by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com
Our whole world is contaminated with dysfunctional relationships. Families have marriage divorce rates over 50 %, unwed families abound with single parent homes, individuality and looking out for #1 are hero-ized.
No wonder, with all this, it has fostered a dysfunctional worm that is cocooning in the marketplace, businesses and organizations everywhere.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick Lencioni, deals with how to remove this relational virus while making your business, organization a functional family unit. You can melt down the dysfunctional factors which plague a business to become remarkably functional. This book has stayed on top of the business bestseller lists since its publication. It is fast becoming the “go to” book for business team building… of any size…. from partners to managers and teams they serve.
In a nutshell, here are the five dysfunctions that infect groups:
1. Absence of Trust
"Unwillingness to be vulnerable... not being genuinely open/honest make it impossible to build a foundation for trust."
2. Fear of Conflict
"Without trust there cannot be unfiltered, passionate debate”... fear of conflict creates "veiled discussions and guarded comments."
3. Lack of Commitment
When honest opinions are not aired, genuine buy-in doesn't really happen. Commitment is superficial and political.
4. Avoidance of Accountability
When there is genuine commitment, team members hold each other accountable to "behaviors that seem counter productive to the team."
5. Inattention to Results
Without accountability "team members put their individual needs" ahead of the team's goals.
When there is lack of trust, people don’t share the good and bad about themselves in an honest way. This creates a fear of conflict because the individual in a group feels he may not be accepted for who he is, so an atmosphere of artificial harmony is prevalent. This progresses to a lack of commitment manifesting as each person’s “honest” opinions, ideas are not heard. This then promotes ambiguity and making oneself deliberately vague so one can re-maneuver opinions and protect himself from authentic accountability. An avoidance of accountability grows out of this.
The disease spreads festering low standards. Consequently, an inattention to results surfaces as people become focused on self-survival, personal agendas to preserve status and build ego gratification. Instead of real contribution they fall back to a “Looking out for # 1” mentality and in attitude. Most of what is done then is skewed for self-interest and not for the well-being of the project.
Lencioni takes the reader through storytelling episodes that role play how dysfunction can be resolved by team members sharing history of their lives, personality profiling for understanding, acceptance of ideas, standing up for each other (versus “brown nosing” the boss so to be his shining star), and cultivating a team unit that “keeps each other" accountable.
A great book that would be a superb resource as a group retreat study to create greatness as a highly functional, productive team.
Spiritual dynamics are hidden all throughout
The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team.
Lencioni's website (http://www.tablegroup.com/)
Jesus said there are two great commandments:
love God with all your heart, Soul and mind.
And to love your neighbor as yourself.
(Matthew 22:37)
When love prevails, we know God accepts us as we are and chooses not to “remember” our faults. ” (Hebrews 10:17)
He prefers to accelerate our gifts.
As one in Spirit with others, we have a connection to others as if we are One person, in Spirit... making us the “same” in Spirit. So we naturally treat others as we would treat ourselves.
With God’s love we actually consider others more important than ourselves.
Knowing our "One" connection in Spirit,
we then love others AS ourselves.
Look at the process in the New Testament for building Oneness... Group Unity.
1. Share our weaknesses with each other.
When we share shortcomings, there is a natural tendency for others to build us up. (James 5:16, 2 Corinthians 12:9)
2. Avoid dwelling on others’ faults and shortcomings.
Pray for others so God can heal, help them as we desire to overcome our own shortcomings. (Colossians 3:13)
3. Do not say things that put others down,
but instead continually encourage and inspire others.
When we reaffirm others' abilities they become what we tell them. (This is a powerful group dynamic.) We build group synergy when we practice this in a group. (Hebrews 10:24)
4. Forgive each other and stay committed to each other.
When we love others as ourselves, we see ourselves tied to each other as One (One in Spirit). We support each other’s interests and a group’s interests. (Ephesians 4:32)
5. We use our talents to complement others and contribute our best to the whole project when love, Spirit, and kindness prevail. (Romans 12)
(In Spirit, we are literally part of each other… others are part of us…
we are One.)
The three themes for creating a powerful group, which Spirit can manifest itself beyond our own abilities, are…
humility,
forgiveness,
and giving of what we have for the benefit of others.
(see Colossians 3:5-15)
As an “US,” we manifest power beyond what "one person" can do.
Spiritual math is greater than human math. 1 + 1 = a factor of 10, 100, or 1000. Unity in Spirit enhances our connection to Jesus Spirit. Incredible Universally-connecting power is dispersed. (Matthew 18:19-20)
The secret to true spiritual Power:
Love, interact with, dwell in the Spirit of God, with all your soul, mind, heart.
As your love relationship in Jesus Spirit expands, this Spirit in you attracts, magnetically draws others to you.
As your Spirit becomes One in the Very Spirit of God, your relationships with others automatically deepen, One in Spirit.…the unlimited Universally-expansive Spirit Power joins you.
With this power at our disposal, we can expect phenomenal results, advanced results not common to the-best-of-man’s efforts. Beyond the natural… to be Super Natural.
The Super Natural can be ours now naturally, when Universal Spirit Power ties Us into Spirit with each other.
With just two or three in agreement, same mind, heart and soul,
wrapped into the same heart, mind, soul of God’s World-Creating Spirit,
ALL things are Indeed possible.
Out of this Heart-of-Jesus Spirit world dreams are created;
within this Spirit Extraordinary outcomes are birthed from all things we set our hearts, minds, souls and hands to.
All the Power that Jesus displayed on earth
is released to Us…
when We team in Spirit.
No comments:
Post a Comment