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I am Lanelle Gordin and I am from the Riverside County Office of Education. This is an introduction
to the Five Dysfunctions of a Team, a book that is foundational to our Teacher Leader
Certification Academy.
Teacher leaders are often asked to lead teams of people to accomplish jobs that need to be done on school sites.
They may lead Student Support Teams, WASC Accreditation teams, social committees, curriculum
committees, or a host of other teams and committees that meet for short-term or long-term purposes.
Most schools these days also have grade level, course, or department teams whose main purpose
is to collaborate around issues of student learning. So, teams are integral to everything
we do in schools today.
Unfortunately, one of the realities in education is that we focus most of our professional
development efforts on what might be termed the “hard” content—curriculum, instructional
strategies, standards, data analysis, and how to organize to provide intervention time
for students needing additional support for learning—and yet fail to teach the “soft”
skills of intra- and inter-personal relationships, especially as they relate to collaboration
and teamwork. Obviously, the “hard” content is critical if we are going to be successful
in helping all students learn. But, what we don’t realize is that the “soft” skills
of collaboration are what make it possible for us to be effective in accomplishing the
tasks of the “hard” content. In other words, we tend to teach what we are to collaborate
on, but fail to teach how to collaborate effectively. And, what I have learned is that collaboration
is a wonderful thing…until all the people show up. That’s when the hard work starts!
Patrick Lencioni wrote this book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, that you see on the
screen and he has proposed a very user-friendly model of effective collaboration that has
hugely influenced our work.The purpose of this video is to introduce you to the five
dysfunctions of a team and how overcoming these challenges will result in collaboration
that is both rewarding and productive. You read this model from the bottom up…starting
with absence of trust. This information comes directly from the book.
Absence of Trust Members of great teams trust one another on
a fundamental, emotional level, and they are comfortable being vulnerable with each other
about their weaknesses, mistakes, fears, and behaviors. This is essential because…
Fear of Conflict Teams that trust one another are not afraid
to engage in passionate dialogue around issues and decisions that are key to the organization’s
success. They do not hesitate to disagree with, challenge, and question one another,
all in the spirit of finding the best answers, discovering the truth and making great decisions.
This is important because…
Lack of Commitment Teams that engage in unfiltered conflict are
able to achieve genuine buy-in around important decisions, even when various members of the team initially disagree. That’s
because they ensure that all opinions and ideas are put on the table and considered.
This is critical because…
Avoidance of Accountability Teams that commit to decisions and standards
of performance do not hesitate to hold one another accountable for adhering to those
decisions and standards. This matters because…
Inattention to Results Teams that trust one another, engage in conflict,
commit to decisions, and hold one another accountable are very likely to set aside their
individual needs and agendas and focus almost exclusively on what is best for the team.
As you can see, each successive component of effective collaboration builds on the previous
one. And, we find that most of the work that needs to be done is on developing trust and
managing productive conflict.Once people are able to trust each other and know that they
can disagree about ideas, strategies, and philosophies without harming their relationships,
they can move on to build buy-in, hold each other accountable, and achieve team results
that supersede personal agendas. The great thing is that there is nothing more
fun, or more rewarding, than working on a great team.
At our next session of the Teacher Leader Certification Academy, we will delve deeper
into trust, and at the following session, we will talk more about conflict and the rest
of the dysfunctions. We’ll see you then!