Patrick Lencioni, author of the top selling book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, describes the 5 dysfunctions of a team and uses a pyramid to show the levels:

• Absence of Trust

• Fear of Conflict

• Lack of Commitment

• Avoidance of Accountability

• Inattention to Results

The pyramid showing the 5 critical components of a highly functional team has Trust at the bottom, the foundation or most critical piece. According to Patrick, if you alter that foundation with a lack of Trust, you prevent a team from true commitment, accountability and results.

There are two types of trust, Common Trust and Vulnerability-Based Trust.

Common trust is believing that a co-worker or team member won’t break generally accepted laws, norms, policies, etc.  It’s the trust that you extend to others that they won’t steal or damage items from the office or others if left alone.

We extend common trust to others when we drive. We “trust” people know and will follow the rules of the road.  Without common trust we would struggle to function every day in society.

Vulnerability-Based Trust requires more in- depth confidence requiring you to be vulnerable with those you work with.  It is believing you can do things like take risks, ask for help, admit mistakes, or confront and hold others accountable without fear of retaliation, humiliation, or resentment.

Vulnerable trust has to be earned and given.

Three years ago when coaching a team the President of the company was so proud that so many people had been with his company for a decade or longer, but he was having challenges keeping his new hires.  They put a company assessment program in place and soon found out, unbeknown to the President, that many of these long-term employees had become experts at predicting how he would react and they would set him up to get the answer they wanted, not necessarily what was best for the company overall.   The new hires would leave due to the obviously unhealthy environment once they lived it every day on the inside.

Patrick Lencioni himself in this video shares that if just one person on your team is unable to develop vulnerable trust your foundation is full of cracks that are spreading.[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFC-AqO9V80″][vc_column_text]

Is a solid business foundation important to you?  Invest in discovering through coaching.  It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.

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