NM Freemason
← All chapters

Building Teams (and Failing Forward)

FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS 5 RESULTS 4 ACCOUNTABILITY 3 COMMITMENT 2 CONFLICT 1 TRUST (base) fix from the bottom up TUCKMAN'S STAGES FORM STORM NORM PERFORM ADJOURN FIVE MARKS OF A GREAT TEAM • Clear objectives • Clear roles • Flawless communication • Cooperation • Individual development FAILING FORWARD failure = information BUILDING TEAMS · TRUST AT THE BASE, RESULTS AT THE TOP

Why this matters

The tribe is the Lodge. The team is the four brothers organizing the Past Masters Night. The team is the committee delivering the Lodge's charity drive. The team is the line officers' month-by-month coordination. Tribes hold identity; teams do work. A leader who can build identity but can't build teams produces a feeling without an outcome.

This chapter walks the working practice of building teams that finish what they start. Maxwell's three laws of team leadership (Inner Circle, Empowerment, Victory) name the levers. Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions gives the diagnostic for why teams fail (absence of trust at the base, then fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results at the top). Tuckman's stages tell you which phase the team is in. And Maxwell's Failing Forward, paired with Dweck's growth mindset, closes the loop: when (not if) the team falters, the failure is data, and the team that treats it as data comes back stronger.

What this chapter is

The tribe holds the identity. Teams do the work. This chapter closes the Group Dynamics sub-arc with the working practice of building teams inside a tribe: clear objectives, clear roles, flawless communication, cooperation, and individual development. Maxwell's Laws of the Inner Circle, Empowerment, and Victory all live here. Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions gives the diagnostic pyramid for why teams fail. Tuckman's stages (Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing) name what's happening at each phase. Maxwell's Failing Forward and Dweck's growth mindset close the chapter: when (not if) a team falters, the failure is information, and the team that treats it that way comes out stronger.

How to practise it

A lesson walks the same seven steps every time. Read the intro, study the material, then drill it through Quick Fire, Matchup, Sequence, Flashcards, and the Mix capstone. Each step opens to the next; no choices to make in the middle of the work.

Begin lesson →
What if · take it further ▸

Sit with this

  • Pick one team you currently lead or serve on. Walk Lencioni's pyramid: where's the lowest broken level? That's where the work is, no matter how loud the symptoms at the top.
  • Think of the last team failure you were part of. How did the leader handle it? How did you handle it? What would Failing Forward have looked like in that moment?

Connect to