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The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (J-B Lencioni Series)
 
 
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The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (J-B Lencioni Series) [Hardcover]

Patrick Lencioni (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (382 customer reviews) |
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Book Description

Publication Date: April 11, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0787960756 | ISBN-13: 978-0787960759 | Edition: 1
In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Patrick Lencioni once again offers a leadership fable that is as enthralling and instructive as his first two best-selling books, The Five Temptations of a CEO and The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive. This time, he turns his keen intellect and storytelling power to the fascinating, complex world of teams.

Kathryn Petersen, Decision Tech's CEO, faces the ultimate leadership crisis: Uniting a team in such disarray that it threatens to bring down the entire company. Will she succeed? Will she be fired? Will the company fail? Lencioni's utterly gripping tale serves as a timeless reminder that leadership requires as much courage as it does insight.

Throughout the story, Lencioni reveals the five dysfunctions which go to the very heart of why teams even the best ones-often struggle. He outlines a powerful model and actionable steps that can be used to overcome these common hurdles and build a cohesive, effective team. Just as with his other books, Lencioni has written a compelling fable with a powerful yet deceptively simple message for all those who strive to be exceptional team leaders.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Once again using an astutely written fictional tale to unambiguously but painlessly deliver some hard truths about critical business procedures, Patrick Lencioni targets group behavior in the final entry of his trilogy of corporate fables. And like those preceding it, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is an entertaining, quick read filled with useful information that will prove easy to digest and implement. This time, Lencioni weaves his lessons around the story of a troubled Silicon Valley firm and its unexpected choice for a new CEO: an old-school manager who had retired from a traditional manufacturing company two years earlier at age 55. Showing exactly how existing personnel failed to function as a unit, and precisely how the new boss worked to reestablish that essential conduct, the book's first part colorfully illustrates the ways that teamwork can elude even the most dedicated individuals--and be restored by an insightful leader. A second part offers details on Lencioni's "five dysfunctions" (absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results), along with a questionnaire for readers to use in evaluating their own teams and specifics to help them understand and overcome these common shortcomings. Like the author's previous books, The Five Temptations of a CEO and Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive, this is highly recommended. --Howard Rothman

From Publishers Weekly

In keeping with the parable style, Lencioni (The Five Temptations of a CEO) begins by telling the fable of a woman who, as CEO of a struggling Silicon Valley firm, took control of a dysfunctional executive committee and helped its members succeed as a team. Story time over, Lencioni offers explicit instructions for overcoming the human behavioral tendencies that he says corrupt teams (absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability and inattention to results). Succinct yet sympathetic, this guide will be a boon for those struggling with the inherent difficulties of leading a group. 100,000 first printing.
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 229 pages
  • Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (April 11, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0787960756
  • ISBN-13: 978-0787960759
  • Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (382 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Patrick Lencioni Page
Patrick Lencioni
Patrick Lencioni is founder and president of The Table Group, a firm dedicated to helping leaders improve their organizations' health since 1997. His principles have been embraced by leaders around the world and adopted by organizations of virtually every kind including multinational corporations, entrepreneurial ventures, professional sports teams, the military, nonprofits, schools, and churches.

Lencioni is the author of ten business books with over three million copies sold worldwide. His work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Bloomberg Businessweek, and USA Today.

Prior to founding The Table Group, Lencioni served on the executive team at Sybase, Inc. He started his career at Bain & Company and later worked at Oracle Corporation.

Lencioni lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and their four sons.

To learn more about Patrick and The Table Group, please visit www.tablegroup.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
233 of 258 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
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 selflessly
2) Take risks
3) Encourage conflict
4) Embrace the power of meetings
4) Direct my team around a common theme

This book is simple, practical and filled with wisdom. Highly recommended.

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112 of 122 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
By dedicating 90% of his book to a so-called leadership fable, Patrick Lencioni very effectively conveys the very essence of the model he proposes in order to deal with dysfunctional teams. Though the story he presents is that of a hypothetical newly appointed CEO of a distressed start-up and (in the beginning of the story) her highly dysfunctional executive team, the model is perfectly applicable to any team throughout most organizations.

The model consists of a pyramid with the five dysfunctions of a team (from the bottom, up):
1) Absence of trust: stemming from an unwillingness in the team members to be vulnerable and genuinely open up with one another about their mistakes and weaknesses.
2) Fear of conflict: inability to engage in unfiltered, passionate (yet constructive, though it may strike you as odd) debate.
3) Lack of commitment: no buy in and commitment can be expected when ideas and opinions have not been aired and genuinely taken into consideration prior to a decision.
4) Avoidance of accountability: without commitment to a clearly defined set of goals, team members will hesitate to call their colleagues on their actions and behaviors that are counterproductive for the team.
5) Inattention to results: Lencioni brings it all home through the realization that avoidance of accountability leads to a state where team members tend to put their individual needs above the team's collective goals.

Throughout the last leg of his book, Lencioni contrasts how dysfunctional teams behave by comparing them to a cohesive team in the case of each of the five dysfunctions. He also provides suggestions on overcoming each of the dysfunctions and insights into the role of the leader in this process, all in a very structured and to-the-point way. Complementing this, he provides a Team Assessment tool to help determine where your team is at in terms of each of the five elements of the model.

As much as the book can be digested without too much trouble in 2-3 straight hours, it is inevitable (unless you are fooling yourself or you operate in a very healthy team) to have your managerial wheels in your mind turning at full speed by the time you are done with it. As a manager and an avid reader, I welcomed this book with open arms because I found it to be very useful and readily applicable. Now comes my challenge in putting it to use.

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127 of 144 people found the following review helpful
Very practical and insightful! December 26, 2002
Format:Hardcover
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.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
What a great find!
I just started a new job this week. The cubicle next to mine has a small library of mostly technical books. This book happened to be in there as well. Read more
Published 8 hours ago by Dave
Add this to your leadership library!
A great tool for team strengthening. The steps are comprehensive and doable. It is an action oriented look at how to draw out the best in every member of your team, regardless of... Read more
Published 9 days ago by B. Greene
This fable paints a pretty accurate picture of the real world...
My boss suggested this as a reading assignment for our whole team and I'm glad he did. I have benefitted from reading it and have learned to associate certain behaviorial... Read more
Published 11 days ago by Barbell2000's opinion
Enjoyable read, the pyramid is spot on.
Many of us can relate to variety of issues that come with people. The whole idea is that there will be differences and that it is okay. Read more
Published 17 days ago by Machelle Ford Ferry
Culture Change
This is an easy read.... bought it for my entire leadership team to read together in preparation for a leadership retreat on culture change. Read more
Published 29 days ago by Lawrence Carlson
Great Service
I was very pleased to get these books in a timely fashion. This vendor is on top of their game and it is very much appreciated since I really needed them and got them in time. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Gregory F. Kennedy
Great reading for all managers who ponder the usefuleness of meetings
Just read the book... Once past the first pages, it will be impossible to leave it before finishing it.
A must read for managers.
Published 1 month ago by Pierre MORGON
Teaming Up!
This is a completely engaging take on navigating the diverse disfunctionalities of a team of highly talented individuals. A great resource.
Published 1 month ago by Rocket
The Organizational Ties that Bind...
I read this short and sweet book in tandem with my wife, whose management team was assigned it prior to an upcoming workshop retreat. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Herbert L Calhoun
a masterpiece
Lencioni is a master writer. Once I started reading the book, I could not put it down and had to read it in one go. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Rezensent
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Not finance. Not strategy. Not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare. Read the first page
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green banana, next dysfunction, five dysfunctions, interpersonal discomfort
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Team Kathryn, Team Nick, Jeff Shanley, Silicon Valley, Even Martin
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