Five Dysfunctions Of A Team

I found the book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team very interesting. I have never really set down and thought about dysfunctions of a business or a team for that manner. This really hit home to me because as I kept reading I found that I had seen some of the dysfunctions that the book talks about in my own personal work experience. After reading this book I know that I will be able to recognize theses dysfunctions in other companies that I am a part of. I really liked how easy it was to follow what was going on in the book. It all took place in a logical order. I think that the pyramid worked really well. I think that if I was part of the company in the book that the pyramid would have got the idea that Kathryn was trying to get across perfect. I want to focus on the five levels of the pyramid.

Absence of Trust

I think that if you are part of a team trust is a huge thing. I understand why this has to come first. If you can't trust someone then you are going to be doing a lot of jobs by yourself and not as part of a team. I know that from my own personal experience that I have a hard time trusting people. I am always worried that they will screw something up and the job won't get done right. More times than not I would rather do it myself, that way I know that the job will get done right. In the summertime I work for my grandpa on his farm. I find it intriguing that he trusts me so much. He will send me out to the field with a $120,000 piece of machinery and tell me what needs to be done. He trusts that I will get it done, do it right and then get back home. I know other guys that are hesitant about letting others run their equipment because they are afraid that they will mess it up some how.

Fear of Conflict

I have never been the person that really enjoys a good argument. I like to please everyone and hate to have people upset at me. I really understand why this is a problem in the business world. Voicing your opinion is a huge thing. If you are afraid of speaking up just because your idea may be different then everyone else's then the whole company could be missing a huge opportunity. I have had the opportunity to voice my opinion at a job that I was at. One summer I was working on a mowing and landscaping crew. The boss told us to do something a certain way. I seen a better way that the job could be done so I spoke up. The boss couldn't believe that I thought of that idea. I think that fear of conflict and lack of commitment goes together.

Lack of Commitment

Lack of commitment is a huge issue that teams have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. If you are about to make a decision then I firmly believe that everyone needs be heard. If everyone on a team isn't heard then it is going to be hard for all to buy into that decision. If you have a member of your team that feels like he hasn't been heard then this may make it very difficult to get things done fast and efficient. Other members of the organization may see this and then start to pull away from the team. I have never had the opportunity to set in a room when a decision is being made and had someone asked what I thought. I am looking forward to the opportunity and I hope that I will have a good idea.

Avoidance of Accountability

Once someone has committed to something that the team has decided on, then you should hold him or her accountable to do their part. If for some reason you don't see them playing their part then you can't be afraid to call them out. As much as you may not want to due to fear of conflict calling them out is a must. I have found in my own personal experience that this is really hard. When you know the person on a personal level it even makes it harder for fear that it may destroy friendship. I think that sometimes letting someone know what they are doing wrong in a constructive way may strengthen a relationship instead of bringing it down. I have had to get after someone before for not pulling their part, in the long run we were closer friends and we worked better together. But there has been another time when I have told someone what I thought they could improve on and it totally backfired. They thought