A Guide to the Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team Workshops

Many leaders believe that building a great team is about finding people with the right personalities who get along. But harmony isn’t the primary goal—results are. The most effective teams aren’t the ones that avoid conflict; they’re the ones that engage in it productively. The Five Behaviors framework turns conventional wisdom on its head by showing that healthy, ideological conflict is essential for commitment and accountability. It provides a structured process for developing the vulnerability-based trust needed for these tough conversations. A Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team workshop is the ideal setting to learn and practice these skills in a safe, productive environment.

Key Takeaways

• Master the Behaviors in Order: The framework is a pyramid where each behavior builds on the one below it. Lasting results are possible when you start with a foundation of trust and intentionally work your way up through productive conflict, commitment, and accountability.
• Expect a Practical Workshop, Not a Lecture: The program uses pre-assessment data to tailor the experience to your team’s specific challenges. The focus is on interactive exercises that help you immediately apply these concepts to your daily work and relationships.
• Commit to the Process Before and After the Session: The workshops are a catalyst for change, not a quick fix. Its impact is amplified by what you do beforehand—like securing leadership support—and your dedication to follow-up sessions and continuous practice afterward.

What Are The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team?

If you’ve ever been on a team that just clicks, you know how powerful it can be. But that kind of cohesion doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built on a set of intentional behaviors. Based on Patrick Lencioni’s best-selling book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, this framework provides a clear, actionable model for building a truly effective team. It’s not about personality quizzes or trust falls; it’s about changing how your team works together on a fundamental level.

The model is structured like a pyramid, with each behavior building on the one before it. You can’t have healthy conflict without trust, and you can’t get real commitment without that conflict. Understanding this structure is the first step toward transforming your team’s dynamics and achieving the results you’re aiming for. Let’s walk through each of the five behaviors.

What is The Five Behaviors Framework?

At its core, The Five Behaviors® is a model designed to help teams work together more effectively to deliver better results. It outlines a journey that starts with building vulnerability-based trust and culminates in a sharp focus on collective outcomes. The framework isn’t just a theory; it’s a practical tool that gives teams a common language to talk about their dynamics and identify specific areas for improvement. By understanding where they are on the pyramid—whether they’re struggling with trust, avoiding conflict, or failing to hold each other accountable—teams can start making targeted changes that have a real impact on their performance and overall health.

Build a Foundation of Trust

When we talk about trust on a team, we’re not just talking about being able to predict someone’s behavior. We’re talking about vulnerability-based trust. This is the kind of trust that allows team members to be completely open with one another—to admit mistakes, ask for help, and be genuinely human without fear of judgment. It’s the foundation of the entire model because, without it, no one is willing to engage in the honest conversations necessary for success. Building this level of trust creates psychological safety, which is essential for improving team performance and fostering an environment where everyone feels they can contribute their best work.

Engage in Productive Conflict

Many teams try to avoid conflict at all costs, believing that harmony is the key to success. But the truth is, great teams engage in productive, ideological conflict. This isn’t about personal attacks or office politics; it’s about passionate, unfiltered debate around important ideas and decisions. When team members trust each other, they can challenge one another’s thinking without taking it personally. This process of mining for conflict ensures that all perspectives are heard and that the team arrives at the best possible solution. It’s through these healthy debates that teams innovate, solve tough problems, and avoid the kind of simmering resentment that can destroy a team from the inside.

Secure Team Commitment

Have you ever left a meeting where everyone seemed to agree, only to find out later that nobody was actually on board? That’s a classic sign of a lack of commitment. Real commitment comes after everyone has had a chance to weigh in and their ideas have been genuinely considered—a direct result of productive conflict. When people feel heard, they are far more likely to buy into a final decision, even if it wasn’t their preferred option. Commitment isn’t about achieving consensus; it’s about achieving clarity and buy-in. A committed team moves forward with a clear direction, confident that everyone is working toward the same goal.

Embrace Peer Accountability

Accountability often gets a bad rap, but on a high-performing team, it’s a crucial part of the culture. This isn’t about the team leader acting as the sole enforcer of rules. Instead, it’s about team members holding each other accountable for their commitments and behaviors. When you see a teammate doing something that might hurt the team, you have a responsibility to call them on it respectfully. This peer-to-peer accountability is the glue that holds a team to its commitments. It ensures that standards remain high and that everyone is pulling their weight, which is fundamental to building effective workplace relationships.

Focus on Collective Results

The ultimate goal of any team is to achieve its objectives. For a cohesive team, this means prioritizing collective results over individual recognition. Team members are willing to set aside their own egos and agendas for the good of the team. This focus on shared success creates a powerful sense of unity and purpose. When everyone is aligned on what they are trying to achieve together, it becomes easier to make sacrifices, support one another, and celebrate wins as a group. This final behavior is the true measure of a cohesive team—one that consistently delivers on its promises.

What to Expect in The Five Behaviors Workshop

So, you’re ready to help your team work better together. That’s fantastic. The Five Behaviors® workshop isn’t about sitting through endless presentations or trust falls. It’s an active, engaging experience designed to create real, lasting change by getting to the heart of how your team functions. From the moment you begin, you and your team will be involved in a process of discovery and practical application. The journey is structured to guide your team from understanding individual styles to achieving collective success. You’ll move through a series of modules that build on one another, starting with a foundation of trust and culminating in a shared focus on results.

This isn’t just another training day that gets forgotten by next week. The entire experience is tailored to your team’s specific dynamics, using data from your own pre-workshop assessments to drive the conversation. A skilled facilitator guides you through each step, creating a safe and productive environment where honest conversations can happen. The focus is always on application: how can you take these concepts and immediately apply them to your daily work, your projects, and your interactions? You’ll leave with a common language for talking about teamwork and a clear, actionable plan for moving forward. The goal is to equip your team with the skills and understanding needed to build a truly cohesive and effective culture, one behavior at a time. It’s an investment in your people that pays dividends in performance, engagement, and overall organizational health.

Complete Your Pre-Workshop Assessment

Your journey begins before you even enter the room. Team members will complete a confidential online assessment that takes about 20-30 minutes to complete. This isn’t a test with right or wrong answers; it’s a tool to gather insights about your team’s dynamics and individual working styles. Each person gets a personal report that helps them understand their own work style and how they fit with others on the team. This report also shows how the team is doing on the five behaviors. This personalized feedback is the cornerstone of the workshop, providing a clear, data-driven starting point for your team’s development. It ensures the session is tailored specifically to your team’s strengths and challenges, making the entire experience more relevant and impactful from the very start.

Participate in Interactive Activities

This is where the insights from your assessment come to life. The workshop is built around hands-on exercises, group discussions, and activities that get everyone involved and talking. You won’t just be listening; you’ll be doing. These personalized insights are brought to life with powerful activities to help teams translate learnings into everyday practices. Whether it’s a small group breakout session or a full-team challenge, each activity is designed to be relevant and immediately applicable to your work. The goal is to create a safe space for open dialogue and practical problem-solving, helping your team build the muscle memory for more effective collaboration. This active approach is key to improving team performance long after the workshop ends.

Practice Trust-Building Exercises

Vulnerability-based trust is the foundation of a cohesive team, and the workshop dedicates focused time to building it. You’ll participate in specific trust-building exercises that are part of the interactive activities designed to help team members learn to work together more efficiently and effectively. These aren’t awkward, forced activities. Instead, they are professionally facilitated exercises that encourage team members to get to know one another on a more personal level, share experiences, and appreciate each other’s unique skills. By creating an environment of psychological safety, the workshop helps your team establish the trust necessary to engage in the other four behaviors. This starts a positive ripple effect that strengthens all aspects of your teamwork.

Develop Conflict Resolution Skills

Many teams avoid conflict, believing it’s purely negative. But great teams know how to engage in it productively. This workshop reframes conflict from something to be feared into an essential tool for innovation and better decision-making. With a foundation of trust, teams can openly discuss and debate ideas in a healthy way. You’ll learn practical techniques for navigating disagreements, ensuring that discussions stay focused on ideas rather than personalities. The facilitator will guide your team through exercises that model what healthy debate looks like, helping you build the skills to challenge each other respectfully. This is a critical step in building effective workplace relationships and arriving at the best possible solutions for the organization.

Track and Measure Your Progress

The workshop is designed to be a catalyst for change, not a one-time event. A key part of the experience is the Progress Report, which allows a team to measure improvements and look for new opportunities to grow. This resource makes it easy to see how far you’ve come and identify areas that still need attention. By equipping your team with a clear action plan and tools to measure success, The Five Behaviors program ensures that the principles you learn become embedded in your team’s culture. This commitment to follow-through drives continuous improvement and tangible results.

Common Questions About the Workshop

It’s natural to have questions before investing time and resources into a team development program. You want to know if it will really make a difference for your team and your organization. Let’s walk through some of the most common questions we hear from leaders and HR professionals to give you a clearer picture of what to expect.

Is This Just Another Training Session?

We get it—the last thing your team needs is another “flavor of the month” training that doesn’t stick. The Five Behaviors® workshop is different. It’s not a lecture series; it’s an interactive experience designed to help your team learn how to work together more efficiently and effectively. The focus is on real-world application, not just theory. Your team will engage in practical exercises and discussions centered on their specific dynamics. The goal isn’t just to learn a new model but to fundamentally improve team performance by building a more cohesive and functional unit that can sustain its progress long after the workshop ends.

Why is Productive Conflict Important?

Many teams avoid conflict because they see it as negative or disruptive. However, the fear of conflict is what truly stalls progress. When team members are reserved and don’t challenge ideas, innovation dies, and resentment can build under the surface. Productive conflict is about openly debating ideas and perspectives in a respectful, trust-filled environment. It ensures that all angles are considered and that the team arrives at the best possible solution. This workshop provides a safe and structured way for your team to practice engaging in unfiltered, constructive debate, turning potential disagreements into a powerful tool for growth and better decision-making.

How Does This Go Beyond Individual Performance?

While many development programs focus on individual skills, The Five Behaviors® targets the team as a single unit. The success of any project depends on how well people work together, not just on their individual talents. This workshop directly addresses the dynamics that impact collaboration, communication, and collective output. By focusing on the team’s health, you create ripple effects across the organization, including increased productivity and enhanced morale. It’s about shifting the mindset from “my work” to “our results” and building a culture where teamwork truly thrives, leading to better engagement and a healthier bottom line.

How Does the Trust-Building Process Work?

The foundation of The Five Behaviors is vulnerability-based trust. This goes deeper than just believing a colleague is competent. It’s about creating an environment where team members feel safe enough to be genuinely transparent—admitting mistakes, asking for help, and sharing opinions without fear of judgment. The workshop facilitates this through structured activities that encourage appropriate self-disclosure and active listening. When team members can be vulnerable with one another, they build the mutual respect and psychological safety needed for true collaboration and effective workplace relationships. This trust is the bedrock upon which all the other behaviors are built.

What’s the Difference Between Commitment and Consensus?

This is a crucial distinction for high-performing teams. Seeking consensus, where everyone must agree on a decision, can be inefficient and lead to watered-down compromises. Commitment, on the other hand, is about ensuring everyone is aligned and on board with a decision after all opinions have been heard and considered—even if it wasn’t their preferred option. It’s about saying, “I may not have chosen this path, but I will support it completely.” The workshop teaches teams how to achieve this level of buy-in, which is essential for moving forward with clarity, unity, and speed.

How to Prepare for a Successful Program

The success of a Five Behaviors workshop doesn’t start when the session begins—it starts with thoughtful preparation. Laying the right groundwork ensures your team arrives ready to engage and that the lessons learned will actually stick long after everyone leaves the room. By taking a few key steps beforehand, you can transform the workshop from a single training event into a true catalyst for lasting change in your team’s performance and culture.

Find an Expert Facilitator

You wouldn’t try to fix a complex engine without a mechanic, and the same goes for team dynamics. An expert facilitator is essential for guiding your team through the Five Behaviors model. Their role isn’t just to present slides; it’s to create a safe space for vulnerable conversations, manage challenging discussions, and help the team connect the concepts to their real-world work. A skilled guide ensures the session is productive and impactful, helping you get the most out of your investment in improving team performance. They know how to ask the right questions to lead your team to its own breakthroughs.

Assemble the Right Team

The Five Behaviors program is specifically designed for intact teams—groups of people who work together on a regular basis and share common goals. This isn’t a general training session for a random assortment of employees. Ideally, your team should have between 5 and 12 members who have worked together for at least a few months. This shared history is crucial because it provides the context for discussions around trust, conflict, and accountability. You’re working on the real dynamics that impact your team’s daily work, so having the right people in the room is the first step.

Use the Right Assessment Tools

Before the workshop, each team member completes an assessment that provides a personalized look at their behaviors and how they contribute to the team’s overall dynamic. This isn’t a test with right or wrong answers; it’s a tool for self-awareness and a starting point for conversation. The results give the facilitator and the team a clear, data-driven picture of where they are strong and where they have opportunities to grow. Using an assessment like The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team profile ensures your workshop time is focused and tailored specifically to your team’s unique needs from the very beginning.

Secure Leadership Support

For this program to truly take root, support from leadership is non-negotiable. And I don’t just mean signing off on the budget. Real support looks like leaders actively participating in the workshop, modeling vulnerability, and championing the Five Behaviors long after the session is over. When team members see their manager or executive embracing productive conflict or holding themselves accountable, it sends a powerful message that this is a real priority. This active involvement from those in charge is often the deciding factor between a workshop that feels good for a day and one that fundamentally changes how a team operates.

Schedule Ongoing Sessions

A one-day workshop can be an incredible catalyst, but it’s not a magic wand. Real change happens when the team continues to practice these new behaviors back in their day-to-day work. That’s why scheduling ongoing sessions is so important. These regular check-ins create a structure for accountability and allow the team to discuss what’s working, what’s challenging, and how they can continue to improve. Using progress reports can help visualize growth and keep the momentum going. These sessions turn the workshop from a single event into an ongoing process of development, ensuring the initial investment continues to pay dividends.

Get Ongoing Implementation Support

Having a plan for ongoing support can make all the difference. This might include access to resources, tools for new team members, or having a trusted advisor you can call when the team hits a roadblock. This continuous support system helps integrate the Five Behaviors into your team’s DNA, making it a sustainable part of your culture rather than a forgotten initiative. If you’re ready to build a plan, you can always contact us to discuss your team’s needs.

How to Start with The Five Behaviors

Bringing The Five Behaviors framework to your team is a powerful step toward building a more cohesive and effective unit. Getting started involves a few practical steps to ensure you set the program, and your team, up for success. Think of it as laying the groundwork for a structure that will support your team for years to come. Here’s how you can begin.

Review Program Options and Investment

First, get familiar with what The Five Behaviors® Team Development program entails. Its primary goal is to help people build strong, effective teams that achieve better results. You’ll find different options, from foundational programs to more in-depth sessions, so it’s important to choose the one that best fits your team’s current needs and goals. Consider this an investment in your team’s performance and your organization’s health. Understanding the scope and potential return will help you make a clear case for the program and get the buy-in you need from leadership.

Plan Your Resources

Once you’ve chosen a program, it’s time to think about resources. This goes beyond the budget. You’ll need to secure dedicated time for your team to fully engage without distractions from their daily tasks. The program is built on a proven method that addresses five key behaviors: Trust, Conflict, Commitment, Accountability, and Results. To make progress in these areas, you need everyone’s focused participation. Planning for the right facilitator, a comfortable space, and the necessary materials ahead of time will ensure the experience is smooth and impactful for everyone involved in improving team performance.

Establish an Implementation Timeline

A clear timeline helps everyone know what to expect. The program often starts with an initial working session led by an expert facilitator. However, the work doesn’t stop there. True change happens when the team applies what they’ve learned back in their daily routines. Work with your facilitator to map out a schedule that includes the initial workshop, follow-up sessions, and check-ins to maintain momentum. A well-paced timeline prevents the training from feeling like a one-off event and instead frames it as the beginning of an ongoing commitment. If you need help with planning, you can always contact us.

Align the Program with Your Culture

For The Five Behaviors to truly take root, it needs to align with your company culture. The program is designed to help teams build “vulnerability-based trust,” which is the foundation of a strong team. This requires an environment where people feel safe being open and honest. Take a moment to consider your current workplace culture. Does it support this kind of transparency? If not, you may need to have broader conversations about building effective workplace relationships to ensure the principles of the program can flourish.

Related Articles

• The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team™ Facilitation Kit
• The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team™ | IntegrisPA
• The Five Behaviors® Personal Development – Integris Performance Advisors

Frequently Asked Questions

How quickly can we expect to see results from this program? You’ll likely notice some immediate shifts right in the workshop, like your team using a new, shared language to talk about your dynamics. However, building lasting cohesion is a process, not a one-day fix. The real, deep changes—like a culture of healthy conflict and peer accountability—develop over time as your team consistently applies the principles. Think of it less like flipping a switch and more like building muscle; it requires ongoing practice.

Is this program effective for remote or hybrid teams? Absolutely. The principles of The Five Behaviors are arguably even more critical when a team isn’t sharing a physical space. Building trust, engaging in productive debate, and ensuring accountability require more intention when you can’t rely on casual office interactions. The workshop and its tools are fully adaptable to virtual environments, helping your remote or hybrid team build the strong foundation needed to work together effectively, no matter where they are.

Is this program only for teams that are struggling? Not at all. While it’s an incredibly powerful tool for teams facing challenges, it’s also designed to help good teams become great. Even high-performing teams have areas where they can improve. The assessment might reveal that a team with great results is avoiding the healthy conflict needed for future innovation, or that a team with strong relationships struggles to hold each other accountable. It’s about optimizing your team’s potential, not just fixing what’s broken.

What is the team leader’s specific role? The leader’s role is crucial in making the lessons stick. The leader should become the chief champion of The Five Behaviors. This means actively modeling vulnerability, encouraging healthy debate (and not shutting it down), and holding team members accountable to the standards they set together. Most importantly, the leader must reinforce the team’s action plan and ensure these behaviors become a normal part of how you operate every day.

How is this different from a personality assessment like Everything DiSC®? That’s a great question, as they are both powerful but serve different purposes. Everything DiSC® helps individuals understand their own work styles and learn how to build better relationships with colleagues. It focuses on the “me” and the “we.” The Five Behaviors, on the other hand, is a framework specifically for teams. It uses the team’s individual styles as a starting point but focuses on the collective “us”—how the team works together as a single unit to achieve shared results. The two tools are often used together because they complement each other perfectly.