From Dysfunction to Design: Why Lencioni’s Model No Longer Fits Today’s Teams

Most teams don’t fail because of dysfunction. They fail because the system rewards silence, punishes dissent, and confuses harmony with performance.

Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team gave us a story we wanted to believe—that trust and vulnerability could fix broken teams. But in today’s high-velocity, high-stakes environment, that narrative no longer holds.

In this article, we expose the blind spot in one of leadership’s most beloved models—and reveal what teams actually need to thrive now.

Read why emotional trust isn’t enough—and how to build teams that scale courage, clarity, and truth.