Inheriting a Dysfunctional Team (MCI-IDT)

This course is for leaders who have stepped into a team they did not build and immediately felt the weight of everything left unaddressed before they arrived. The warning signs are already there: decisions get tested before they are followed, standards are inconsistent, information arrives late, a few people hold more influence than their role should allow, and accountability conversations turn into negotiations. Inheriting dysfunction requires a different skill set than building a team from scratch, and most leadership development never prepares people for it.

Inheriting a Dysfunctional Team gives leaders a clear sequence for taking command of a broken team without overhauling everything at once. You will learn to establish authority quickly, read and disrupt hidden power structures, reset expectations without triggering mass resistance, and rebuild accountability and trust while still holding the line on performance. The focus is not on becoming a harder leader, but a clearer one, because dysfunction survives in ambiguity and dissolves when leadership becomes precise.

• How to establish authority quickly in a team that is already testing, comparing, and withholding trust
• How to read the hidden power structure before attempting to lead through it
• How to disrupt informal alliances and cliques that are quietly controlling team dynamics
• How to set expectations that close the door on passive resistance, nostalgia for previous leadership, and boundary testing
• How to handle constant comparison to the previous leader without defending yourself or competing with the past
• How to surface unspoken tension before it surfaces itself through conflict and resistance
• How to address information withholding and create structure that requires visibility
• How to stop team members from bypassing you and rebuild the chain of authority
• How to reset entitlement that survived the leadership change without triggering mass pushback
• How to replace passive agreement with real commitment and defined ownership
• How to hold accountability conversations when the team has been trained to negotiate instead of own
• How to identify chronic underperformance that has been normalized and reset the standard without chaos
• How to re-engage high performers who have disengaged while the dysfunction ran unchecked
• How to rebuild trust between team members when loyalty has been fractured by inconsistent leadership
• How to sequence leadership actions so culture stabilizes without sacrificing performance expectations
• How to carry the pressure of inherited dysfunction without isolating yourself or losing authority

Each student receives a comprehensive set of materials, including course notes and all class examples.