This was the team that was supposed to turn things around.
The struggling business had restructured the organization to unite several talented individuals to lead the transformation as a team. Each member brought an impressive résumé and a wealth of experience. They also had a history of working well cross-functionally.
Objectives of their new project were clearly stated, and everyone seemed to be on board with the same vision. But as their work began, something wasn’t working.
Meetings ran long. Progress was slow. People hesitated to speak up or to speak directly. Difficult topics were punted to the next week or avoided altogether. The energy that once defined the individual members of the team—quick decisions, open debate, a shared sense of energy and enthusiasm—failed to take root.
Consequently, the business was at an even greater risk, even with its star players at the helm.
When this happens, leaders often focus on process and “things to do”: more frequent one-on-one check-ins (or worse—constant, hovering via email or Slack), revised KPIs every quarter, updated workflows, or systems to manage them.
As much as we would like to blame performance issues on process, that’s not where they are rooted. The hard truth is that performance issues are rooted in people.
More specifically, in how people relate to each other under pressure.
Using Personality Insights to Strengthen Team Dynamics
Fortunately, there is a proven method to overcome these group dynamic challenges. Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, a 2002 book that uses a business fable to illustrate common reasons why teams struggle to achieve their goals, remains a practical and widely used model for understanding breakdowns among people under pressure.
The book identifies five interconnected challenges:
1. Absence of Trust
2. Fear of Conflict
3. Lack of Commitment
4. Avoidance of Accountability
5. Inattention to Results
These aren’t isolated problems. Left unresolved, these challenges compound and escalate, derailing even the most promising initiatives.
But what makes these dysfunctions particularly challenging is that they aren’t always visible in the numbers. They show up in tone, body language, delayed responses, and sidelong conversations after meetings. They’re interpersonal by nature, which means fixing them requires self-awareness and behavioral insight, not just strategy.
This is where personality insights, such as the WorkPlace Big Five Profile™, prove valuable.
Tools like these provide a language for understanding the behavioral tendencies behind team dynamics—without veering into generalizations or blame. Used alongside Lencioni’s model, personality insights can help leaders address dysfunction more precisely and proactively.
Building Trust among Teams: Addressing the Foundational Dysfunction
Trust is the foundation of all effective teams. Without it, individuals hesitate to be their true selves, share ideas, or admit mistakes, leading to an atmosphere of skepticism and guarded communication.
The WorkPlace Big Five Profile™ subtrait of Trust of Others (E5) captures how readily an individual places confidence in others. It is also one of four traits that help us understand how trust plays out behaviorally. Low-trust individuals are often skeptical and require evidence before engaging openly. Teams with low collective trust struggle to build cohesion, and collaboration suffers.
To overcome this challenge, it’s essential to create an environment conducive to trust. This means fostering open and honest communication, building real connections, and demonstrating reliability. When team members feel safe to be themselves and trust one another, it paves the way for meaningful collaboration and effective problem-solving.
First Steps for Leaders:
- Estimate your level of trust in the workplace—low, medium, or high.
- Reflect on how that level of trust supports or contributes to the overall health and function of your team.
- If you’re questioning whether your level of trust helps your team, that’s okay. This new level of self-awareness can spark growth and development.
How to Overcome Fear of Conflict in Teams
Although “conflict” carries negative connotations, constructive disagreement is essential to strategy, innovation, and sound decision-making. In the absence of trust, conflict is avoided—even when it is necessary. But when conflict is managed well, it can serve as a powerful catalyst for growth and creativity.
Personality traits such as the WorkPlace Big Five Profile™ trait Others’ Needs (A1) can influence how likely an individual is to avoid conflict in favor of harmony. Leaders must model and normalize productive dissent. Creating an environment where healthy debate and feedback is not only accepted but celebrated is critical to addressing this dysfunction.
First Steps for Leaders:
- Reflect on how you currently encourage healthy conflict in your organization.
- Practice modeling open dialogue or active listening.
- Set clear guidelines for what constructive disagreement looks like.
- Remember: your goal isn’t to avoid conflict. It’s to use conflict as a catalyst for sharper decisions and a more cohesive team.
Boost Team Commitment: Strategies to Fix Dysfunction
When teams avoid conflict, they often settle for passive agreement. Individuals may not voice disagreement, but they also do not commit to the path forward. This results in misalignment, delays, and a lack of accountability.
The Interpretation trait (N3), which reflects an individual’s confidence in shaping outcomes, can influence commitment. Employees with lower scores in this trait may feel less ownership, particularly in ambiguous environments.
The solution is not simply more clarity—it’s shared ownership, which requires space for critical discussion, individual contribution, and reinforcement of how every individual contributor’s role supports the bigger picture or broader objective.
First Steps for Leaders:
- Clearly define shared goals.
- Invite everyone to the table for decision-making.
- Create space for open and inclusive dialogue.
- Ensure each team member feels heard.
- Align individual aspirations with collective objectives. This builds commitment and cohesion from the start.
Creating Accountability in Teams: A Leadership Development Guide
We’ve all seen it—team members hesitating to own their actions and results.
This behavior often stems from conflict aversion, prioritizing individual interests over collective success, and unclear expectations, leading to missed deadlines and a general lack of responsibility. But what’s really at stake is a deeper issue: dwindling enthusiasm and a team culture where people rely on others to carry the load. Over time, this becomes normalized—undermining trust and performance across the board.
The WorkPlace Big Five Profile™ trait, Drive (C3), which reflects motivation and energy for task completion, can shape how individuals approach responsibility. But culture is the true lever. Teams that treat accountability as a shared norm—not an individual burden—perform better and retain top talent.
First Steps for Leaders:
- Set clear goals and roles.
- Encourage open and honest dialogue.
- Frame accountability as an opportunity for growth—not punishment.
- Provide regular and constructive feedback.
- Celebrate wins to build a culture of trust and performance.
Driving Team Results: Fixing the Final Dysfunction
Finally, teams lose sight of results when individual agendas take precedence over collective goals. Recognition, ego, and misaligned incentives can all contribute. The consequences: diminished collaboration, coordination, and decision-making.
The WorkPlace Big Five Profile™ Humility trait (A3) helps explain how team members balance self-interest with shared outcomes. Participants with lower humility may be less inclined to defer credit or prioritize team performance.
To correct course, leaders must define success clearly, link outcomes to shared purpose, and reinforce behaviors that emphasize team goals over individual accomplishments.
First Steps for Leaders:
- Establish a shared purpose.
- Align individual goals with team objectives.
- Set clear performance metrics.
- Recognize and reward team successes.
- These steps help shift the team’s focus toward shared results and enhance overall performance.
Why Self-Awareness Is Key to Team Leadership and Performance
Lencioni’s framework, paired with data-driven insights from tools like the WorkPlace Big Five Profile™, provides a compelling blueprint for diagnosing and improving team performance.
But no framework succeeds without leadership commitment. Teams improve when leaders improve.
That level of commitment—to observe, to listen, to create space for open and inclusive conversation—will require a new level of self-awareness on your part.
In today’s business environment, self-awareness isn’t just a soft skill. It’s a strategic competency and competitive advantage, shaping how quickly your organization can align, adapt, and execute. Self-awareness also provides leaders with a critical understanding of how their unique leadership style can be leveraged to bring out the best in their teams, preventing dysfunction before it takes hold.
With this self-knowledge in place, your first step and daily challenge is to lead with humility and shared purpose, while making it clear that every person’s contribution matters and drives the organization forward.
And that’s not a business fable—it’s the real story you have the opportunity to tell.
Ready to help your team grow with the WorkPlace Big Five Profile™? Our Client Success team is here to help.
