S03E11 The Chess and Checkers Episode

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Check-In: 

• If you could live anywhere, where would you live and why?

Big Ideas: 

• when books make leadership seem easy, when it's not
• 5 elements that every team needs to function well together, written as a pyramid
• using books as a guide can lead us down the wrong path
• The 5 Dysfunctions are: Absence of Trust, Fear of Conflict, Lack of Commitment, Avoidance of Accountability, and Inattention to Results
• Lencioni is anti-consensus
• Can people have results without trust? (example - the Chicago Bulls of the 1990's)
• Trusting someone's character and capabilities
• Peer review of models
• Books can be seeds of discussion, but not guides for team performance
• Components of trust, and signs when trust is absent
• Trust not being valued by a manager - it being seen as too "fluffy"
• Does the importance of trust depend on the type of team you are within the organization? 
• If everyone's competing for the CEO's job, how can you trust those you work with?
• Power in organizations - the individual versus the group
• How can one be political without being egotistical?
• Politics is making your power concrete. It's not bad or good in nature. It's a tool.
• What am I applying my politics for?
• Playing the game without playing the game. Being aware of the game and playing it for the good of the company.
• We teach people NOT to play politics at work, and then they get into organizations where people are all playing different games
• When people suffer when they don't know the rules of the game they are playing
• Play the game to be a successful contribution to the organization
• Belief that good people don't politics - it's not the tool, it's what you do with them that matters
• Can you win the fight being a good, upstanding person?
• Power is largely due to the collective sum of all the relationships you have within an organization. 
• Fear driven relationships aren't relationships - they are transactional 
• Choosing NOT to play the game, can be seen as more ethical

Resources:

• The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
• Amy Edmondson and Psychological Safety
• Edgar Shein and Psychological Safety
• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

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