The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is one of the most powerful models for understanding why teams fail—and how they can succeed. In this short Food for Thought video, David Klaasen unpacks the core ideas of Patrick Lencioni’s renowned model and shows how it can transform your leadership team into a high-performing, collaborative unit.
In just 150 seconds, you’ll get practical insight into the five critical challenges that undermine team effectiveness: lack of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results.
Poor team dynamics can silently sabotage performance—even in organisations filled with talented individuals. This quick but impactful video explores how leaders can recognise and address the root causes of dysfunction. Based on real-world application, David explains how psychological safety, productive conflict, and shared accountability are essential for business success.
You’ll learn how each dysfunction builds on the one below it, and why trust is the essential foundation. If your leadership team is holding back, struggling to commit, or avoiding tough conversations, this model will help you understand why—and what to do next.
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This video is ideal for:
Business leaders managing teams of 50 to 500 people
Senior managers looking to improve team collaboration and results
HR professionals and OD consultants seeking tools for leadership development
Anyone interested in improving team communication, performance, and accountability
If you’ve ever wondered why your team isn’t quite “clicking”, this video will offer valuable clues—and a pathway forward.
The five common dysfunctions that derail teams
Why trust and vulnerability are the keys to constructive conflict
How commitment, accountability, and results are built from the ground up
Practical steps to assess your own team and spark meaningful conversations
David shares how this framework has already helped his clients unlock new levels of openness, alignment, and performance.
For a more detailed dive into Mastering Difficult Leadership Conversations: Neuroscience & Paradox Thinking in Action, watch the recording of our Online Workshop here.
If you prefer reading to watching a video, a summary of the transcript is here:
Insights for Busy Leaders and Managers – in just 150 seconds
Today, I’d like to share a powerful and practical model developed by Patrick Lencioni, called The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. It’s something I often use with clients, and during a recent session, it sparked an incredibly valuable conversation.
This model is a useful tool for reflecting on how your team works together and how you’re shaping a culture that avoids the common pitfalls that limit performance.
Lencioni presents the five dysfunctions as a pyramid. Each layer depends on the strength of the one below it—meaning you need to get the foundations right before you can successfully build the next level.
Let’s explore each layer, starting from the base.
Trust forms the foundation of any high-performing team. This isn’t just about reliability—it’s about vulnerability-based trust. It’s the ability to be open, to admit mistakes, to ask for help, and to say, “Here’s what I’ve learned.”
When people feel psychologically safe, they know that their openness won’t be used against them. They’re not afraid of being judged or undermined for showing vulnerability.
So, ask yourself: What are you doing with your senior team to create this environment of trust? How are you building the safety needed for people to show up fully and authentically?
Once trust is in place, teams can engage in healthy conflict. This is where people can challenge ideas, share different viewpoints, and have passionate discussions without fear of negative consequences.
Without trust, teams avoid conflict altogether—often leading to one dominant voice being heard, while others stay silent. But real commitment comes from everyone having a chance to weigh in and be heard.
If a team hasn’t worked through conflict, it’s unlikely there will be genuine commitment. When people don’t feel that their concerns or perspectives were considered, they’re less likely to buy in to decisions.
Healthy debate leads to clarity and alignment, even if not everyone fully agrees. That’s what allows a team to move forward together with confidence and unity.
When there’s real commitment, team members are more likely to hold each other accountable—not just rely on the leader to do it all.
Mutual accountability is essential. It’s not just about being responsible for your own performance—it’s also about respectfully challenging peers when they fall short, and being open to the same in return.
The final dysfunction is a lack of focus on collective results. When the other layers are in place—trust, conflict, commitment, and accountability—teams can focus on what really matters: achieving shared goals.
This is where high performance lives. It’s not about individual success, but about team success.
If this model resonates with you and you’d like to explore how it applies to your team, feel free to get in touch. I’d be happy to have a conversation about how to strengthen your team culture and performance.
And remember, when it comes to teams . . . stay curious!
Thank you for reading.
©Talent4Performance – 2025
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