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.

7 out of 15 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. <BR/><BR/>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. <BR/><BR/>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. <BR/><BR/>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. <BR/><BR/>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: <BR/><BR/>1. Absence of trust, <BR/>2. Fear of conflict <BR/>3. Lack of commitment <BR/>4. Avoidance of accountability <BR/>5. Inattention to results. <BR/><BR/>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.

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.

1 out of 1 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.<BR/><BR/>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.

There were two functions to this novel, the first being a "

There were two functions to this novel, the first being a &quot;fable&quot; meant to portray the management point of the dysfunctional team, and the second part being a review of the concepts that were illustrated in the fable. To the first part, as it was supposed to be fictional, I would only give 2 stars. Overall, the writing was overly simplistic, the dialogue felt forced and unrealistic, and the characters were basically unrealistic and arrogant (a word that was used far too many times to describe other characters while the main character was noted as &quot;confident&quot; even though she was many times the very same thing). This was a juxtaposition to the whole second part of the novel, while it was small, that was a review of the concepts. The writing in this area was far superior lending to a 3 star rating. This contrast of writing between the two functions made me wonder if the author felt that fictional writing should be slushy, or if they honestly were just more adept at analytical writing than story-telling. If the latter where true, that is what they should stick to; however, I must point out that in both areas of the novel there were issues with coordinating conjunctions. What was more surprising to me was the fact that at one point the character steps back and realizes that she shouldn't use the word but to begin one of her sentences because of the connotation that it holds. I wonder why the author didn't realize that it was used the same way throughout the novel, even amongst his own analytical writing. In the second section where the concepts are reviewed the writing is better, the points are much more clear and the basis of the novel is well thought out. I did see some similarities to concepts in Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, such as mutual respect. I could watch the interactions in the fable and apply the skills I learned from Crucial Conversations to work through the issues at hand. I believe that the concepts in the novel are a good basic rendering of dysfunctions of a team (lack of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results), many of which I can see occurring in organizations that I have worked for, but that the book lacks in-depth instructions of how to truly handle these issues. It shows one how to recognize these innate truths and how to allow others to see these issues are causing dysfunction, yet it lacks the length to go into how to deal with these. It also seems to be meant for a corporate raider who possibly isn't a part of the problem but is there to facilitate the correcting of the problem. From my experience, and as Crucial Conversations shows , many times all that are involved are a part of the problem, including executives. I think this book is a good foundation, but a more thorough book like Crucial Conversations is required to truly understand and correct the problem. Overall, I think this book would be good for a person who needs to learn by seeing an example of dysfunction; however, the fable part of the novel was lacking in fictional writing finesse.

Great book on team building!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I gained much insight into interpersonal dynamics that I will be putting into practice in my business and my home life. Easy to read narrative style - the author paints a picture that is rich and easy to follow.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick M

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick M. Lencioni examines five obstacles to effective teamwork. Focused on the executive team, Mr. Lencioni illustrates the harmful effects diminished teamwork has on an organization's effectiveness. He then prescribes actions that can be taken to overcome these obstacles thereby increasing overall organizational performance.

I believe that an organization can only perform effectively if there exists a cohesive, aligned, action-oriented executive team guiding it. I like The Five Dysfunctions of a Teambecause it highlights the common barriers to effective teamwork and an actionable process for overcoming these barriers. While the process presented focuses on an organization's executive team, we believe the same principles can be used to improve teamwork at all levels of the organization. Additionally, Mr. Lencioni's recommended actions support what I believe is key to sustained, superior success; shared vision, focus, and commitment.

As a business novel, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team presents its principles for improved teamwork through a believable, vividly illustrated, and easily related to story of an organization's struggle to improve performance. Many of the best practice recommendations found on the StrategyDriven website compliment the actions prescribed in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team; making this book a StrategyDriven recommended read.

All the Best,
Nathan Ives
StrategyDriven Principal

Shadow

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Shadowkit

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0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Graystripe

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0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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