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Five dysfunctions
Peter Lencioni’s simple but powerful insights about the “Five Dysfunctions of a Team” help provide a great place to ponder, discuss and sharpen your effort. Great for individual and team learning. Use this list as a work center. Jot thoughts around such questions as “How might we build strength in each of these areas of potential dysfunction?” or “How might we avoid this dysfunction?” or “How might we be known for the opposite of this dysfunction?”
- Absence of trust
- Fear of conflict
- Lack of commitment
- Avoidance of accountability
- Inattention to results
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Heart-of-the-matter, continuous improvement questions
Good for developing, sustaining, measuring, and stepping up any team effort:
- Why are we in this role, this business? Who are we?
- How are we doing our role, this business?
- Where are we now, how is it going?
- Where do we want to be/go?
- How will we get there?
- How will we know when we’ve arrived?
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Good to great
Jim Collins’ “Good to Great” work is rich with learning possibilities. A special edition (simpler, focused) for non-profit leadership is available. His concept of focused, “hedgehog” work is developed using three essential questions represented by three intersecting circles. At the intersection is the heart of the matter, that hedgehog focus on what the team is really good at doing. As you work at honing your team’s/system’s purpose and focus, take some time with….
- What are we (this team) most passionate about?
- What fuels our (team’s) engine? (people, finances, information…)
- What are we (this team) best at providing?
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“The future ain’t what it used to be.” – Yogi Berra
- What was school like when you were in elementary school?
- What has changed in our leadership environment over the past 10 years?
- How must we change to align to the new mandates and challenges?
- What habits of excellence are essential for the new era of educational leadership?
- How do we prove our worth in this era of accountability?
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No other principle of effectiveness is violated as constantly today as the basic principle of concentration…Our motto seems to be: “Let’s do a little bit of everything.” – Peter Drucker
- What if we did a lot with a little? What would we be about?
- What are our wildly important, absolutely crucial, achievement concentrations?
- What “lesser things” keep consuming precious team time?
- What do we want our legacy to be?
- What do we want to be remembering with healthy pride 40 years from now?
