What Happens When Leadership Teams Stop Performing and Start Leading?

Last week, I had the chance to facilitate a leadership session at a campus that’s been feeling the weight of fractured trust, constant miscommunication, and unclear expectations. The principal is in her first year in the role, and while the team has potential, the culture just hasn’t clicked.

We used Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team as our anchor. I’ve used this book a dozen times, and every time it brings language to things people feel but don’t know how to name.

I opened the session like this:

“This isn’t about fixing each other. It’s about deciding who we want to be together.”

And something shifted.

They watched the Lencioni video, reflected privately, and then did something bold: they told the truth. They named where they were stuck. They talked about trust, communication, and misalignment. And instead of defending or blaming, they listened.

Here’s what they committed to by the end of the hour:

• They’re going to eat lunch together every day to build trust through presence, not formality.

• Each leader will identify their top five personal values and share the stories behind them.

• They’ll roll out the Five Dysfunctions model to their staff as a framework and shared language.

• And they’ll say clearly, “We’re setting the tone for the culture we want to build.”

  
  

They’ll begin modeling vulnerability in small, consistent ways: reflection questions at PLCs, storytelling in team meetings, turning inward instead of outward when challenges come up.

They’re not waiting on a new program. They’re not blaming the staff. They’re leading with clarity and humility.

If your leadership team feels stuck, disconnected, or quietly resentful, don’t ignore it. Most dysfunction isn’t about capability but about the courage to say, “We want better. And we’ll go first.”