The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

The author tackles at least 5 dysfunctions which can lead to team stumbling blocks within a bureaucratic organization of any significant size or complexity. These classic stumbling blocks are: - Lack of trust - Fear of commitment - Organizational conflict - Accountability - Inattention to results Trust is difficult to develop unless team members have substantial goal congruency. By fear of commitment, the author refers to "analysis paralysis" and the fear of failure which everyone has in one form or another. Some team leaders do not like to deal with conflict of any kind. Conflict can have benefits in refining the methodology employed in the project or dealing with disagreements which can delay or derail a project. Accountability is a difficult notion to instill because it inevitably involves assigning some credit or blame to specific persons. Without accountability, there would be no methodical or fair way to map outcomes to personal responsibility centers in an organization. Lastly, the inattention to results is a critical failing point because there can be no improvement without measuring performance against realistic goals . Overall, this work provides realistic measuring rods for moving teams of people toward a successful conclusion of any project. Unless a project manager deals with these classic dysfunctions, it will be nearly impossible to move any project to finality.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is an interesting, easy to read fictional story about a Silicon Valley company in a turnaround situation. Lencioni did a really good job of creating characters that everybody can relate to.The one theme that I took from this book is the importance of open, frank communication between team members. That is the core of the five dysfunctions. Most of the time when people are in a group setting, their primary goal is not to get the job done right, but instead it is to not offend other members of the group. This leads to some terrible decision making since nobody ever objects to bad ideas for fear of making another co-worker look bad. This book drives home the important point that conflict in groups is good as long as it is respectful because it leads to much better decision making.In addition, as another reviewer mentioned, one of the most impressive parts of the book is that the author doesn't shield you from the fact that there is going to be some pain and struggle when working through problems. As a reader, there are a few times when I genuinely wondered: "Are they going to make it?" This is important since in real life you will probably wonder the same thing when you hit some obstacles along the way.I highly recommend this book.Greg BlencoeAuthor, The Ten Commandments for Managers

This is a genuinely significant book for anyone who works in a team environment, whether at work, in sports, in the community, at home, etc. Of all the business books I have read on team building, "Five Dysfunctions" stands at the top of the pack. The strength of this book lies in the fact that it gets at the ROOTS of team failure. Anyone who has been forced to go through corporate "team building" sessions and sing with their fellow co-workers knows that it is an approach that doesn't work! The principles presented in "Five Dysfunctions" are solid and will get results.The organization of "Five Dysfunctions" is as follows. The bulk of the book comprises of an extended fictitious example of a dysfunctional group, and slowly works through the underlying principles. These principles are then succinctly presented in the last few pages of the book, along with further analysis and suggestions on implementation. This organization allows the principles to slowly sink in through the book, but then gives the reader a very focused section the use for later reference and review.A great strength of the book is that it avoids the all-too-frequent tendency of creating tension and then resolving it more quickly than would happen in real life. Reading the story gives you a sense of the effort needed to work through the dysfunctions of a team. The tools are presented to the reader, but without the illusion of a quick fix. Rather, "Five Dysfunctions" gives a simple message that inspires, energizes, and creates a vision of hope for how thing could be in a team.One "a-ha" experience I had while reading this book is that some of the teams I have been on - teams where we all got along just fine - shared at least some of the five dysfunctions which made them less than effective. While these teams were quite accomplished at the superficial types of team building activities that are so popular, we avoided the core issues that Lencioni discusses in his book.This book is one that I will review often, and recommend to anyone.

I have to admit that I had somewhat limited expectations for this book. I was worried that this book would simply be a re-hash of the same material written in the first two books by this author. So often, it seems that the creator of a very successful and revolutionary paradigm (and Pat Lencioni's first books were certainly both of those) will put out a whole series of books that explain the same concept with a slightly different spin. Fortunately, that isn't the case here - - This is one of the most powerful business books I've ever read.While the themes in this book are very consistent with the author's first book, the approach is completely different. The first book forced me to constantly look inward and ask myself what I could be doing better as a CEO. This book was much more team oriented, helping me to guide everyone of my direct reports in how they could be better managers and how we can function more cohesively as a team. I can't say enough about how eye opening the book was in terms of my ability to instantly improve the effectiveness of my entire team. I'm going to give this book to everyone on my team and plan to have a group discussion of what each of us learned from the book.The book is a VERY quick read (probably an hour cover to cover) and will make a thoughtful manager completely re-think whether his or her team is optimally managed. The book allows you to quickly diagnose the area where your team has weakness and almost instantly chart a well defined course for a much more productive team. I sincerely believe I'm a much better manager after reading this book and my approach to guiding my team is much more enlightened. For those with the courage to truly examine the way they manage and the commitment to seek out a better way, you won't find a better investment of 60 minutes of your time.

This book is helpful to anyone who serves on a team and specifically helpful for team leaders. You will see yourself and your team in this book. More than that, you will find specific steps you can take to make your team better. Through a real life fable, Pat leads you through the steps you need to take to move a team from dysfunction to health. You will find a clear model as well as examples that are as relevant as your last meeting. As I read this book I discovered:1. A vocabulary I can use with my team to discuss dysfunction.2. A self-analysis that will get the discussion started.3. A clear model for implementation.As a team leader, this book challenged me to:1) Lead selflessly2) Take risks3) Encourage conflict4) Embrace the power of meetings4) Direct my team around a common themeThis book is simple, practical and filled with wisdom. Highly recommended.