Lencioni workshop

A practical method to work on issues in the team is the model of American business management author, Patrick Lencioni. In his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, he describes universal reasons for the dysfunction and underperformance of teams. These five reasons are: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. These reasons are built up as a pyramid, illustrating that there is an order in building well-functioning teams. A fun practice you can do with the team is a Lencioni workshop. 

• Find out which stage of the model the team is in through a questionnaire. Online assessments are available that you can have the team fill out. At the start of the workshop, show the team results from the assessment. This is what you will work on.

• Place a chart on the floor for each stage in the model. You can easily do this by visualizing a pyramid with tape with the five stages of the model.

• Ask the team members to stand on or near the floor chart where they think most of the team’s issues lie.

• Let all team members explain why they are standing where they are and ask for examples. Sharing how everyone experiences this is already an important step in team development.

• Then, together, look at what is needed to make team agreements on how to interact differently. Sometimes extra skills are needed to ensure team members can do this. Consider together what the team needs to grow further and agree on how to hold each other to the agreements made.

Piramid of Lencioni (Lencioni 2022)