The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

The Book for Team Effectiveness

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 is a book I enjoyed which Pat Lencioni wrote the foreword for. I found Lencioni's foreword intriguing (apparently I was the one person who hadn't heard of him). So, I decided to check The Five Dysfunctions out, and am so glad that I did.

This book explores the fundamental causes of organizational politics and team failure. Lencioni does an outstanding job showing a team that's going through some typical, real-world sticking points, yet is able to maneuver through them successfully. The central premise is that any team can work together effectively once they understand and overcome the five dysfunctions.

The Five Dysfunctions are:

* Absence of Trust,
* Fear of Conflict,
* Lack of Commitment,
* Avoidance of Accountability, and
* Inattention to Results

I'm now using The Five Dysfunctions with my work group with great success. They were already reading the EI 2.0 book, and didn't skip a beat when I threw this one into the mix. Highly recommended.

39 out of 39 people found this review helpful.

It's easy to be successful in fiction

This is a quick, fluffy read, suitable for hip managers to hand out at motivational meetings. The author paints a great picture of a new leader cajoling her 'team' into a position of trust, constructive conflict, etc. Of course, since the book is a 'fable', there is no question that she will be successful. The author is head of his own management consulting firm, but apparently hasn't actually been the leader of a successful business outside of the management seminar field. If he were, he'd understand that real world teamwork problems cannot be broken down into five simplistic catagories. The reader's money would be better spent on books that examine successful teams in the real world.

6 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

Must Read for Aspiring and Seasoned Leaders

Leadership is a complex phenomenon and effective leadership even more so. In this book, Lencioni simplifies complex issues in leadership and teambuilding. In most organizations, leaders are afraid of healthy debate and being challenged by their staff/team. In this book, Kathryn encourages such debates and uses it as a ground breaking tool to bring her team together. I liked the book because it portrayed Kathyrn as a confident leader who was open to challenges. She was objective, not easily moved by emotions, and she made tough decisions that needed to be made for the betterment of the team.

In addition, the book brings out the concept of false harmony, where colleagues don't challenge each other when it comes to accountability. It's a book that encourages leaders to encourage their team to be honest with themselves and each other, to hold each other accountable, to hold the leader accountable, and to ultimately work together for a common goal. To bring a team together as Kathyrn did, leaders must let the team know that they are broken, understand why they are broken and stand firm on the goal to bring them together. The book shows how it is not easy to break cultural norms and that resistance to breaking those norms will be prevalent.

I recommend this book to seasoned and aspiring leaders like. Seasoned leaders who ignore the dysfuctions of their team can learn a thing or two from this book but they must be willing to break the cultural norm. Aspiring leaders should get this book because it can help them to stop a dysfunction before it begins

3 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

Better Teamwork Better Profits

As a corporate human resources director, I am continually searching for material that will enhance our organizations team skills. Somewhat like another management book that I recommended Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions, the author uses fictional tales to deliver truthful insights into our business practices. I found the book to be a very intertaining and fun read along with a ton of valuable information.

The concepts within the book can be easily implemented and will result in continual improvement in your team building endeavors. The value of teamwork within the modern corporate structure is sometimes a hard sell in the real world. Managers need reference material and books that contain much needed advice if they are going to `prove' the value of teamwork to the CEO. Like communication, everyone says it is important but the rubber rarely meets the road.

The part of the book that details the "five dysfunctions" is a great reference guide and also a topic that sounds eerily familiar as all seasoned managers have been down that road. The `five' are:

1. Absence of trust,
2. Fear of conflict
3. Lack of commitment
4. Avoidance of accountability
5. Inattention to results.

I recommend this book because I believe it will be a valuable addition to your bookshelf and certainly one that will be referenced again and again through the years. Michael L. Gooch, SPHR

3 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Thought provoking, but is it correct?

The whole concept that conflict may be beneficial to a team is a very North American idea. But it is a recipe for disaster in a cross cultural group. The basic tenets set out in the book are correct and relevant, but 'arguements that are quickly forgotten' are probably confined to siblings. This is another management book with a few good ideas but can not be used as a life guide.

3 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

Help is just around the corner

My colleagues and I have been struggling with changes in leadership in the workplace. A dear friend recommended this book as a resource, so I went out and bought it that day (and a second copy for one of my work colleagues). The majority of the book focuses on the 'fable' of the team who has acquired a new leader. The remainder of the book is an easily read discussion of the 5 dysfunctions, how they impact the overall team/work of the group, and strategies for changing to a more effective approach. We're getting ready to use the book in some support sessions from our HR department. And my husband can't wait to read it next (I already lent it to someone else). Overall, an easy and entertaining read that has some real 'meat' in it -- reading it has given me the opportunity to identify some behaviors in myself that I'll be working to improve.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

The best book on teamwork

Patrick Lencioni does an outstanding job in this book of showing a team that's going through some typical, real-world sticking points, yet is able to maneuver through them successfully. By understanding and overcoming the five dysfunctions, any team can work together effectively.

Another book I recommend that I really enjoyed and I purchased after seeing Patrick Lencioni wrote the foreword for it is The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book.

1 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Recommended

A presenter showed the primary diagram from this book and it caught my interest so I got and read the book--if you have problems in a work, church, school or other team--the premises in this book will help identify and suggest some ideas for resolution. It seemed odd to start with a "fable" but it really helped to illustrate the issues and resolutions. Easy read that needs some follow-on thought to process.

Great for leaders

Easy, quick read. The team assessment in the back of the book was the most valuabe piece for our organization and myself as a leader.

Great read

Well written with concise ideas.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

For EVERY team/system in your life!

Your work is a team, your family is a team, your church is a team, your knitting circle is a team!!! This book's principles can and should be applied to every team in your life.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions is a great lesson for all professionals

This was an interesting and easy read.

The author presented the first part of his lesson by way of a fictional story of an executive team deemed dysfunctional, and forced into transition through the efforts of their new CEO. The reader becomes a "fly on the wall" in their off site and office team meetings to witness the processes of introducing the changes and their emotional impacts on the team members. I thought that this was well thought out and a very successful means to present the lesson.

The next part of the book is "The Model".
Then an "Overview of the Model" & "Team Assessment".
And finally "Understanding and Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions".

I found the Team Assessment section and the lessons on Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions the most interesting and informative.

Here are the Five Dysfunctions:

Absence of Trust
Fear of Conflict
Lack of Commitment
Avoidance of Accountability
Inattention to Results

Great Book!

I had to read this book for school....however, I would recommend it highly! It provides great direction for team building. Easy to understand and a quick read!

Fantastic read - almost like holding a mirror up!

If you've ever worked in a team, you'll read this book and identify with so many aspects of it - some about you, some about others! I love the way it tells the story to make the dysfunctions come to life!

Highly Recommended

The Five Dysfunctions of a team, Lencioni's beginning with a fictional application of the principles and laying out the issue relating to five dysfunctions was done in a clear and clear-cut manner. These descriptions' of the five principles worked with the diagram of the pyramid with the visual example of how one builds on another until reaching the scale of dysfunction. The first level, Absence of Trust, became the base of the pyramid for the four remaining dysfunctions; all beginning with the basic lack or trust. In the world of its reality, it helps to define that if a team member is refusing to trust the group, dysfunction can become the standard pattern of behavior. Whether if it is teachers, a cheerleading squad, or Osama bin Laden's death, trust is the ground that the pyramid my start out on for the success of the team. The core of a team is designed and developed through trust, but without trust in one another, members gain a sense of mistrust and a lack of willingness to correctly connect and reveal their personal weakness to their team. Giving the example of a cheerleader squad is that if the team did not build up trust as a team, then the lightest cheerleader my not want to be on the top of the human pyramid for fear of falling. Or we would not be celebrating the death of bin Laden if the President did not trust the team that located him, and if the Navy Seals felt the President's orders were dangerous. But as the Seals trusted the President's orders we are now a little after from terrorist activity. When we are under someone, we have to trust them of voice out thought to the team positively to build trust. Fear of conflict is level two when trust in one another is not willingly engaged in with honest and genuine conflict. This reality is at the point when teams are seldom agreeing on everything brought to the table and if the disagreements are not being dealt with honestly, this develops a fear of conflict. When each person is not facing the team conflicts, this allows the unresolved conflicts to start the destruction of the pyramids top levels of a working team. Avoiding the conflicts will achieve nothing and create only the false sense of agreement. Dealing with the conflict with truthful agreement and disagreement leads to a healthy relationship and refusal of being honest will spell certain disaster. Level three, the Lack of commitment; by not being open and honest when disagreeing, the team will assume you agree. Groups who do not deal honestly with the disagreement on issues will accomplish nothing in doing something. Honest debate and disagreement among team members will help a person decide what they feel they should commit to and disagree with to show trust in another idea. Avoidance of accountability, level four. With team members not willing to commit, many decisions will not be made and could show that a team member is lacking responsibility. Committing leads to showing that a person is reasonable and can be counted on to help make a final decision, but not being accountable, leads to a group hold one another accountable for negative results. Not being accountable will start to convince a person that you or someone is not reasonable enough to be trusted when given a task. The cap of the pyramid, level five, inattention to results; this last level of dysfunction is a collection of the lack of trust that has built up. All this dysfunction has accomplished nothing, but anti-trust among the team. The final g

everybodies been there, nobody tries to make it better.

I liked it, it is alot easier to read the storie with a lesson than some of these other leadership books that just go on and on.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

What a gem!

A quick read, this book is like a minefield full of gems. Most of us probably have no idea how dysfunctional our teams really are - one read through this book can show you exactly where to spend your time. We so often get caught up in making sure the work is done that we forget that working together as a team is most important - the work being done is irrelevant if your team isn't functioning properly.

Whether you work for a profit company, a nonprofit organization, a religious organization or educational institution, this book is well worth a read.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great info quick read

I read the book in no time, and as a business owner I have implemented the theory and suggestions. So far so good! Buy it if you are working with teams!

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Broadly Applicable

The book uses the fable approach to examine the dynamics of teams. This approach makes the material easy to read and very approachable to a wide audience. It provides an understanding of team dynamics that can be applied to a wide range of teams - professional, social organizations, service groups, church groups, etc. I was fascinated to look at how it fit the range of teams that I am part of throughout my life.

Because it is an easy read, it is a book that I can ask each of the supervisors in my office to read without feeling as though I am making an unreasonable demand on their time.