** 77th book of 2020: 5 Dysfunctions of a Framework **
A good framework in business literature can simplify an otherwise complex space, provide predictive power, or shed light on previous experiences from a new perspective. In my 2020 business-lit odyssey (https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/6023167-jonathan-mckay?shelf=leadership), I’ve been surprised at just how many frameworks turn out to be useful.
Yet despite participating in and supporting many dysfunctional teams, 5 Dysfunctions leaves me struggling to match its rules to reality.
The 5 dysfunctions: 1: Absence of trust, 2: Fear of conflict, 3: Lack of commitment, 4: Avoidance of accountability, 5: Inattention to results. Each dysfunction is self explanatory, but the framework doesn’t hang together. So I offer you *five dysfunctions of a framework. *
** Independent elements depend on one another:** Both pairs 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 are suspiciously correlated, and I can’t think of an example where I’ve seen dysfunction two without the first one also being present. Indeed the parable given goes through each dysfunction on a single team, making me wonder if they are truly separable.
** Sub-definitions are not collectively exhaustive. ** performance issues of team members, individual relationships going south etc. are all dysfunctions that are not mentioned at all.
** Doesn’t match lived experience. ** Performance issues of team members, individual relationships going south etc. When I reflect on team failures in the past, misaligned incentives, ambiguous / misaligned goals, and insufficient communication are the repeating perpetrators, and while I could shoehorn each into this framework, none seem a clean fit.
** Lacks predictive or simplifying power ** Perhaps the 5 dysfunctions could be a reasonable jumping off point to create a new framework for team dysfunction, but at the point that I’m trying to write my own book, something must have gone wrong with the one I just read.
** Short story doesn’t get at the core definitional issues or drawbacks of the framework. ** A short story can be an effective framework for applying well defined concepts to a messy situation, but doesn’t help with creating the definition or sufficient detail in how the framework should be applied.