

MODULE 4. MASTERING CONFLICT 1 HR, 40 MINUTES–

2 HRS, 30 MINUTES
◾ Introduce the Topic of Conflict (10–15 minutes)
◾ Introduce the Conflict Profiling Exercise (35–50 minutes)
◾ Introduce the Conflict Norming Exercise (25–40 minute)
◾ Discuss the Conflict Resolution Model (10–15 minutes)
◾ Introduce the Conflict Resolution Exercise (10–15 minutes)
◾ Module Closing (10–15 minutes)

(continued)

PART 3. A WORKSHOP FOR TEAMS

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 Day 2

MODULE ESTIMATED TIME

MODULE 5. ACHIEVING COMMITMENT 1 HR, 50 MINUTES–

2 HRS, 30 MINUTES
◾ Homework Review (10 minutes)

◾ Introduce the Topic of Commitment (15 minutes)

◾ Explain the Techniques of Commitment Clarification and

Cascading Communication (5–10 minutes)

◾ Thematic Goal Explanation (20 minutes)

◾ Thematic Goal Exercise (40–60 minutes)

PAGE
◾ Introduce the Rules of Engagement Activity
28 (15–20 minutes)

◾ Module Closing (10–15 minutes)

MODULE 6. EMBRACING ACCOUNTABILITY 1 HR, 25 MINUTES–

1 HR, 50 MINUTES
◾ Introduce the Topic of Accountability (10–15 minutes)

◾ Introduce the Team Effectiveness Exercise (65–75 minutes)

◾ Discussion About Achieving Accountability (5–10 minutes)

◾ Module Closing (5–10 minutes)

MODULE 7. FOCUSING ON RESULTS 45–70 MINUTES

◾ Introduce the Topic of Results (15–20 minutes)

◾ The Team Scoreboard (10–15 minutes)

◾ Establish a Team Scoreboard (15–25 minutes)

◾ Module Closing (5–10 minutes)

MODULE 8. CONCLUDING THE WORKSHOP 35–55 MINUTES

◾ Review Assessment Results (10–15 minutes)

◾ Summarize Key Points (5–10 minutes)

◾ Cascading Communication Agreement (15–20 minutes)

◾ Workshop Closing (5–10 minutes)

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 ONE-DAY WORKSHOP FOR TEAMS IN SEVEN MODULES

Note: You can cover The Five Dysfunctions in one day, but you will spend less time on some of the
exercises and omit others.

MODULE ESTIMATED TIME

MODULE 1. WORKSHOP OPENING AND THE FIVE 20–30 MINUTES

DYSFUNCTIONS MODEL

◾ Open the Workshop (5–10 minutes)

◾ Present The Five Dysfunctions Model (15–20 minutes)

PAGE

MODULE 2. DEBRIEFING THE TEAM ASSESSMENT 50–60 MINUTES 29

◾ Initial Review (5–10 minutes)

◾ Walk Team Members Through Report (40 minutes)

◾ Summarize Insights (5–10 minutes)

MODULE 3. BUILDING TRUST 60–65 MINUTES

◾ Introduce the Topic of Trust (15 minutes)

◾ Introduce the Personal Histories Exercise (40 minutes)

◾ Module Closing (5–10 minutes)

MODULE 4. MASTERING CONFLICT 50–70 MINUTES

◾ Introduce the Topic of Conflict (5–10 minutes)

◾ Introduce the Conflict Profiling Exercise (20–30 minutes)

◾ Introduce the Conflict Norming Exercise (20 minutes)

◾ Module Closing (5–10 minutes)

(continued)

PART 3. A WORKSHOP FOR TEAMS

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 MODULE ESTIMATED TIME

MODULE 5. ACHIEVING COMMITMENT 75–90 MINUTES

◾ Introduce the Topic of Commitment (5–10 minutes)

◾ Explain the Techniques of Commitment Clarification and

Cascading Communication (5–10 minutes)

◾ Thematic Goal Activity (60 minutes)

◾ Module Closing (5–10 minutes)

MODULE 6. EMBRACING ACCOUNTABILITY 70–80 MINUTES

PAGE ◾ Introduce the Topic of Accountability (5–10 minutes)

30 ◾ Introduce the Team Effectiveness Exercise (60 minutes)
◾ Module Closing (5–10 minutes)

MODULE 7. CONCLUDING THE WORKSHOP 35–45 MINUTES

◾ Review Assessment Results (10–15 minutes)

◾ Summarize Key Points (5 minutes)

◾ Cascading Communication Agreement (15 minutes)

◾ Workshop Closing (5–10 minutes)

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 HALF-DAY WORKSHOP FOR TEAMS IN FIVE MODULES

Note: In a half-day workshop, you will include activities for only two fundamentals, Building Trust
and Mastering Conflict. You can cover the other activities later at regular meetings or off-site events.

MODULE ESTIMATED TIME

MODULE 1. WORKSHOP OPENING AND THE FIVE 20–30 MINUTES

DYSFUNCTIONS MODEL

◾ Open the Workshop (5–10 minutes)

◾ Present The Five Dysfunctions Model (15–20 minutes)

PAGE

MODULE 2. DEBRIEFING THE TEAM ASSESSMENT 50–75 MINUTES

31
◾ Initial Review (5–10 minutes)

◾ Walk Team Members Through Report (40–60 minutes)

◾ Summarize Insights (5 minutes)

MODULE 3. BUILDING TRUST 35–50 MINUTES

◾ Introduce the Topic of Trust (10–15 minutes)

◾ Introduce the Personal Histories Exercise (20–30 minutes)

◾ Module Closing (5 minutes)

MODULE 4. MASTERING CONFLICT 40–65 MINUTES

◾ Introduce the Topic of Conflict (5–10 minutes)

◾ Introduce the Conflict Profiling Exercise (15–30 minutes)

◾ Introduce the Conflict Norming Exercise (15–20 minutes)

◾ Module Closing (5 minutes)

MODULE 5. CONCLUDING THE WORKSHOP 15–20 MINUTES

◾ Cascading Communication Agreement (15–20 minutes)

PART 3. A WORKSHOP FOR TEAMS

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 A Quick Overview
Before conducting this workshop, you need to be familiar with the basic concept that underlies its
methodology: For a team to be truly effective, it must overcome The Five Dysfunctions listed below.

INATTENTION
PAGE
TO RESULTS
13

AVOIDANCE OF
ACCOUNTABILITY

LACK OF COMMITMENT

FEAR OF CONFLICT

ABSENCE OF TRUST

THE FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM MODEL

PART 2. THE FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM MODEL

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 Facilitator’s Script for a
Two-Day Workshop for Teams
GUIDE TO ICONS

This Icon Indicates This

SAY explanations or lectures you’ll give

ASK questions you’ll ask and places where you’ll ask participants
to do something
PAGE
OPTION material you may wish to use in place of the script, or additional
38
material if you have time

00 visual slides you’ll show

a flip-chart page you’ll use

the workbook you’ll refer the participants to

throughout the workshop

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 Module 7. Focusing on Results
ESTIMATED TIME: 45 to 70 minutes

Module Outcomes

◾ Explain how the four distractions can keep teams from focusing on their collective results

◾ Describe the use of a scoreboard to help keep the team focused on its thematic goal

Introduce the Topic of Results (15 to 20 minutes)

PAGE

106 44
Focusing on Results

SAY During this workshop, we’ve discussed the importance of trust, conflict, commitment,
and accountability to team success.

ASK But in the end, what’s the criteria by which you evaluate that success? What’s the
ultimate measure of a great team?

Elicit responses until someone says, “Results.”

SAY Earlier we said that teams that trust one another, engage in conflict, commit to
decisions, and hold one another accountable are very likely to set aside their
individual needs and agendas and focus almost exclusively on the collective results
that define team success.

ASK Why does your team sometimes have difficulty focusing on your collective results?
What gets in the way?

Have participants turn to page 86 in their workbooks. Then elicit responses to the
question and write them on a flip-chart page. Refer to them during the following
explanation.

SAY Teams have difficulty staying focused on results because of self-interest and self-
preservation. We have a strong natural tendency to look out for ourselves before

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 others, even when those others are part of our families and of our teams. Once that
tendency kicks in on a team, it can spread like a disease, quickly eroding the roots of
teamwork until eventually even trust has been destroyed. What’s important is to stay
focused on the right priorities so that we aren’t distracted by something else.

Focusing on Results: Four Common Distractions

45

Show the slide with the four common distractions and ask participants to turn to page
87 in their workbooks to take notes.

SAY Here are the four common distractions:

PAGE

◾ Ego
107

◾ Career Development

◾ Money

◾ My Department

The first distraction, ego, is the ultimate killer on a team, and it is an insidious one.

ASK How does ego distract team members from achieving their collective results?

Elicit a few responses. Refer to them during the following explanation.

SAY As much as we want our teams to win, at a basic level we want to win as individuals
first. But on strong teams, no one is happy unless everyone is succeeding. Of course,
that implies that individual egos are less important than team achievements.

Distractions two and three are career development and money.

ASK How do you think that those distractions get in a team’s way of achieving results?

Elicit a few responses.

PART 3. A WORKSHOP FOR TEAMS

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 SAY Even the most altruistic team members will at times have to focus on their own
career advancement and financial needs. A great team understands those needs but
does not let them distract the team from achieving results. The key to doing that is
being open about what people need and not making others feel guilty or selfish for
acknowledging those needs.

ASK What fundamental needs to be there for people to be open about their needs?

Elicit responses until someone says, “Trust.”

PAGE SAY Admitting that you’re uncomfortable with your career advancement or salary
108 or anything else that is personal is nothing if not a statement of vulnerability.
Everyone should be glad when a team member puts that kind of the issue on the
table, because otherwise it will eventually create problems that impact the team’s
performance. Anything that stands in the way of performance must be addressed
openly and directly, even if it is something that is sensitive to one or more members
of the team.

ASK (show of hands) How many of you lead another team in addition to being a member
of this team?

SAY The fourth distraction, my department, is perhaps the most subtle and dangerous of
all because well-intentioned team members actually wear it as a badge of honor.

ASK Can anyone describe how this distraction works?

Elicit responses until someone says, “The tendency of team members to place a
higher priority on teams they lead than on teams they belong to.”

OPTION If it is appropriate for your group, explain the team’s number 1 dilemma.

ASK For those of you who lead another team, imagine that you have just received a jolt of
truth serum. Now think about how you would answer this question: Which team is
your first priority?

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 Give team members a few seconds to think about how they would answer the
question. Then ask for a few volunteers to share their answers.

SAY When you think about it, that makes sense. As leaders, you probably selected the
people on your team, and you definitely spend more time with them. You feel a sense
of responsibility for that team and believe that your people would feel betrayed or
abandoned if you feel a stronger allegiance to the team you are a member of.

As understandable as this is, it is a recipe for team disaster. Rather than coming
together to make the best possible decision for the entire organization, people
become lobbyers for their own constituents. In essence, they compete with their
teammates rather than collaborate with them. PAGE

109
But the key to success for a team is that its members embrace a collective pursuit of
the best interests of the whole. Like a family, they make sacrifices for one another
with the only expectation of repayment being greater team success.

That’s why team members must put the team that they are a member of over the
team that they lead or manage.

SAY Having a thematic goal keeps you focused on your collective results. What are some
other things that you can do?

Elicit several responses and write them on a flip-chart page.

OPTION (7 to 10 minutes) If you have time, ask team members to work in small groups to
come up with strategies for keeping themselves focused on collective results and then
ask each group to report back to the team. Write their responses on a flip chart.

The Team Scoreboard (10 to 15 minutes)

ASK Once you’ve established your goal and put some strategies in place to keep
yourselves focused on your collective results, how do you know how close you are to
achieving those results?

PART 3. A WORKSHOP FOR TEAMS

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 Elicit several responses. Refer to them as you explain the use of a scoreboard.

SAY The key to dealing with distractions lies in keeping collective results in the forefront of
our minds. A good way to do that is to use a visible scoreboard of some kind.

ASK Think about the scoreboards that we’re most familiar with—those used by sports
teams. What kind of information do those scoreboards provide the team?

Elicit responses until someone says, “A scoreboard tells the team how it’s doing—how
close it is to its goal of winning the game.”
PAGE

110 Sports Scoreboard

46

SAY That’s right. A scoreboard provides clear, unambiguous information that lets the
team know at a glance how close or far away it is from its goal: Is it ahead or behind?
How far? How many points does it need to win? How much time is left to improve the
final outcome?

ASK What kinds of information does this scoreboard not provide?

Elicit several responses and refer to them during the following explanation.

SAY The scoreboard doesn’t say anything about how individual players are doing. Imagine
this: A football team is losing by 14 points with 3 minutes to go in the game. The
quarterback says to the coach, “Well, I feel pretty good about things. I mean, my
performance was not bad, and my stats look good.” The coach would be furious.
He wants that quarterback, and everyone else on the team, to be focused on one
thing: winning. To know whether it’s winning, all the team needs to do is look at the
scoreboard.

It’s the same for a team. Too many teams assess their success by using subjective
and unreliable means—“Is the CEO happy with us this month?”; feelings—“I feel like
we’re doing pretty well right now”; or outside opinions—“Did you see what that analyst
wrote about us in his industry report?”

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 ASK How can you assess your team’s success? How can you track your progress toward
your goal and avoid the pitfall of ambiguity and loose interpretations?

Elicit several responses and write them on a flip-chart page. Refer to them during the
following explanation.

SAY To know how well it is doing, a team needs to commit, early and publicly, to what it
will achieve—its thematic goal, defining objectives, and standard operating objectives.
An easy-to-read scoreboard lets the team constantly review its progress against those
expected achievements. Let’s look at an example of a scorecard.

PAGE
Team Scoreboard
47 111

Ask team members to turn to page 89 in their workbooks and show the slide with the
scoreboard example.

SAY This scoreboard is simply a visual tool like this one for assessing the team’s success
at any given point in time. A scoreboard can be a whiteboard with the key metrics
prominently displayed so the team can review and discuss them. It can be an online
scoreboard whereby every goal is tracked. Or it can be a piece of butcher paper on
the wall showing the team’s milestones toward the goal. That’s good enough.

Refer to the example and point out the colors beneath the objectives.

SAY As shown in the example, you can use colors to rate each objective. Green means that
things are going well. Yellow or orange means that you might need to take another look
at how you are doing on that objective. Red, of course, means “stop.” Something is not
working, and you need to take a close look at that objective before proceeding.

Answer any questions about the scoreboard.

Establish a Team Scoreboard (15 to 25 minutes)

SAY Now let’s take a few minutes to establish a scoreboard for your thematic goal.

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 Ask team members to turn to page 90 in their workbooks. Refer back to the flip-chart
pages from the thematic goal discussion, with the thematic goal and its defining
objectives and the standard operating objectives.

ASK How will we track our progress toward this thematic goal?

Elicit responses until someone says, “Rate how well we’re doing on each of the
objectives.”

SAY Right.

PAGE

112 ASK Once we have our scoreboard, how can we keep this information alive? When and
how can we use our scoreboard?

Elicit several responses and write them on a flip-chart page in the form of a scorecard.
Refer to them during the following explanation.

Using the Scoreboard

48

SAY The primary time when we need to review and discuss our progress in achieving
our goals is during regular staff meetings. The scoreboard gives us a template, or a
structure, for our meetings.

In Patrick Lencioni’s book, Death by Meeting, he recommends replacing the pre-

set agenda for weekly staff meetings with a real-time agenda. There are two steps
required to establish a real-time agenda, and the process should take no longer than
10 minutes.

First, go around the table and give every member of the team 30 seconds to report on
his or her three top priorities for the coming week. Even a team of twelve can do this
in 6 minutes.

Then review your team scorecard and rate your objectives to decide what to focus on
for the rest of the meeting.

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 We can also post the scoreboard somewhere so that it is readily visible to every one of
us, every day, helping to keep us focused on the results we are trying to achieve.

ASK One last question: Is our scoreboard fixed in stone? What would cause us to change it?

Elicit responses. Add any of the ones below that team members do not mention.

◾ The goal changes

◾ We miss a milestone

◾ We achieve our thematic goal and select a new one

PAGE

113
Module Closing (5 to 10 minutes)

SAY Before we move on, let’s summarize what we’ve learned about focusing on results.

Moving quickly, elicit the key points learned during this module and write them on a
flip-chart page. When team members have no more points to share, add any from the
following that they have not mentioned.

Key Points: Focusing on Results

49

◾ The true measure of a great team is that it accomplishes the results it sets out
to achieve.

◾ To avoid distractions, team members must prioritize the results of the team over
their individual or departmental needs.

◾ To stay focused, teams must publicly clarify their desired results and keep them visible.

Have everyone turn to page 92 in the workbook. Give team members 1 minute to
each write down the most important thing that he or she personally learned about
focusing on results that will help him or her improve the way he or she works with the
team and an additional minute for pairs to share what they wrote.

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 Next Steps for a Team Workshop
Immediately following the workshop, consolidate and distribute the notes to participants. Remind
team members to share information with their colleagues and direct reports. During the weeks
and months that follow, the team should continue the team-building process and regularly assess
their progress.

REMIND TEAM MEMBERS TO SHARE INFORMATION

As they learned during the cascading communication activity, team members should share the
commitments and agreements agreed on during the commitment clarification exercise with their
colleagues and their direct reports within 24 to 48 hours after the workshop. Remind them to share PAGE
this information in person or live on the phone (that is, not via e-mail or voice mail) so that people 119
can ask questions and get a clear sense of the team member’s level of commitment.

In addition to sharing the team’s commitments and agreements, team members should share
their behavioral profiles. Sharing this information serves three purposes: (1) it provides a great
opportunity for demonstrating vulnerability; (2) it gives their colleagues and direct reports real
insights into their leaders, which will help them interpret the leader’s behavior correctly and feel
more comfortable providing the leader with feedback; and (3) it helps direct reports develop a
better understanding of their own profiles, because teaching is one of the best ways of learning.

CREATE A “PLAYBOOK” FOR THE TEAM

To help the team keep the learning alive, create a playbook that pulls together key information from
the workshop into a format that they can refer to as they go along. The playbook, which should
be easily accessible to every team member, serves to remind the team of the discoveries and
decisions that they made. It can also be useful to help new members understand the nature of the
team and the guidelines under which it operates.

Here’s what a “playbook” should include:

◾ The Team Assessment results and comments from the assessment discussion

◾ The personality profiles for each team member and the team’s collective personality type

◾ The team’s conflict profile and norms around conflict

◾ The team’s thematic goal and its scoreboard for tracking progress toward that goal

◾ The team’s rules of engagement

◾ The behaviors team members agreed to work on during the accountability module

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 CONTINUE THE TEAM-BUILDING PROCESS

To sustain behavioral change on the job, learning must be a process, not an event.
A comprehensive team-building process starts with the initial workshop and then continues with
activities, reviews, discussions, and activities that help the team continue its development. See
the end of this section for a Teamwork Roadmap and some suggested activities for continuing the
team-building process.

ASSESS PROGRESS

Periodic assessments help a team determine how well it is doing and identify areas in which it still
needs to improve. In addition to regular check-ins that let team members share their perceptions
of how the team is doing on each fundamental, we encourage the team to retake the online Team
PAGE Assessment within six months. When team members retake the online assessment, they receive
120 a comparison report that helps them measure their improvement and determine which additional
changes to make.

SIGNS THAT A TEAM MAY NEED TO GO

BACK AND REASSESS
◾ There is a change in team leadership or a significant change in the
team membership

◾ There is an unusual amount of unproductive conflict and/or

interpersonal conflict

◾ Little progress is being made toward the thematic goal

◾ People are not participating actively in the decision-making process

◾ The team is finding it unusually difficult to make decisions that

everyone can commit to

◾ Meetings keep being sidetracked

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 Teamwork Roadmap
This roadmap is a general outline of the steps that any team should be prepared to take to
continue its development after a workshop. The roadmap can be used as is or adapted to meet the
needs of the team.

Week 1: Initial Workshop for Teams

This is the two-day workshop, which provides the foundation for the team-building effort and the
formal kick-off of the team’s new approach to teamwork. The two-day workshop offers the best
opportunity to make a significant, relevant, and lasting impact on the team.

PAGE
Workshop Follow-Up
121
Immediately after the workshop ends, it is critical that important notes be distributed to team
members as a confirmation of the commitments they made and for their ongoing reference.
Team members also need to share their commitments, agreements, and behavioral profiles with
their colleagues and direct reports.

Week 2: First Review Session

In order to sustain the momentum from the initial workshop and avoid the lull that commonly
occurs after training, teams need to meet and review their commitments. At that meeting, they
should take a few minutes to review their behavioral and team profiles and tie up any loose ends.

Weeks 3 to 12: Ongoing Reference and Discussion

During the weeks that follow the workshop and review session, team members should reference
and discuss all relevant aspects of their team development process as issues arise in the course
of normal business activity. The topics for discussion will probably include—but are not limited
to—the Team Assessment, behavioral profiling, conflict profiles and norms, thematic goal, team
effectiveness development areas, and the team scoreboard.

Week 13: Quarterly Off-Site Review

The first quarterly off-site is a one- or two-day session during which team members review the
assessments and profiles from the initial workshop and, more importantly, assess the progress
made by individuals and the team as a whole. Activities can include a discussion of the level of
productive conflict on the team and a second pass at the team effectiveness exercise. This off-site
also offers a good opportunity for the team to review its progress toward the team’s thematic goal,
because this is the best indication of real progress.

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 Weeks 14 to 25: Ongoing Reference and Discussion

By now, team members should be more comfortable holding one another accountable for any
deviations from team norms and personal commitments. During the next twelve weeks, they
should again reference and discuss relevant aspects of their team development process as they
arise in the course of normal business activity. They can also continue to include brief team-
building activities in their meeting schedules.

Week 26: Second Off-Site Review and Reassessment

This is the last off-site within the context of the initial team-building effort, but it certainly should
not be the last such meeting for the team. Before this session, team members should re-take
the Team Assessment so that they can evaluate the progress they have made over the course
PAGE of the past six months or so. When the team members retake the online assessment, they
122 receive a comparison report that helps them measure their improvement and determine which
additional changes to make. If appropriate, they will also need to establish a new thematic goal
and scoreboard.

Week 27 and Beyond

Like a relationship, a team is never completely finished developing itself. Team members should
continually address areas of deficiency and periodically step back to assess their own and the
team’s progress.

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 BA S E D O N T H E N E W YO R K T I M E S B E S T S E L L E R ,
T H E F I V E DY S F U N C T I O N S O F A T E A M

The FIVE
DYSFUNCTIONS
of a TEAM

T E A M A S S E S S M E N T

P AT R I C K L E N C I O N I
AUTHOR OF SILOS, POLITICS, AND TURF WARS

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 The Five Dysfunctions
of a Team
TEAM ASSESSMENT

INTRODUCTION

The primary purpose of this assessment is to provide you with a sense of your team’s unique
strengths and areas for improvement. For a more accurate and holistic analysis, we encourage PAGE

your entire team to complete the assessment. While the assessment itself provides an interesting 1
perspective, its most important aspect is the discussion it may provoke around specific issues.

INSTRUCTIONS

◾ Please assign a rating to each statement. It is essential to the accurate scoring of this
instrument.

◾ Please evaluate the statements honestly and be as objective as possible. Be thoughtful about
your responses, but don’t agonize over each response. Your initial “gut feel” is usually best.

◾ Use the scale at the top of each page to indicate how each statement applies to your team.
Please remember to use the entire scale (1 to 5) to represent your most accurate response.

◾ The assessment should not take more than 15 minutes. When you have completed the
Team Assessment, transfer your ratings to the scoring page. Tear off that scoring page
and return it to:

Thank you.

Copyright © 2012 Patrick Lencioni. All Rights Reserved

TEAM ASSESSMENT

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 THE RATING SCALE:

1 = Never 2 = Rarely 3 = Sometimes 4 = Usually 5 = Always

1. Team members admit their mistakes.

2. Team members are passionate and unguarded in their discussion of issues.

3. Team members are quick to point out the contributions and achievements of others.

PAGE
4. Team meetings are interesting and compelling (not boring).
2
5. During team meetings, the most important—and difficult—issues are discussed.

6. Team members acknowledge their weaknesses to one another.

7. Team members voice their opinions, even at the risk of causing disagreement.

8. Team members point out one another’s unproductive behaviors.

9. The team has a reputation for high performance.

10. Team members ask for help without hesitation.

11. Team members leave meetings confident that everyone is committed to the
decisions that were agreed upon.

12. During discussions, team members challenge one another about how they
arrived at their conclusions and opinions.

13. Team members ask one another for input regarding their areas of responsibility.

Copyright © 2012 Patrick Lencioni. All Rights Reserved

THE FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM

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 Your Name (Optional)

TEAM ASSESSMENT SCORING INSTRUCTIONS

1. Transfer your ratings from each statement on the Team Assessment to the
corresponding blank below. Make certain that the number you assigned to each
statement is transferred to the appropriate blank.

2. Add the columns and fill in the totals.

3. To determine the average score for each fundamental, divide the total score by the
number indicated below the total for each column.

TRUST CONFLICT COMMITMENT ACCOUNTABILITY RESULTS PAGE

5
1. 2. 11. 8. 3.

6. 4. 19. 16. 9.

10. 5. 24. 20. 14.

13. 7. 28. 21. 15.

17. 12. 30. 26. 25.

22. 18. 34. 35. 29.

32. 23. 38. 36. 31.

33. 27. 37.

TOTAL TOTAL TOTAL TOTAL TOTAL

÷8 ÷8 ÷7 ÷7 ÷8

AVERAGE AVERAGE AVERAGE AVERAGE AVERAGE

NOTE ON GROUP SCORING

To determine the average team score for each fundamental, add the individual average scores
and divide by the number of participants. You can use the Scoring Interpretation grid to
interpret the results.

Copyright © 2012 Patrick Lencioni. All Rights Reserved

TEAM ASSESSMENT

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 SECOND Edition

The FIVE
DYSFUNCTIONS
of a TEAM
A WORKSHOP FOR TEAMS

PARTICIPANT WORKBOOK

P AT R I C K L E N C I O N I

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 Contents
PREFACE iv

WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES 1

THE FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM 5

TEAM ASSESSMENT: WHERE WE ARE AND WHERE WE’RE GOING 9

FUNDAMENTAL 1: BUILDING TRUST 21

FUNDAMENTAL 2: MASTERING CONFLICT 37

FUNDAMENTAL 3: ACHIEVING COMMITMENT 53

FUNDAMENTAL 4: EMBRACING ACCOUNTABILITY 73

FUNDAMENTAL 5: FOCUSING ON RESULTS 85

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 95

RESOURCES 105

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 108

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 TEAM ASSESSMENT:

Where We Are and

Where We’re Going PAGE

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 The Team Assessment is a benchmark, not a report card—the purpose
is to give us a sense of the team’s unique strengths and areas for
improvement. It’s a tool that tells us where we are now so we can decide
what kinds of changes we want to make.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

PAGE Team Summary

10 ◾ What are your overall impressions and thoughts?

The Five Fundamentals

◾ What do the more detailed scores on this page tell us?

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 The Strongest Areas

◾ Why do you think the team scored the way it did in these areas?

PAGE

11

The Weakest Areas

◾ Why do you think the team scored the way it did in these areas?

PARTICIPANT WORKBOOK

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 Areas of Key Differences

◾ Why do you think the team scored the way it did in these areas?

PAGE

12

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 ABSENCE OF TRUST

Our Strongest Areas

QUESTION SCORE POSSIBLE REASONS FOR SCORE

PAGE

13

Our Weakest Areas

QUESTION SCORE POSSIBLE REASONS FOR SCORE

◾ Have there been specific times that we did not struggle with trust? Why?

◾ What are some of our challenges in improving on trust?

PARTICIPANT WORKBOOK

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 1
FUNDAMENTAL

Building Trust

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 No quality or characteristic is more important than trust. Trust is the
foundation for building a team.

◾ What words come to mind when you think of trust in a team?

PAGE

22
NOTES

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 PERSONAL HISTORIES EXERCISE

Answer the following three questions about yourself:

1. Where did you grow up?

PAGE

23

2. How many siblings do you have? Where do you fall in the sibling order
(oldest, youngest)?

3. What was the most difficult, important, or unique challenge of your childhood—
of being a kid?

PARTICIPANT WORKBOOK

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 NOTES ON PERSONAL HISTORIES EXERCISE

PAGE

24

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 ALTERNATIVE QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL HISTORIES EXERCISE

1. Describe a time when you felt the most frightened.

PAGE

25

2. What was your first job? Your worst job?

3. Other than your parents, who had the greatest positive impact on you? What did the
person do? How did you feel about it?

PARTICIPANT WORKBOOK

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 4. What are you most proud of professionally? Personally?

PAGE

26

5. What is a mistake you made professionally that you wish you had a do-over
on? Personally?

6. Describe a mistake you made and how you responded and recovered.

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 BEHAVIORAL PROFILING EXERCISE

◾ What is your personality type?

◾ What are the personality types that make up this team? List them below.

NAME PERSONALITY TYPE

PAGE

27

PARTICIPANT WORKBOOK

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 ◾ In what ways do you think the collective type of this team manifests itself?

PAGE

28

◾ In what areas do the personality types of this team seem to be most consistent?

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 ◾ What is our collective team type? What are the implications for us as a team?

PAGE

29

PARTICIPANT WORKBOOK

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 Think about your personality type and answer these questions:

◾ What insight from your behavioral profile highlights a strength that you
bring to the team?

PAGE

30

◾ What insight highlights a potential weakness or blind spot you would like to address for
the good of the team?

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