Is your team dysfunctional?

I just finished another book by Pat Lencionni. I really like this guy's style and content. The latest and greatest is "5 Dysfunctions of a Team". Sara read it first and recommended it to me, now let me recommend it to you. Maybe it is just connecting with me because I'm wired this way. Maybe it is because I know that our church and the individual teams I lead and serve on need to get hold of these principles so badly. I've finished reading this one, but I don't feel finished with these principles by a long shot.

In case you're curious, the 5 dysfunctions are:

1. absence of trust
2. fear of conflict
3. lack of commitment
4. avoidance of accountability
5. inattention to results

The thing that's so intriguing and so important is that having 4 out of 5 in place on your team is not ok. It's not 80% health as the numbers would indicate. It's disastrous. Why? Simply because each dysfunction is connected to the next and the one before it. It's an all or nothing kind of thing. As Andy Stanley says so skillfully in "7 practices of effective ministry", you have to work on it, not just in it. This applies to church, business, family and wherever else teams of people interact together for a common goal or the common good.

I'm feeling more and more sure that my desire to work on team dynamics and systems that will promote organizational health in the long run are right on track. A mentor of mine, Dr. Don Myer, always says, "time sharpening one's tools is never time wasted." He's so right.