Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Managers, and Facilitators (Patrick Lencioni)

A trainers guide on how to run sessions to develop team cohesiveness and effectiveness based on the Patrick Lencioni book 'The five dysfunctions of a team".

I liked the exercise to get the team to open up at the start of a program the personal histories exercise:
Each team member explains 3 things, where they grew up, how many kids in the family, most important or difficult challenge of their childhood.  Starts factual enough to be safe but then can go onto something much more revealing.

I have used Myers Briggs before though not for this purpose and the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode  Instrument was very productive when my previous team used it last year.




Page 7 | Loc. 55-56  The true measure of a team is that it accomplishes the results that it sets out to  achieve. To do that on a consistent, ongoing basis, a team must overcome the five  dysfunctions listed here by embodying the behaviors described for each one.
Page 7 | Loc. 56-57  Dysfunction #I: Absence of Trust: Members of great teams trust one  another on a fundamental, emotional level, and they are comfortable being  vulnerable with each other about their weaknesses, mistakes, fears, and  behaviors.
Page 7 | Loc. 58-59  Dysfunction #2: Fear of Conflict:... teams that trust one another are not  afraid to engage in passionate dialogue around issues and decisions that are  key to the organization's success.
Page 7 | Loc. 60-61  Dysfunction #3: Lack of Commitment ... teams that engage in unfiltered  conflict are able to achieve genuine buy-in around important decisions, even  when various members of the team initially disagree.
Page 7 | Loc. 62-63 Dysfunction #4: Avoidance of Accountability:... teams that commit to  decisions and standards of performance do not hesitate to hold one another  accountable for adhering to those decisions and standards.What
Page 7 | Loc. 64-65  Dysfunction #5: Inattention to Results: ... 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 what is best for the team.They
Page 9 | Loc. 69-70  a team is a relatively  small number of people (anywhere from three to twelve) that  shares common goals as well as the rewards and responsibilities for  achieving them. Team members readily set aside their individual or  personal needs for the greater good of the group.
Page 18 | Loc. 134-35  For a team to establish real trust, team members, beginning with  the leader, must be willing to take risks without a guarantee of success.   They will have to be vulnerable without knowing whether  that vulnerability will be respected and reciprocated.
Page 32 | Loc. 258-60  come prepared the next day to report on the three or four  areas that they felt were particularly insightful about their style. We also ask team members to identify one particular insight  from their profile that they feel highlights a weakness that they  would like to address for the good of the team.
Page 37 | Loc. 287-88  When people who don't trust one another engage in passionate  debate, they are trying to win the argument. They aren't usually listening   to the other person's ideas and then reconsidering their  point of view; they're
Page 42 | Loc. 334  Two other tools help teams identify their individual and collective   conflict profile. One is the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode  Instrument-developed
Page 45 | Loc. 358-59  That's  because people who don't like conflict have an amazing ability to  avoid it, even when they know it's theoretically necessary.
Page 51 | Loc. 408  Waiting for everyone on a team to agree intellectually on a  decision is a good recipe for mediocrity, delay, and frustration,
Page 52 | Loc. 415-17  Good  leaders drive commitment among the team by first extracting  every possible idea, opinion, and perspective from the team.  Then, comfortable that nothing has been left off the table, they  must have the courage and wisdom to step up and make a decision,   one that is sure to run counter to at least one of the team  members, and usually more.
Page 53 | Loc. 420-21  most people don't really  need to have their ideas adopted (a.k.a. "get their way") in order  to buy in to a decision. They just want to have their ideas heard,  understood, considered, and explained within the context of the  ultimate decision.
Page 54 | Loc. 434-35  With five minutes to go at the end of a meeting-any type of  meeting-the leader of the team needs to call a question: What  exactly have we decided here today?
Page 55 | Loc. 442-43  the leader must also engage in cascading  communication. That means demanding that the team go back and  communicate the decisions to their staff members within twenty-four   hours of the meeting. And not by e-mail or voice mail but  either live in person or on the phone, thus giving employees a  chance to ask questions for clarification.
Page 87 | Loc. 691-92  If I'm a manager of the team, should I use an outside  consultant or facilitator? The key to this question is whether you can find a really good consultant   or facilitator. If not, then go it alone.
Page 97 | Loc. 762-63  it is just not realistic to expect people to be  emotionally vulnerable, provide constructive feedback, and hold  one another accountable for their behaviors over a T1 line. There  is something uniquely powerful about being in a room together,  and being able to read the body language, facial expressions, and  other subtle behavioral cues.
Page 131 | Loc. 942-43  The Thomas-Kilmann Model describes five different  approaches to conflict according to how people think about the  importance of a task versus the importance of their relationship  with people they are working with.
Page 132 | Loc. 945-46  To ensure that teams leave meetings with no  ambiguity about what they've agreed upon. Time required: Five minutes. Instructions: 1. Toward the end of a meeting, the leader or facilitator should go  to the white board and ask the team: "What have we agreed  upon today?"
Page 133 | Loc. 949-50  After the Commitment Clarification Exercise has been completed,   the team then decides which of the commitments and agreements   should be communicated to the rest of the organization.
Page 133 | Loc. 951-52  Note that it is critical for cascading communication to occur  either in person or live on the phone (that is, not via e-mail or voice  mail) so that employees can ask questions