--- title: "Five Dysfunctions Assessment and Action Workshop" description: "Participants review Patrick Lencioni's five dysfunctions framework, silently write workplace observations across five wall stations, cluster recurring themes, and draft concrete team agreements." last_updated: "2026-09-07" canonical: "https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/five-dysfunctions-of-a-team-workshop-workshopbank/" --- # Five Dysfunctions Assessment and Action Workshop Participants review Patrick Lencioni's five dysfunctions framework, silently write workplace observations across five wall stations, cluster recurring themes, and draft concrete team agreements. **Time:** 120 minutes. Source states 120 minutes for 5 to 20 participants. **People:** 5 to 20. Individual reflection, station-based clustering teams, and whole-group synthesis. ## Choose this exercise **Purpose:** Map team friction points across five recognized categories and produce concrete team commitments to address the top priority. **Use it when:** Use with an existing intact team or leadership group that needs to diagnose communication barriers, unclear commitments, or low accountability. **Skip it when:** Skip for brand new groups with no shared working history, or where acute interpersonal grievances require private mediation rather than a group retrospective. ## Materials and tools - 5 flipchart sheets with pre-written category headings - Blue painter's tape to post flipcharts around the room - 1 pad of sticky notes per participant (approx. 50 sheets each) - 1 black marker per participant - 3 dot-stickers per participant for prioritization voting - 1 printed model summary handout per participant - 1 blank flipchart sheet for recording final team agreements ## Before participants arrive 1. Mount five flipchart sheets around the room spaced apart: 1. Absence of Trust, 2. Fear of Conflict, 3. Lack of Commitment, 4. Avoidance of Accountability, 5. Inattention to Results. 2. Place markers, sticky note pads, dot stickers, and printed handouts at each seat. 3. Ensure clear pathways so participants can circulate freely among the five wall stations. ## Say this to open Welcome. Today we will look at our team dynamics through Patrick Lencioni's five dysfunctions framework. We will first review the five levels neutrally. Then you will privately write your observations about how our team works today, place those notes across five wall stations, and pick one or two areas where we will make concrete team agreements. ## How to run it ### 1. Introduce the model (20 minutes) Facilitator introduces the five levels from base to top: Trust (vulnerability vs. invulnerability), Conflict (ideological debate vs. artificial harmony), Commitment (clarity and buy-in vs. ambiguity), Accountability (peer feedback vs. low standards), and Results (collective outcome vs. status/ego). Give one neutral behavioral example for each level. Keep this abstract without critiquing the current team yet. ### 2. Silent reflection and note writing (15 minutes) Participants work individually in silence. Ask each person to write specific, observable behaviors or patterns from their shared work onto sticky notes, writing one thought per note. Participants note which of the five stations their points belong to. Remind everyone that personal attacks are prohibited; focus on work practices, meetings, and project delivery. ### 3. Wall posting and silent gallery walk (20 minutes) Participants stand and walk around the room, posting their sticky notes on the corresponding flipchart stations. Everyone reads the notes posted by peers silently. If someone sees a related theme, they can place their note beside it to begin initial clustering. ### 4. Cluster and review in station groups (25 minutes) Distribute participants across the flipcharts. For groups of 10 to 20, assign 2 to 4 people per chart across all five stations. For groups of 5 to 9, assign 1 to 2 people per station, or pair participants up to tackle two adjacent stations together. Groups spend 15 minutes organizing notes into 2 to 3 thematic clusters and writing headline labels. For the remaining 10 minutes, each station group gives a 2-minute factual briefing to the room on what emerged. ### 5. Prioritize and debrief focus areas (20 minutes) Distribute 3 dot-stickers to each participant. Ask participants to place dots on the flipchart clusters they believe need the team's immediate attention. Tally the top one or two clusters. Run the debrief questions with the whole room, taking 4 to 5 total reflections on what the patterns indicate. ### 6. Draft concrete team agreements (20 minutes) For the highest-voted area, invite the whole room to propose 2 to 3 observable, realistic process changes or ground rules (for example: 'We will state dissenting views before concluding decisions in our weekly standup'). Record these agreements on a fresh flipchart sheet. Assign an owner and a 30-day review date. ## Debrief questions - Looking at the distribution of notes, which level of the model seems to drive the others for us? - What is one working habit we already do well that we can lean on to solve this top priority? - What could make following our new team agreements difficult, and how will we check in if we slip? **Finished output:** A shared wall map of team observations across five categories and a written list of 2 to 3 agreed team commitments with assigned review dates. ## Remote Set up an online whiteboard with five designated columns matching the model's layers. Facilitator shares screen to brief the model. Participants add digital sticky notes during the silent writing phase. For clustering, break out into video breakout rooms: if the group has 10 or more people, assign 2 to 4 people per breakout room for each column; if fewer than 10 people, assign 1 to 2 people per breakout or group columns together (for example, Trust and Conflict in one room). Reassemble in the main room, conduct dot voting using whiteboard reaction stamps (3 stamps per person), and co-write the action agreements in a shared document. ## Hybrid In-person participants use physical sticky notes while an in-person scribe immediately mirrors them into a shared digital whiteboard. Remote participants post directly into the digital board. Display the digital board on the room projector so both cohorts view identical clusters during discussion. Small station teams can pair an in-person participant with a remote colleague via a laptop station. Dot voting is run entirely on the digital board so remote and in-person votes hold equal weight. ## Access and participation choices - Participants may submit notes typed, written, or dictated to the facilitator. - Participants can choose to pass during the plenary share-out and contribute purely through written notes or dot voting. ## If the session gets stuck **Participants write personal complaints about named colleagues instead of system habits.** Remind the room before writing that notes must describe behaviors, processes, or communication patterns without individual names. Facilitator quietly removes or re-phrases identifying notes before the gallery walk. **Notes are overwhelmingly clustered on just one flipchart while others are completely empty.** Acknowledge the strong signal. Explain that the model is foundational: if trust or conflict is heavy, downstream levels often suffer. Center the final action planning on that primary cluster. ## Terms used here - Lencioni Model: A framework describing five progressive dysfunctions: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. ## Participant material: The Five Levels Quick Reference Level 1: Trust - Healthy: Team members admit mistakes, ask for help, and accept vulnerability. - Dysfunction: Team members hide weaknesses and avoid asking for assistance. Level 2: Conflict - Healthy: Unfiltered, passionate debate around ideas and plans. - Dysfunction: Artificial harmony, holding back honest opinions in meetings. Level 3: Commitment - Healthy: Clear decisions with full buy-in, even when consensus is not reached. - Dysfunction: Ambiguity, half-hearted agreement, and revisiting settled debates. Level 4: Accountability - Healthy: Peers challenge one another directly on performance and standards. - Dysfunction: Relying solely on the manager to address missed deadlines and low standards. Level 5: Results - Healthy: Team prioritizes collective group outcomes over individual status. - Dysfunction: Members prioritize individual recognition, department silos, or personal career goals over team delivery. ## Sources and adaptation Observed in WorkshopBank workshop directory ('Five Dysfunctions of a Team Workshop'). The underlying five dysfunctions model is attributed to Patrick Lencioni (2002). Retained the 120-minute duration, 5-20 participant range, six-phase core flow (setup, discuss model, think, write and share, plenary, action plan), and Patrick Lencioni's five categories referenced in the WorkshopBank source. Added precise time allotments summing to 120 minutes, flexible subgroup math accommodating 5 to 20 people, aligned 3-dot voting mechanics, printable participant reference card, and remote/hybrid protocols. [WorkshopBank](https://workshopbank.com/workshops/five-dysfunctions-of-a-team) Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/five-dysfunctions-of-a-team-workshop-workshopbank/