The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable 1st Edition

by Patrick Lencioni (Author)

2,040 customer reviews

in Management Science

ISBN-13: 978-0787960759

ISBN-10: 0787960756

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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; 1st edition (April 11, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0787960756
ISBN-13: 978-0787960759
Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 1.1 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 2,040 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #231 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1 in Books > Business & Money > Management & Leadership > Management Science
- #1 in Books > Textbooks > Business & Finance > Management
- #1 in Books > Textbooks > Business & Finance > Human Resources

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Seth Orell

Good Leadership Ideas - with One False Dichotomy

February 1, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Lencioni effectively delivers his leadership principles by packaging them into an engaging parable. I found myself nodding along as he revealed how his first four dysfunctions can manifest themselves. For this, he gets four stars.

However, his fifth, and ultimate, principle - focusing on results - includes the “package deal” that associates individual goals with team failure. Or, put another way, he believes that an individual who is focused on her own goals will sacrifice the team for her own success. So, Lencioni says the individual must therefore sacrifice her personal goals for the team’s. By assuming this false dichotomy of sacrificing others to you or you to others, Lencioni misses a third approach that rejects sacrifice altogether: an approach that treats people as traders - voluntarily exchanging values to mutual benefit.

For example, take his protagonist, Kathryn. She is hired to reform the leadership team and is well-compensated to do so. The company believes her leadership is good for the business. She accepts the position because she believes the job is good for her. She aligns her interests with the company’s. Both benefit. Neither subjugates nor sacrifices one side for the other. Yet, this stands in direct contrast to his own definition of his fifth dysfunction.

Even with this (all-too-common) transgression, the rest of the book has more than enough value to overcome its shortcomings. Ultimately, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about leadership.

11 people found this helpful

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Michael

First of a Two Book Set - Both Needed But This is the Essential One

July 19, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Lencioni shares simple truths about teams that should be more intuitively obvious to everyone. Yet, these things are very easy to grasp while being very difficult to actually practice ... without practice. This book focuses on what prevents a good team from forming and describe's what's needed. His companion book focuses on the implementation of these ideas but does not stand alone. If you only get one, get this one.

The biggest problem I see is that both books are framed about C-level and top level executive teams. Very few mid-managers would have the leverage and ability to implement all of these principles at lower levels of the organization. It's definitely possible in some cases, but it would significantly more challenging. His principles are universally true, but his coaching is directed at executives.

7 people found this helpful

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Steven Woloszyk

An Instant Classic and a Must Read for Team Leaders

November 24, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Patrick Lencioni provided an instant classic when he wrote The Five Dysfunctions of a Team in 2002.

The fable is about DecionTech, a Silicon Valley startup company with 150 employees. The two-year-old company has struggled of late with missing key deadlines, infighting, and low morale so they have asked their current CEO and co-founder Jeff Shanley to step down.

Next, we meet Kathryn. She’s a 57-year-old woman with a completely different background than the high-tech world where she’s been hired on as CEO to help with a turnaround.

There’s plenty of skepticism given her different background, her age, and the fact that during her first few weeks she does little but observe and meet with a few key employees one on one.

The skepticism only grows when she informs her department heads that they’re going to be spending time at some off-site meetings. We are struggling to make deadlines and we’re going to take time away from the office for meetings?

It’s at these off-site meetings where Kathryn provides the framework for the five dysfunctions of a team which she believes to be why her group at DecionTech is underperforming.

The five dysfunctions of a team are written on a pyramid and are listed below from top to bottom.

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

The off-site meetings foster some good debates after Kathryn works on building trust with her department heads. She’s candid with everyone and says that she expects that her team may not wind up staying intact and that turns out to be true.

This is a short read but it’s compelling with memorable characters and great lessons.

Amazon reviewers give this one 4.6 stars after 1,910 ratings. Goodreads gives it 4.01 stars after 45,454 ratings and 2,218 reviews. It’s evident to me why this has become an instant classic and I gave it 5 stars.

#FridaysFind #MIAGD #TheFiveDysfunctions #PatrickLencioni

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Reid Mccormick

Real challenges for real teams

June 27, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book has been on the “to read” list for quite some time now. I know it has been a popular book among managers for years, and I have enjoyed hearing Patrick Lencioni speak on several occasions, but for one reason or another, every year this book kept getting kicked down the list.

Finally, I bought the book and was excited to read it. I opened it up, and a cold shiver went down my spine. When I saw that the first section of the book was titled “The Fable” and written like story, I rolled my eyes thinking I just wasted my money. But I pushed through, and to my surprise, I really enjoyed this book.

I strictly read non-fiction. I have tried, but fiction does not appeal to me. I was tempted to read only the last section of the book which is in essay form, but I’m glad I didn’t. Lencioni can tell a convincing story while driving home the message without being cheesy or painfully obvious.
I definitely think this book would be good for anyone who has to lead a team. Teamwork is incredibly difficult, however it can provide amazing results. I can attest that the five dysfunctions are real and a challenge to overcome.

28 people found this helpful

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Most recent customer reviews

one of our team needed this more than the others:P PENOMENAL resource

Published 4 hours ago

Annemari

It is all about trust. And trust needs courage. Once you have thouse, everything is possible.

Most basic principles for any kind of team, from family to business. If even some of the concept will be adjusted among teams of different sorts,the world will become a...Read more

Published 2 days ago

Amazon Customer

Practical and engaging

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is well written and brings high concepts down to more understandable and practical uses.

Published 4 days ago

John

Setting the Tone with Uncommon Discipline

Loved the business fable about Katheryn and her team. Patrick got it right when he wrote that the CEO sets the tone, and success hinges on uncommon discipline, doing the small...Read more

Published 12 days ago

Narek

The structure of the book is awesome

Got important points about team structure and how it must behave and how to perform and where to look for issues.

Published 13 days ago

Amazon Customer

Best book of teamwork

The best book I have ever read about teamwork. The story really caught my attention and explained the theory in such a easy to understand way.

Published 14 days ago

Andrea D. Hicks

Excellent book on Leadership

Excellent book on Leadership. We used this book at a Leadership Conference for church Officers. It was mind opening and has gave us some GREAT tools to make our church...Read more

Published 15 days ago

Isaac Tan

it hung on to reader's interest as with a good fictional story

This book is not dry at all. It depicts a real life scenario (although it is fictional), it hung on to reader's interest as with a good fictional story. Easy read.

Published 17 days ago

VickiLaTorre

Easy and Quck

Ok. Easy Read

Published 20 days ago

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