The people you choose for your team can either make or break your business. As a result, having "the right" team beside you is as essential as having enough funds to run your business. If cash is the fuel, then the team is the engine that drives the business. A chain is only as impressive as its weakest link, and a company is only as strong as its lowest-performing employees.
The objective of any team is to work as a cohesive unit to achieve a common goal. The elements for a successful team stimulate teamwork that gives the company an advantage for success. Leadership should promote teams' concepts to ensure the company's position to develop, expand, and support projects that align with the mission. Aside from a well-performing team, a good CEO is a factor that reflects the team too. Although there's no such thing as a 'perfect CEO,' young leaders might suffer from "Founder's Syndrome." Founder's Syndrome occurs when the marvelous, inspired, fearless leader becomes more of a liability than an asset. Effective teamwork goes both ways, the leader and the team.
Patrick Lencioni, THE FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM
Patrick Lencioni is one of The Table Group’s founders and is the organizational health movement pioneer. He wrote 11 books, which have sold over 6 million copies and translated into more than 30 languages. Defined by The Wall Street Journal as “one of the most in-demand speakers in America,” Pat lectured millions of people at conferences and events worldwide. As President of the Table Group, he speaks and writes about leadership, teamwork, and organizational health and consulting with executives and their teams. Before founding the firm in 1997, Lencioni worked at Bain & Company, Oracle Corporation, and Sybase. He resides in the Bay Area with his wife and four boys. As a consultant and keynote speaker, Pat worked with senior executives and executive teams in organizations ranging from Fortune 500s and high tech start-ups to universities and non-profits. He also conducts talks on leadership, organizational change, teamwork, and corporate culture. From professional sports teams to the military, non-profits, and some of the most significant leading corporations globally, Patrick Lencioni’s practical, forward-thinking leadership approach applies universally. The University of Saint Mary is the first school to bring its real-world expertise to an online MBA.
Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable is a realistic fictional story focused on a real-world scenario emphasizing team-building skills. In the story, a relatively young yet successful company recruited a new CEO. The story follows the lead of Kathryn to make everything work. The book walks her thoughtful journey to identify the team, breaking down and starting the rebuilding process. Although Kathryn is too good to be true, she demonstrates an efficient model for building a functional team. After the story, the author provides more background about the model and how to begin applying it to your team. The model addresses Trust, Conflict, Commitment, Accountability, and Results. Each area is interrelated and builds on the other. Lencioni outlines a realistic group of people who are not working together as a successful team. With Katheryn, the group explores and confronts the issues that prevent them from being successful. To resolve the dysfunctions in a team, Patrick provides solutions to establish a good team’s fundamental elements.
Benjamin Ellis is the founder and CEO of SocialOptic. He achieved a proven track record in delivering new products and services to market, an engaging communicator, and a highly analytical mind. Benjamin always produces a new perspective and depth of analysis, distinguishing root causes and finding creative solutions for even the most obscure and challenging problems. Benjamin is known for building teams with positive, inclusive cultures and infusing his energy and enthusiasm.
SocialOptic produces solutions that apply data science, machine learning, and visualization technologies to the problems of human interaction, decision making, and planning. Benjamin solely bootstrapped SocialOptic with 10,000 customers and hit a $1.1 million run rate in 2018. SocialOptic has 12 people, and they only work a maximum of four days a week.
― Benjamin Ellis, Founder and CEO of SocialOptic
Benjamin encourages his team to have other interests outside of work to improve their communication skills. Accordingly, they produce dynamic and in-depth conversations with prospects on a CXO level. Benjamin honed his skills and expertise with Lencioni’s genius tactics to lay a resilient foundation to build an excellent team.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni is a must-read for anyone that works in a close team environment. It allows founders to build a solid foundation of trust within their team and management. The book is applicable for existing CEOs open for change of management and builds a trustworthy workplac
SaaS Founders, create your high-performing sales team from scratch.
Build your winning sales playbook and lay the groundwork for your transition out of founder-led sales.
Build. Hire. Grow.
