From the Coach's Desk

A lot of my work as a leadership coach is bringing awareness to leaders about things that were previously in their blind spots.

I recall several times when others did that for me: something that was always right under my nose that I did not notice. And a moment later, the sudden realization and surprise at learning that it was always there.

It could be about a way that I behaved, or assumptions I had made that were not true, or about things that I was unaware I was avoiding.

In that moment, the world is suddenly different. The motivation to change behavior becomes easy.

One area that I find many leaders don't have full awareness about is how effectively their team is working. Today's article explores this, and provides some tips on how you can validate whether what you're saying is actually true.

Reply to this email, and share your own experiences uncovering a blindspot in how you saw your team.

Wissam

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The five dysfunctions of a leadership team, and the leader’s blind spot

Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team has become a staple for understanding why teams falter. The five dysfunctions are: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results.

When investigating why their teams aren't performing up to their expectations, most leaders I work with diagnose their own leadership team confidently:

• “We’ve got great trust.”
• “My team isn’t afraid of conflict.”
• “We’re fully committed.”

But here’s the blind spot: how do you as a leader know that your diagnosis is actually true?

(it's called a blind spot for a reason...)

The Trap of Leader Perception

Your vantage point is different from your team’s. As the leader, your presence alone shapes how people behave around you. You see filtered behavior: deference in meetings, polite disagreement, well-crafted updates.

What you don’t see as easily are the side conversations, the hesitation to speak up, or the doubts that linger after “alignment” is declared.

This is where many leadership teams stumble. The dysfunction isn’t just the absence of trust or fear of conflict. It’s the gap between what the leader believes and what the team is truly experiencing.

Validating the Reality

So how can you validate, rather than assume?

A few practices:

Validating trust

Don’t ask “Do we trust each other?” Instead, notice: Do people admit mistakes in front of me? Do they ask for help from each other, not just from me?

Validation tool: anonymous pulse checks or culture assessments.

Validating comfort with conflict

It’s easy to think, “We debate a lot, so we’re fine.” But do debates end with clear decisions, or do people retreat into silence?

Validation tool: track whether issues resurface after they’re “resolved.

Validating commitment

Consensus isn’t commitment. Real commitment shows when people defend the decision in rooms where you’re not present.

Validation tool: After a decision is made, check if everyone repeats the same message to their teams, or if different versions start spreading.

Validating accountability

Leaders often think they’re holding people accountable. The deeper test: do peers hold each other accountable without you mediating?

Validation tool: observe if deadlines and standards are enforced laterally, not just top-down.

Validating attention to results

Many leadership teams celebrate functional wins. But do they sacrifice their function’s gain for the enterprise’s good?

Validation tool: track how often enterprise priorities get protected at the expense of silo wins.

The Leader’s Work

Your task isn’t to pronounce whether your team has trust or commitment.

Your task is to create conditions where the truth can be seen, tested, and spoken. That means inviting dissent, commissioning external assessments, and tolerating the discomfort of hearing what you’d rather not.

Because the biggest dysfunction of all is the leader’s belief that the team is healthier than it really is.