Patrick Lencioni describes a continuum of conflict that all teams live on. At one end is artificial harmony, at the other end is destruction, or “hell”. The best teams are able to move towards destruction into the deepest level of constructive conflict, occasionally stepping over the line into destruction but then stepping back across the line. The ability to have constructive deep conflict builds trust and ultimately leads to greater performance.

In day one of the immersion, you work together with your colleagues to create the contract in which we will be governed by as a team. We started in small groups and developed things that we felt were important to exist in the full value contract, then as a large group we combined the ideas into a group contract. We began each day with a review of the contract in order to help guide how we wanted to interact as a team. This practice has proved very helpful on teams I am a part of in my organizational life, helping to guide how those groups function as a team.

Prior to entering the immersion, you study Tuckman’s model for team formation. The first step in his model is forming, this is the act of the group of people coming together. Next comes storming (or sorting), this is the process in which initial conflicts help us define who we are and how we interact. Third comes norming, this is the process in which members begin to see and understand how they fit together and the roles each member plays. Lastly, is performing, this is the stage where the team hits its stride with everyone knowing the role they play and working effectively as a team.

It was very interesting to study this model and then see it come to life over the three day immersion. Additionally, I was lucky enough to come back and help facilitate this immersion as a teacher’s assistant in summer of 2022, which gave me a whole new lens to view this model in action with another group of students.