The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

By Patrick Lencioni

One of my clients lent me this book and as always with Patrick Lencioni’s books, I devoured it in an evening and then purchased it and the workbook that supports this book. Here are the five dysfunctions:

1. Absence of Trust
2. Fear of Conflict
3. Lack of Commitment
4. Avoidance of Accountability
5. Inattention to Results

As is Patrick’s style, he writes this book as a fable, of a CEO new to a company and her desire and action to engage her team in being a highly functional, trusting and productive group. It is a quick read with an ocean of thought-provoking principles, comments and statements and a book you’ll want to read and re-read and share with others, hopefully your team. As I read this, I could identify a number of these “dysfunctions” with teams that I work with which I saw as a good thing, a starting point for moving toward where most teams want to be.

I won’t tell you more, other than get a copy for yourself and see what provokes your thinking or questioning. Interesting how “trust” keeps coming up in so many books I have written about it the past year. No surprise to me.

Enjoy.
 

I attended the blessing and dedication of the Habitat for Humanity houses just completed. There were several “dignitary” speeches of which I was one, as the Chamber president. Never quite see myself as a “dignitary” although it does have its advantages. Because of that, I was seated next to the President of the BC Real Estate Board, a man who I thoroughly enjoyed talking with, sharing a few laughs and a few tears during the dedication. As a sponsor myself since its inception in the Comox Valley, it is one of the most uplifting not-for-profits I have been involved with. I got thinking that their slogan “a hand up not a hand out” has a lot of similarities to the work I do with clients. I support my clients with a “hand up” as well so that they can achieve what is important to them. My clients put the “sweat equity” in their work with me, as do the families involved in Habitat. Very cool I think.

I’ve been very busy with a number of Chamber things, meetings, Chamber functions, phone calls, community functions and of course a slew of emails. The work involved for me has been more than I had anticipated which is mostly ok although last week was a bit of an overload as my business week was an incredibly hectic one. We had a Chamber function after a long workweek and I felt very tired just thinking of the evening. It was a beautiful evening so I went a bit early, sat in my car listening to some quiet music and watched some young deer eating grass in the nearby field. It was just what the doctor ordered. I felt more refreshed, relaxed and emptied my head of all the clutter I had stored over the previous days and went on to have a lovely event and evening with the largest crowd ever. When I left that evening I felt refreshed and relaxed and looking forward to a good night’s sleep.

We spent Father’s Day weekend in Victoria visiting with Brad, Tania and Cohen and of course had a blast. We remembered to take the camera and didn’t remember to check to see that the batteries were charged so no pictures!! Cohen is growing and changing all the time and he is a delight. He spent most of the weekend wishing each of us a “Happy Father’s Day”. Very cute.

I spent a wonderful afternoon shopping with my daughter-in-law Tania. The two of us don’t get much time on our own and this sure made up for it. We had a great time and look forward to doing something together again. Was nice to have three generations of Muir’s together, particularly on Father’s Day. Darn those batteries!!! They are charged now and just waiting for an occasion. We look forward to the day that Cohen can come visit grandma and grandpa overnight. I bet his mom and dad do too.

We had our driveway re-done a few weeks ago. There was some scaling from the winter and the fellow who we purchased the concrete from decided the driveway needed to be replaced and did so with no cost to us. We were amazed and very touched by Keith’s generosity and customer service. For those of you readers here in the Comox Valley I am talking about Keith Tatton, the owner of the Cumberland Ready-Mix and Sand and Gravel companies. His customer service was over the top and we highly recommend him.

There was a downside to getting this driveway re-done. We discovered some red ants a few days before. They were in both our house and the vacation suite where a couple who are expecting a baby is staying. Well, the nightmare began when they jack hammered the driveway and the red ants seemed to “pour” into our house and the suite. It really was a nightmare. I guess the house shook so bad (I was out with clients) that it shook them out of their hiding spot, wherever that was. Our gym and hallway and two rooms in the Village Hideaway were inundated by red ants. Ugh!!! We of course had to find some kind of ant-killer that would not have any dangerous chemicals in it in order to protect our guests (especially the one that is pregnant) and not be harmful to our animals. We found something and with four days of constant spraying and then cleaning up we got rid of the wicked things. We so appreciated the efforts and help of our Village Hideaway guests that we got them a gift certificate to a yummy Thai restaurant and a coupon for five movies. They loved the gift and we loved their help and understanding. Taking care of our guests is important to us and we needed to make that a priority. No more ants since – yahoo!!!

We had friends, Andrea and Mike visiting from Calgary for a night. They have the same passion for real estate as we do so there was lots of lively conversation over dinner and into the evening. Great fun. They are playing with the idea of purchasing somewhere in the Comox Valley and are quite taken by our little Village. Speaking of the Village...

There seems to be a lot buzzing around the Village. The Big Pink Store (heritage building) as it is affectionately called has been sold and in the last few days it has been empty. I can hardly wait to see what is going in there. Rumour has it antique dealers from Victoria have purchased it.

The Auction business is closing here after 38 years as the auctioneer and his wife retire while they are still in their 50’s and can enjoy many activities they’ve put on hold over the years. This was a fun and lively event with people coming from far and away to bid on some great things. David & I will be attending their last auction on Friday, July 13. Bittersweet. They sold the auction house, which is a heritage building, which once housed a stage theatre. We’ll see what comes of that as well.

The cherries are looking plentiful in the Village this year and the bear sightings have begun. Misty and David came across one last month just up the street from us. The cherries will be ripened soon so I expect we’ll hear Misty barking in the night as she jumps on our bed. She thinks she’s brave although really she’s just a chicken. :~)

Cumberland was part of a huge mountain bike five-day event that went from Whistler to Victoria and through the trails in Cumberland. The Village was filled with literally hundreds of mountain bikers and some of their families for two days. A great opportunity for the local businesses. The Village continues to thrive which is a good thing. Now that it is summer folks are back sitting on their front porches and chatting it up with the passers-by. You just can’t beat it! My clients in the big cities are so envious. Can’t blame them. We do live in one of Nature’s most wonderful places.