Questions a team leader needs to ask themselves before pursuing The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team

If you have read the book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni and your team exhibits similar behaviors described in the book OR you have not read the book, but you have thought to yourself:  “I want to build a better team…” then, read on.

Before you look into the simple assessment tool available or think about doing any work to build a cohesive team, ask yourself these very important questions:

1)  Is this the right time?

1. Is the team new?
2. Is there an impending change in direction?
3. Is there an unusually heavy workload right now?
4. Is significant organizational change around the corner?

2)  Is the team really a team?

1. Do you meet on a regular basis?
2. Are you an intact team? What I mean here is: Do you have a common goal?
3. How big is this team? (Ideally 3-12 is a good number for this work.)

3)  Is the team ready for heavy lifting?

1. Are you willing to invest significant time and emotional energy to become a cohesive team.

4)  Are YOU, the leader, committed to building a team?

1. You must set the example.

If you answered NO to the four questions in #1, and YES to 2, 3 and 4 then you are ready to consider next steps. Click HERE to see what an assessment looks like and I will follow up to answer your preliminary questions.