I have an aversion to business fables. The ones I've read give me the irrates. They seem to trivialise business. Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life , Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions (Kotter, Our Iceberg is Melting) , Fish! and Squirrel Inc.: A Fable of Leadership through Storytelling all left me a little cold. So it was with some trepidation that I picked up The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Fable by Patrick Lencioni.
Five Dysfunctions popped up on my radar a couple of years ago and ever since then a number of people suggested I should read it. It was published back in 2002 and there seems to be quite an industry that's grown around it with addional handbooks and resources available. For me, this wasn't a good sign.
Then a client lent me a copy so I started on a plane trip home from Sydney and finsihed the book in three short sittings. It's a nicely crafted story: short chapters, cliff hangers, good dialogue and believable and messy business situations.
Most of Five Dysfunctions is a business story. About a third of the book, at the end, describes the five dysfunctions model. The story is about Kathryn who joins DecionTech as their new CEO. The executive team is a bit of a mess and they don't welcome her with open arms. Kathryn starts a process of conversations and straight talking at a series offsites and team meetings and engages the Executive in understanding a simple model showing what needs to happen to turn their group into a team.
Like all good models it's nice and simple and can be drawn on a whiteboard.
Each part of the model is interlocked. It's pointless working on one part without addressing the others.
One of the real advantages of learning about the model as a story is that you hear from the characters ask and answer questions. You are a fly on the wall of an executive team and you learn through their experiences. This experiential learning is then reinforced with the didactic chapter at the end of the book.
Here's how Kathryn describes the five dysfunctions.
Absence of Trust: "Great teams do not hold back with one another." "They are unafraid to air their dirty laundry. They admit their mistakes, their weaknesses, and their concerns without fear of reprisal."
Fear of conflict:"If we don't trust each other, then we aren't going to engage in open, constructive, idealogical conflict. And we'll just continue to preserve a sense of artifical harmony."
Lack of commitment: "I'm talking about commitment to a plan or a decision, and getting everyone to buy into it. That's why conflict is so important." "It's as simple as this. When people don't unload their opinions and feel like theyre been listen to, they wont really get on board."
Avoidance of accountability: "Once we achieve clarity and buy-in, it is then that we have to hold each other accountable for what we have signed up to do, for high standards of performance and behaviour. And as simple as that sounds, most executives hate to do it, especially when it comes to a peer's behaviour, because they want to avoid interpersonal discomfort."
The last dysfunction, Inattention to Results, is all about putting the team before individual egos. This issue is handled over a number of chapters at the end of the fable but I wont go into detail and spoil the surprise.
What I really liked about this book was just how well written the story was so are immersed in the world of an executive team and see the tensions and compromises, their good itent and judgements, and how conflict arises and can play out. There're plenty of models of good and poor behaviour, and our hero, Kathryn, shows us one way progress can be made.
What struck me most was just how much time is needed for an effective team to spend together planning, discussing, arguing. The perenial push back to spending this time, however, is that tired business phrase, "we just need to get back to the real work." Well, here's the breaking news for any executive who wants their company to excel: it's your first priority to build an effective executive team so it can draw on all its talents to achieve results.
I loved this book and have been recommending it all over the place. Get a copy, read it, then pass it on to another executive who you think really needs to get their team back on track.
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Popular Highlights in this book
“Politics is when people choose their words and actions based on how they want others to react rather than based on what they really think.”Highlighted by 25,123 Kindle readers- “Remember, teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.”Highlighted by 12,757 Kindle readers
From the brand
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Patrick Lencioni is the pioneer of the organizational health movement and the author of 13 bestselling books, including, including The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, The Advantage, and The Ideal Team Player. For the past 25 years, Pat and his firm, The Table Group, have provided leaders with products and services to make their organizations more effective, their teams more cohesive, and their employees more fulfilled.
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From the Publisher
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Model
Like it or not, all teams are potentially dysfunctional. This is inevitable because they are made up of fallible, imperfect human beings. From the basketball coach to the executive suite, politics and confusion are more the rule than the exception. However, facing dysfunction and focusing on teamwork is particularly critical at the top of an organization because the executive team sets the tone for how all employees work with one another. Fortunately, there is hope. Counter to conventional wisdom, the causes of dysfunction are both identifiable and curable. The first step toward reducing politics and confusion within your team is to understand that there are five dysfunctions to contend with, and address each that applies, one by one.
DYSFUNCTION #1: ABSENCE OF TRUST
The fear of being vulnerable with team members prevents building of trust within the team.
DYSFUNCTION #2: FEAR OF CONFLICT
The desire to preserve artificial harmony stifles the occurrence of productive, ideological conflict.
DYSFUNCTION #3: LACK OF COMMITMENT
The lack of clarity or buy-in prevents team members from making decisions they will stick to.
DYSFUNCTION #4: AVOIDANCE OF ACCOUNTABILITY
The need to avoid interpersonal discomfort prevents team members from holding one another accountable for their behaviors and performance.
DYSFUNCTION #5: INATTENTION TO RESULTS
The pursuit of individual goals and personal status erodes the focus on collective success.
About the author
I highly recommend this book to all seeking to maximize the potential ...
A superb analysis and practical guide to achieving excellence on teams. I highly recommend this book to all seeking to maximize the potential of their teams in any sector of life. I recently used this book and it's workbook to assist the Baylor Women's tennis team in working toward their goals as a team!
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Top reviews from other countries
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- M. HAMReviewed in the United Kingdom on February 12, 2025
Exceptional book that you will use time and time again
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AmazonienReviewed in France on January 3, 2016
Bonne introduction mais ne peut-être séparé du livre d'application de la méthode, ne peut-être utilisé sans l'autre livre.
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