#🌱 #🟠 # Teams don't have to be dysfunctional to be ineffective ![[calendar-plus.svg]] <small>Dec 01, 2022</small> | ![[calendar-clock.svg]] <small>Jan 03, 2023</small> 🏷️ [[Team Building]] While I have certainly observed dysfunctional teams, I feel that I've been lucky that most of the teams I've been a part of have been quite functional. But just because a team isn't dysfunctional doesn't mean it is as effective as it could be. [[Patrick Lencioni]]'s [[Five Dysfunctions Model]] can be jus as useful for improving an already functional team as it is for addressing a dysfunctional one. With that in mind, the first team that comes to mind was my Rotary club. They are, hands down, my favorite group of people. We are a relatively diverse (considering the homogeneity of our community) volunteer group of professionals who share a passion for helping our local community and the world. Our club has always been a hands-on group that gets things done, and we're known among other Rotary clubs in our area for having one of the friendliest and most welcoming cultures. [[trust|Trust]] has never been an issue. As Lencioni (2002) notes about trusting teams, our members are not afraid to ask for help, welcome questions and input, give others the benefit of the doubt, offer feedback and assistance, and rely on one another's skills and experiences (p. 197). It is what first drew me to joining this particular Rotary club thirteen years ago. I have always held a very high opinion of our club, but have never been more impressed and proud than in the last two or three years - both the for the people we are and the things we've accomplished. Not long after I joined I got the sense that, while we were a great club, we had a lot of untapped potential. When I first became club president in 2013-14, it was my goal to help our team take it to the next level. We've improved year over year and the positive results of our efforts have really manifested in the last two years with an explosion of growth, both in the number of members and in the impact we've made in our communities. Looking back, I think the dysfunction that was holding us back was a [[fear of conflict]]. Rotary is a non-political and non-religious organization whose mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace" (Rotary International, 2021). In order to be welcoming to as diverse a group of individuals as possible, we avoided conflict and controversy. While that rarely, if ever, led to the dangerous tension Lencioni (2002) warns about, the norm of politeness and harmony did block our progress. This is why Priya Parker (2019) advocates for good controversy as she points out that "human connection is as threatened by unhealthy peace as by unhealthy conflict" (5:20). Once we started inviting and creating good controversy the commitment of our members increased. Where before we might have had more pet projects that certain members were very involved with, now we have better [[buy-in]] from our whole club to focus on fewer, more impactful projects. We hold one another accountable to those goals and the results have been incredible. --- ## Sources [[The Five Dysfunctions of a Team - Lencioni 2002]] [[3 Steps to Turn Everday Get-Togethers Into Transformative Gatherings - Parker]]