The fifth dysfunction is inattention to results and is defined by status and ego.¹ At the top of the pyramid of dysfunction as described by Patrick Lencioni, is when the driving force is ego or self instead of the team. This is seen on some professional sports teams where some individuals who get paid multimillion dollar sports contracts and advertising contracts are able to excel by themselves, but do not know how to use their leadership potential to build a team. Another great analogy is the one that Patrick uses when telling the fable of the company DecisionTech and its CEO Kathryn.
“Kathryn went back to the sports analogy… …’Okay, imagine a basketball coach in the locker room at half-time. He calls the team’s center into his office to talk with him one-on-one about the first half, and then he does the same with the point guard, the shooting guard, the small forward, and the power forward, without any of them knowing what everyone else was talking about. That’s not a team. It’s a collection of individuals.'”²
The second dysfunction of team, just above absence of trust at the base of the pyramid, is fear of conflict. Fear of conflict is evidenced by artificial harmony. ³ “If we don’t trust one another, then we aren’t going to engage in open, constructive ideological conflict. And we’ll just continue to preserve a sense of artificial harmony.”³ Just because everyone seems to be getting along, doesn’t mean that team is really happening. When we’re not honest and open with each other then we’re doing it behind each other’s back. And nothing like artificial harmony can lead us to the third dysfunction.
The third dysfunction of team is lack of commitment which is evidenced by ambiguity.4 Lack of commitment is directly effected by fear of conflict because, “When people don’t unload their opinions and feel like they’ve been listened to, they won’t really get on board.”5 Everyone doesn’t have to agree they just have to know they’re being heard. Plus creating an environment where people believe they can be open and honest, and can be heard will keep that communication from being cut off. Don’t be fooled, that communication will happen, whether or not you foster the right environment for it to grow in is up to you.
Finally, the fourth and final dysfunction of a team we’ll talk about tomorrow.
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References:
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni picture pg 72
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni pg 83
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni pg 91
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni pg 93
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni pg 94
Influenced by songwriters like Lucinda Williams, Roseanne Cash, Bruce Springsteen, and Dar Williams, Sarah Popejoy’s songs blend storytelling with an Americana leaning groove. After living in Nashville for 10 years, Sarah moved back home to Tulsa, what Rolling Stone calls the next Austin, where she is producing her 3rd studio album called “The Oklahoma Storyteller”. Most of the album has been recorded at the newly renovated, world-class studio, The Church Studio, in Tulsa, Oklahoma which was previously owned by Leon Russell. All songs on the new album are written by Mrs. Popejoy, a previous award winner of the American Songwriter Magazine Lyric Contest and The Billboard Song Contest.
The intersections of I-40, The King of Trails (Highway 75), and the largest stretch of Route 66, Oklahoma figuratively and literally is the crossroads of the American Story. It was the end of the trail for many indigenous people during America's dark history of forced removal, birthplace of one of the biggest heroes of America's pastime, home to the struggles of those who lived and breathed the Dust Bowl, home of some of the biggest trendsetting influencers in modern American music, and the site of the worst domestic terrorist attack in U.S. history. This is why the first album in The Oklahoma Storyteller series, is called, "The Oklahoma Storyteller: Crossroads of the American Story", set to be released Summer of 2024.