I had a long car journey this week and used the time to catch up on the audio version of Patrick Lencioni’s classic book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.
If you’re not familiar with it, he tells a fable of a fictional team and their new CEO, and the story outlines the key issues that prevent teams from reaching their full potential.
These issues, or dysfunctions, are:
- Absence of trust
- Fear of conflict
- Lack of commitment
- Avoidance of accountability
- Inattention to business results
It’s easy to see how they might cripple any organisation.
But what if coaching – particularly training leaders to become effective coaches – could be the answer to overcoming these dysfunctions?
Coaching’s role in overcoming team dysfunctions
Here is my take on how coaching can directly address these problems and offer practical next steps for leaders.
Training leaders to be effective coaches can transform team dynamics. It’s not just about resolving dysfunctions but empowering leaders to produce an environment where teams can thrive. Coaching is uniquely positioned to address each of Lencioni’s five dysfunctions through a process of reflection, challenge and action.
Leaders who coach can address the root causes of team dysfunction.
Let’s break this down dysfunction by dysfunction:
1. Absence of trust
Trust forms the foundation of any functional team. Without it, team members are reluctant to be vulnerable or open about their concerns. In the absence of trust, there’s a reluctance to share problems, ideas or even admit mistakes.
A coaching leader can open communication and vulnerability by modelling it themselves. Through active listening and creating a safe space, leaders can demonstrate that trust is built on transparency. When a leader regularly engages in one-on-one coaching conversations with team members, they create opportunities for openness and trust to flourish.
It goes without saying that I encourage you to incorporate one-to-one coaching sessions into your leadership efforts. Start small, focusing on encouraging vulnerability and openness in conversations.
Take action:
Use a tool like the Johari Window during coaching to help team members explore areas they might not realise are visible to others and vice versa, encouraging mutual trust.
2. Fear of conflict
Teams that lack trust often avoid conflict at all costs. But without productive conflict, ideas go unchallenged, and the team misses opportunities for development and innovation.
A good coach doesn’t shy away from conflict – they help others reframe it. Leaders trained in coaching can guide teams to see conflict as a healthy, necessary part of progress. Coaching encourages honest dialogue, helping teams distinguish between destructive personal conflicts and constructive debates about ideas.
Take action:
During team meetings, use coaching techniques, particularly questioning, to dig into the root of disagreements, encouraging productive debate.
3. Lack of commitment
When team members avoid conflict, they rarely feel fully committed to decisions. If they haven’t had the chance to voice their opinion or express dissent, they’re less likely to buy into the group’s final decision and more likely to resist change.
Coaching helps generate ownership. When leaders coach their teams, they engage individuals in a process of reflection and goal setting. This ensures that every team member has had a voice in decision-making processes, even if they don’t fully agree with the outcome. By helping people understand the 'why' behind decisions, coaching-style leaders drive higher commitment.
Take action:
During team meetings, coach your team through decision-making processes. This includes encouraging them to express concerns and ask for clarity until everyone is on the same page.
After decisions are made, use coaching to help team members see the connection between their personal goals and the team’s objectives. This strengthens their commitment to the collective outcome.
4. Avoidance of accountability
Without commitment, accountability collapses. Teams that lack accountability see individual members failing to meet expectations, and no one stepping in to course correct. This leads to mediocrity and missed targets.
A leader who coaches makes accountability part of the culture, but not in a punitive sense. Coaching emphasises ownership over blaming. When people feel trusted and are engaged in regular coaching conversations, they are more likely to take responsibility for their actions.
Coaching also helps develop a team’s ability to hold each other accountable. Through coaching, leaders can foster a culture where feedback is not only accepted but expected. Regular check-ins and follow-ups create an environment where everyone is accountable for both individual and team performance.
Take action:
Use coaching frameworks like GROW (Goal, Reality, Options, Will) to hold productive conversations about performance. As a leader, coach your team to offer feedback in a constructive way, reinforcing that accountability is about improvement, not punishment.
5. Inattention to results
According to Lencioni, the final dysfunction, inattention to results, happens when team members prioritise personal success or status over team outcomes. This can result in a lack of focus and a failure to achieve collective goals.
Leaders who coach their teams place a strong emphasis on results. Through coaching, leaders help individuals connect their personal achievements to the team’s success. By aligning personal goals with team objectives, coaching ensures that team members stay focused on collective outcomes.
Take action:
Use techniques like setting SMART to ensure that every team member understands and works toward the team’s objectives.
Plus, hold regular coaching sessions to review progress and adjust goals to keep the team aligned and focused on results.
A final thought
Coaching is a powerful tool for transforming team dysfunction into high performance. Leaders who coach can address the root causes of team dysfunction, create a culture of trust, accountability, and commitment, and keep the team focused on results.
And as I finished listening to the audio of Lencioni’s book, I was reminded of a killer coaching question I was once asked when dealing with the dysfunctions of my own team:
“What’s it like being on a team managed by you?”
Now, there’s a question!
