In partnership with
Morning friend ☕
When we kicked off this series with “Your Team Is Broken. How to Fix It,” I said something that still holds true:
Teams don’t fall apart in dramatic moments.
They fall apart in quiet ones.
The careful updates that sound polished… but feel off.
The nods of agreement that hide real disagreement.
The fear of saying what needs to be said.
Tiny fractures.
Silent drift.
Slow erosion.
Over six weeks, we walked through these cracks: Trust, Conflict, Commitment, Accountability, and Results, using Marvel’s heroes as our mirrors. Not because they’re perfect, but because they’re flawed in the same ways we are.
Today, we close the loop.
Not with a recap.
With a final truth every leader must learn:
You don’t fix a team once.
You constantly work to keep it from breaking again.
So, grab your coffee.
Let’s walk the pyramid one last time, with new eyes.
The Five Dysfunctions
Over the past few weeks, we’ve had Marvel’s heroes help us understand the various issues and how to handle them.
Today we give you the recap and a link to each of the full posts to close out the series in style ☕
1. Trust. The Foundation That Cracks First
Nick Fury learned the hard way: secrecy doesn’t strengthen a team. It weakens it.
It breeds suspicion. It invites self-preservation.
Every broken team begins here:
People stop being real with each other.
They hide mistakes.
They guard their image.
They avoid vulnerability.
Patrick Lencioni calls this vulnerability-based trust.
The courage to say:
“I don’t know.”
“I need help.”
“That was my fault.”
You can’t force trust.
But you can model it.
2. Conflict. Silence Is Not Peace
When trust erodes, conflict becomes dangerous.
Bruce Banner held everything in until the Hulk did the talking for him.
Your team does the same. And tension buried long enough becomes an explosion later.
Avoiding conflict doesn’t remove tension.
It preserves it.
Healthy conflict is truth spoken with respect.
Without it, teams debate after the meeting, not in it.
Nothing changes.
Momentum dies.
3. Commitment. Agreement Is Not Alignment
Captain America does not wait for consensus.
He listens, makes the call, and gets everyone rowing in the same direction.
Commitment is not a unanimous vote.
It’s a shared understanding.
Teams commit when:
they’ve debated openly
they’ve been heard
the final decision is clear
they move forward together
Meetings that feel “smooth” are often hiding the most misalignment.
When others hesitate, leaders decide.
4. Accountability. Standards Slip Quietly
Tony Stark built armor to protect himself from external threats.
But the real threat was internal: avoidance.
He only became a true leader when he stepped out of the armor and took responsibility for the impact of his choices.
Teams decline through small, unspoken moments:
A missed deadline
A weak delivery
A lowered standard
A reluctance to challenge each other
Accountability is not policing people.
It is protecting the mission from drift.
5. Results. When the Mission Finally Comes First
Thor chased glory long before he chased outcomes.
Many teams do too.
The mission only clicked when the Avengers put shared success above personal arcs.
The same is true for us.
Most teams remain stuck in:
individual wins
silos
politics
personal agendas
When the mission outweighs the medal, performance transforms.
Nick Fury’s Insight and the Broken Team One Minute Diagnostic
Lencioni’s model isn’t just a framework.
It’s an X-ray.
It doesn’t describe teams.
It exposes them.
And Fury would tell you exactly why.
Because teams rarely break in dramatic moments.
They break in quiet ones: the missed signals, the softened standards, the truths no one says out loud.
That’s why this one-minute diagnostic matters.
Use it with your team. Use it with yourself.
Ask:
Do we tell the truth early?
Do we debate what matters?
Do we commit with clarity?
Do we hold each other to standards?
Do we win together, not alone?
If any answer is “no,” the dysfunction shows you where to start.
If Nick Fury were standing next to you, he’d deliver the line that captures the entire series:
“The quiet moments decide everything.”
That’s the heartbeat behind all five dysfunctions.
It’s the spine of this whole series.
Consistency beats intensity.
Maintenance beats heroics.
Stewardship beats management.
That’s how you fix broken teams.
Where You Started. And Where You Are Now
When you opened the first post, something in your team felt “off.”
Not dramatic. Not catastrophic.
Just… misaligned.
Now you can see why.
You understand:
how trust quietly cracks
how conflict goes underground
how commitment wavers in the shadows
how accountability softens in silence
how results scatter when purpose does
But more importantly:
You know how to catch the drift before it spreads.
You know how to rebuild a team and keep it whole.
A manager fixes tasks.
A leader fixes teams.
And if you’ve made it through all five dysfunctions…
You’ve crossed that line.
Key Takeaway: Series Recap
Across this series you learned how teams crack, drift, debate, commit, and finally unite.
And you learned the quiet truth beneath all of it:
Performance doesn’t collapse in explosions.
It collapses in whispers. And leaders must learn to hear them.
Only then, can you rebuild your team’s foundation.
Till next Monday, friend ☕
Vaugan
Today’s Chess Puzzle
Black to play and force mate.
Solution here
Next week on www.scarymanagement.com!
A new Scary Management series begins!
This time, we look inwards, rather than outwards…
We switch lenses: from fixing the team to strengthening the leader.
We also welcome back Anand and Thandi, our characters from the Scary Management Universe. What’s going on? More on that next week!
If you’re not subscribed, Sign up so you don’t miss it!
What did you think of today's newsletter?
Check out this week’s sponsors - every click supports us to keep this newsletter free☕
Tech moves fast, but you're still playing catch-up?
That's exactly why 100K+ engineers working at Google, Meta, and Apple read The Code twice a week.
Here's what you get:
Curated tech news that shapes your career - Filtered from thousands of sources so you know what's coming 6 months early.
Practical resources you can use immediately - Real tutorials and tools that solve actual engineering problems.
Research papers and insights decoded - We break down complex tech so you understand what matters.
All delivered twice a week in just 2 short emails.
Disclaimer:
This post contains parody and satirical references to well-known characters, shows, and cultural icons. It is created for educational and humorous commentary on management and leadership. ScaryManagement is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any television networks, film studios, comic publishers, production companies, or performers referenced. All trademarks and copyrights remain the property of their respective owners. No infringement is intended. This use is intended as parody and commentary under fair use and related protections in the US, UK, EU, and South African law.