A Favorite Episode Replay: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
With Vonda and Lori buried in symposium week at AIFD, they're re-sharing one of their all-time favorite conversations: their book talk on Patrick Lencioni's The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Lori pitches it as the rare business book that's short, told as realistic fiction, and laid out almost like a comic book — and then the two of them do what they always do: filter every one of the five dysfunctions through the lens of a retail flower shop. The point isn't to dwell on the negative; it's that you can't avoid a pitfall you've never named.
Dysfunction one: absence of trust
The book defines this as unwillingness to be vulnerable within a team — members fear their weaknesses will be used against them. Lori admits that fear hits home: divulge a flaw, and will someone throw it back at you later? In a shop, it looks like the designer's assistant who stops contributing because they've decided their ideas aren't good enough, or the employee who never finds the owner approachable, quietly concludes "everybody's hiring," and leaves — while the stunned owner never learns why. The antidote is the bicycle lesson Lori once shared at an SAF session: you hold on, then you let go, and you expect some falls. Ask a new designer to show you their dozen roses and they will fail at first — if you respond with criticism and micromanagement, they'll never believe you trust them, and nobody stays long in a job where the boss doesn't trust them.
Dysfunction two: fear of conflict
Defined as seeking artificial harmony over constructive, passionate debate — the workplace version of the too-perfect Christmas card. When team members fear retribution, they get political: choosing words for the reaction they'll produce instead of what they actually think. Lori, an Enneagram nine and self-confessed people pleaser, warns that telling people what they want to hear helps no one; and Vonda, speaking as a former shop owner, admits how tempting it is to see an undercurrent between employees and just turn away. You can't. Put on your big-girl panties, name what you're seeing, and deal with it — everyone ends up in a better place. Lori's middle-school cheerleading version: put the two culprits in a room and say "you're not coming out until you figure it out." Most conflict, both agree, is hurt feelings wearing an anger costume.
Dysfunctions three and four: lack of commitment and avoidance of accountability
Lack of commitment — employees there for the paycheck only — runs rampant with the industry's revolving door, especially in bigger shops that hire bodies in a hurry. When one person visibly doesn't care, the whole team notices, and resentment festers over why the uncommitted one still gets a vote. Both hosts prescribe the same fix: a private, non-accusatory conversation. Vonda's version: "I can see your mind is somewhere else — what can we do to make it better for you?" plus concrete goals. Lori adds: find out what they love — photography, social media — and build a slice of it into their job, so they're incentivized to wash the buckets too. Avoidance of accountability (accepting low standards for deliverables) gets short shrift because flower shops simply can't afford it: from the design bench to the delivery driver in the rain, low standards show up as one-star Google and Yelp reviews.
Dysfunction five: inattention to results (a.k.a. ego)
The last dysfunction is putting personal success, status, and ego before team success — energy spent on self-protection and looking good. The shop scenario the hosts explore: you bring in a well-known freelance designer for a holiday, and your six-year veteran either rises ("I want to learn from her") or shrinks ("I'm not worthy to work next to her"). The challenge Lori issues: when someone talented arrives at or above your level, deliberately swap the threatened mindset for a growth one — ask what you can learn. The best designers make it easy; the truly great ones make everyone around them feel bigger, not smaller. Vonda's view from the AIFD workroom backs it up: new volunteers come in sheepish, but give them a clear task, check on them, and build their confidence, and suddenly they're part of the team. "If you're the ego in the room, it's not going to happen."
The replay closes with a story that proves the point: while helping on Vonda's main-stage prep, Lori sliced her finger on her very first knife task — and Julie Poulter quietly whisked her to first aid, swore the witnesses to secrecy, and reassigned her to sweeping and snacks. As Vonda says, that's not a dysfunctional team; that's a completely functional one, where everybody was supporting everybody else.
Key takeaways
- Trust starts with vulnerability: let new designers fail safely, like teaching a kid to ride a bike, instead of micromanaging them.
- Artificial harmony is not peace — address conflict while it's small, because most of it is hurt feelings turned into anger.
- Re-engage uncommitted employees with a curious conversation and a role that includes something they love.
- Hold standards all the way to the delivery driver; your Google reviews are your accountability report card.
- When talent joins the team, choose learning over feeling threatened — ego is the one thing a functional team can't carry.