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

Real challenges for real teams

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Reid Mccormick

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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Nelson

Doesn't Truly Satisfy

August 25, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book was pretty good as it reads like a story of a dysfunctional hi-tech Silicon Valley team that has to cope with egotistical team members. Though the book takes you through the struggles of the team members to adapt to the new leader's method of building trust first, then pursuing growth of the company, I wish there were more details on the results of building an effective team rather just on the difficult process of it. Though the book was good I want there to be a continuation of it because we don't know what happened once the team realized the new system of trust building the leader implemented wound up working to their surprise. This book is kind of a cliffhanger.

One person found this helpful

Seemingly Obvious Model with High Value

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January 22, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Following the idiom of The Goal and The Deadline, this book spends most of its time teaching its lessons using the example of a fictionalized story of a new CEO joining company in trouble. Rather than teaching you about Supply Chains, or Software teams, this book teaches how to identify groups of people who aren't actually teams, and help them discover how to be teams. The CEO in the story uses the model to help the executive "team" become a team in more than name. There is a brief summary of the model at the end, but the story form really drives the point home better than the 37 page summary of the model. You could just jump to the summary of the model, but the lessons might not stick, and the power of the simple model might be as clear. (and the simple, "obvious" things are often the ones that people ignore) If you are on a team, you'll find value in this quick to read book, either as a way to lead others to form a better team, or as a way to understand what's happening around you so that you can do better.

9 people found this helpful

Some great points about necessity of open debate, but flawed method of bringing it about

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Robert Shuler

August 31, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

The point about team members being willing and able to debate substantive issues without fear is very representative of the way successful teams worked at NASA in the 1960s through about 1985, and so this point is, I believe, correct. Further, the idea that very top management must be on board with this idea for it to work is also correct, because if management disapproves of conflict and disagreement, it will reassign people and destroy teams that discuss and debate openly.

However, the fictional (non-empirical) idea that a manager can create such a team by kicking off the people who disagree violates the very trust and freedom from retaliation principles that are necessary at the base of the pyramid, and I believe this reflects the author's lack of actual experience at other than consulting.

8 people found this helpful

Team building at its finest

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HeatherOneill

January 19, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Never judge a book by its cover. I purchased this book and it sat around for s little bit before I really picked it up to read it! Once i did I couldn't put it down! Pointed out so many great leadership skills and how to handle situations! The team building has helped me build a stronger more connected team! If you are having team troubles this is your book for change!

One person found this helpful

Awesome read about bringing a team to be cohesive and working together

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Amazon Customer

Five Stars

How to lead the senior management understand what team work mean. And their contribution.

Published 7 days ago

rwalla

Excellent book

Read this book for my masters program. It was a very informative book. The author's method of using a fictional story based on true events helped myself grasp everything.

Good team building foundation work

jMoore

The parable format isn't my favorite but it did get most of the points across. The descriptions of the 5 dysfunction are worth the price of the book.

One of the best resources for developing and having successful teams.

David Cheyne

Want a great team?

Product meets expectations.

Amazon Customer

Four Stars

Quick shipment and a great book

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

great book to hightlight why teams end up being dsyfunctional ...

Kevin

great book to hightlight why teams end up being dsyfunctional and offers a solution to this growing problem in the work place.