You spent half a day on Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Congratulations – you checked a box.
It’s a Spicy 🌶️ Friday post!
A team decides they need to work on their dysfunction. Someone on the team – usually from HR – is “voluntold” to facilitate. They don’t read the book. They watch a quick video, do a surface overview of the five dysfunctions, maybe mention one or two concepts that feel relevant. Three hours later, everyone feels good because they “did team development.”
Nothing changes.
Let me be clear: Lencioni’s model is powerful. It’s accessible, it’s practical, it’s given teams language for what’s broken. But that accessibility has created a problem – teams think it’s easy. They think a few hours and some discussion equals transformation.
It doesn’t.
If you’re going to do this work … actually do it. That means at least a full day and a half, minimum. It means reading the book beforehand. It means bringing in someone who can facilitate without also trying to participate, someone who will ask the hard questions and call out the elephants in the room that your colleague-turned-facilitator can’t touch. It means having difficult conversations and walking away with tangible actions, not just good feelings.
And even when a team does all of that, there’s a part they miss 9 times out of 10: the work doesn’t end when the session ends.
Who’s holding you accountable three months later? Who’s checking in to ask how you’re living up to your commitments, what’s going well, where you’re faltering? I’ve worked with teams where we did monthly accountability calls for months after the initial work. I worried those calls would be dull. They never were. I’d ask a question, let it sit in silence, and something real would surface – a gap, a place where they weren’t doing what they said they’d do. We’d explore why. Each time they walked away with deeper insight into how they were actually functioning and what needed to shift.
That’s the work. Not the half-day feel-good session.
I get why teams box-check this. It feels like doing something. It’s cheap. You can tell yourselves you’re investing in team development without actually investing much at all. But if you’re not willing to do the real work – the time, the discomfort, the follow-through – then don’t bother. You’re just performing team development theater.
What would it cost your team to actually commit to the work instead of the performance? And what’s it costing you to pretend checking the box is the same as transformation?
Looking to increase the cohesion, trust, and impact of your leadership team? Reach out and let’s discuss The Compass Team Experience and how I can help.
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