The Million Dollar Pyramid

dys·func·tion·al (adj)

1. not performing normally, as an organ or structure of the body; malfunctioning.

2. having a malfunctioning part or element

3.behaving or acting outside social norms

How many times have you used that word?  I use it almost daily, and most of you probably do too, simply because dysfunction rears it's head in some form in every team.  But on a basketball team, you want that to be the one place you don't see it at all.  For those couple of hours in practice each week, those grueling thirty-two minutes of a game - you want to see your team perform at it's best.   As I've been creating my own coaching philosophy and deciding on how I am going to go about preparing for future teams, one thing I want to do is check dysfunction early.   I once read a book that I'm going to spend the next few weeks pulling ideas from to make this happen, and I think it's worth sharing some of what I've taken away from it.

Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions

If you do any reading of business books, you should look into Patrick Lencioni's The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.  It discusses five major themes of dysfunction, and breaks it down really well with a story of a company finding its way out of a situation by removing dysfunction (I've heard that each revision of the book has had a slightly different story).  Lencioni claims that these five themes create a pyramid, and that to overcome dysfunction these levels of the pyramid need to be overcome from bottom to top. Even in the short span of time a coach has with his players, I would say you can easily demolish a dysfunction pyramid - if you start the season working to address all five levels.

For me, I'm looking to stress the importance of commitment from everyone right from the start.  I'm still ironing out the specifics, but I know for a fact there will be no room for missing games and practice, and I am going to expect nothing short of 100% from everyone unless they want to be keeping the bench warm.  I also plan on spending a lot of time in each practice demanding that players communicate with purpose - positively and effectively, verbally and through body language.  

With no communication happening, you are essentially nothing but dysfunctional.  You obviously aren't paying attention to results - if you win, you cheer and celebrate.  You lose, and you want to try to figure out what happened.  Everyone is avoiding accountability - no one is apologizing for blowing the coverage or holding people accountable for defensive assignments.  But maybe that's just the fear of conflict rearing it's head because your teammates don't trust that you really want them to get better and are trying to help you.  

I want to start working on this right away because when you look at it, what part of that pyramid can happen overnight?  You don't build trust in an instant.  Commitment for a game or two is easy and easily faked for short periods.  If you don't start early, by the time you need these things to be eradicated to make a serious push into the championship portion of your season, it will be too late and your pyramid will show up at the most inconvenient of times as an unmovable obstacle that will knock you and your team on its butt.  I'm going to let me team go at each other - in fact, I'm going to encourage it - because I think that's one thing I've seen that has helped this season.  By letting them go a little harder on each other, they will hopefully help build up trust in one another while improving their skills as a team.  With all the talk of the Dream Team lately, you know those guys - Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson - went at each other every practice and expected nothing short of excellence from one another.  In one commercial, you hear Magic saying, "Don't you cheat on me..." to another player, which I see too many times in practice where guys half-step through drills because it's "just practice.  Nope - we are going to set a precedence of no plays off so long as your laces are tied.  If the greatest players of all time demanded the best from one another at all times, those working to be the best need to follow in that mold.

Historically, dysfunctional teams, whether its in the workplace, the home, or basketball court, will eventually fail and its usually epic. It's okay to laugh, cry, cheer, criticize (constructively) - it all lends itself to success, which is what we all want.  Don't give your teammates the silent treatment.  And as an added bonus, practice is more productive and fun, and hopefully you'll get a few good ticks in the win column.  I want to see my guys win more championships. I want to take them to Nationals. I don't want to see them fail.  Strategy, philosophy, and talent are great tools to have, but dysfunction can dull all of those tools and kill you.