Thanks to all those who have followed my five part series on Patrick Lencioni’s The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team. If you’d like to go deeper, I’d suggest you check out Patrick’s youtube channel and a popular talk he gave on the 5 Dysfunctions some time ago.
Today marks the fifth and last dysfunction—Inattention to Results, which is is characterized by prioritizing individual goals and status over team results. The most obvious example of this dysfunction is found in the sports team where the star shoots rather than passes to the open player. Individual goals are important; when properly designed they help achieve team goals. However, this only works when people don’t lose sight of the overall team goals.
When I first left the Army, I was discussing my goals with my boss. He was pleased to see that some of my goals were broader than my responsibilities. I was surprised that this was unusual. Why else did my team exist, but to make the larger organization successful. I was used to prioritizing the overall objective, even over the success of my team.
As CEO at the time, I had four VPs that reported to me, and 10 directors that reported to them. Twice a year, the VPs and I would discuss the directors’ performance. We never discussed how well they ran their teams. We assumed they ran them well. What we discussed was how good they were at making other teams better. This focus on the overall goals is what propelled us to achieve what we did. We were honored by the White House for our broadband project, which was a tremendous success because we were a great team.
As you know, I am a big believer in the power of teams. Good teams are capable of so much more than people working as individuals. Dysfunctional teams are no fun, frequently fail, and never accomplish great things. NYU is both a great university and important to our society’s future. Information is the life blood of all organizations today. NYU is depending on us, and we have to not only be a team of teams, but also a great team of great teams. I challenge you to both build your team into a great team and to be a great teammate!