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The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 13,471 ratings
#1 Best Seller in Human Resources & Personnel Management
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In keeping with the parable style, Patrick Lencioni 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.

Building a cohesive team is not complicated, declares Lencioni. Departing from the dry, theoretical writing of many management books, he presents his case in the context of a fictional organization, and in doing so succeeds at communicating his ideas. The scenarios are recognizable and can be applied anywhere teamwork is involved, whether it is a multinational company, a small department within a larger organization, or a sports team. At the end of the story, the main points are summarized, and clearly expressed suggestions and exercises are offered to help bring about change. Concise and easy to follow, this program is recommended for anyone who is a member of a team that needs improvement.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is also available in print from Wiley.

Previous page
  1. Listening Length
    3 hours and 42 minutes
  2. Author
    Patrick Lencioni
  3. Narrator
    Charles Stransky; introduction by Patrick Lencioni
  4. Audible release date
    October 18, 2002
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Random House Audio
  7. ASIN
    B000079XXR
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 3 hours and 42 minutes
Author Patrick Lencioni
Narrator Charles Stransky; introduction by Patrick Lencioni
Audible.com Release Date October 18, 2002
Publisher Random House Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B000079XXR
Best Sellers Rank #289 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#1 in Human Resources & Personnel Management (Books)
#4 in Business Management (Audible Books & Originals)
#6 in Business Management (Books)

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
13,471 global ratings
I highly recommend this book to all seeking to maximize the potential ...
5 Stars
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 the United States

Kyle
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book... if the boss will listen!
Reviewed in the United States on February 29, 2024
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I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Very easy to read and/or listen to. It is written and read in a way that is entertaining while still very informational and empowering.

We read this book as a team in our office. My only issue with the book was that when all was said and done, my boss didn't really follow along with the principles taught. Obviously not this book's fault, but it did leave me with a sour taste for the experience.

Given that I really liked this book, and the not-so-great circumstances mentioned above, I look forward to the day when I can read/listen to it again. Hopefully the next time around will be with a leadership team I am a part of and can provide a more positive influence and experience.
4 people found this helpful
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jakem
4.0 out of 5 stars pretty good guide to team/management pitfalls
Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2014
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This is a novel, not a reference book, but the storytelling works fairly well. Consequently, while it works okay for replicating the success in the story within your own team, if you happen across a situation that falls outside something they addressed in the story, you may be a bit lost in how best to deal with it. That's the nature of dealing with a novel instead of a direct implementation guide. On the plus side, it's a heck of a lot easier to read a story than a dry manual. :)

It does feel just a bit contrived to me. The situations are relate-able, but they feel just a little forced... like the situations are designed to fit the lessons, rather than being strictly based in reality. The company and characters sometimes don't feel *real*... they feel as though they were designed to be generic, so as to be more generally relate-able... but in so doing they lose a dimension of their personality, and it's (paradoxically) harder to relate to them very deeply. It makes the story feel rather "jack of all trades, master of none." Which is okay, it provides a solid all-around basis, but I'd also want something more specific to either my industry or my field, or my particular problems.

The actual 5 dysfunctions seem pretty solid to me. I somewhat disagree on just how bad each one might be and what sorts of behaviors will be better or worse, but it's a reasonably good framework for looking at a team and judging it's overall effectiveness.

I do suspect that the book does not stress the lower dysfunctions (particularly the lowest one, lack of trust) strongly enough. This is based on my own experience- people want to try and talk about failures at all levels of the pyramid, but the reality is it's extremely difficult to effectively solve any problems above trust, until trust is already solved. Therefore, I believe it would be better to focus heavily on trust only until you're sure it's really nailed down, then move up the pyramid. Even the team in the story makes this mistake, and consequently backslides easily. I believe the book does not do enough to dissuade readers from trying to fix problems at every level right off the bat.

To my earlier point of wanting a more focused book, I will add that if you're looking to fix an IT department specifically I'd *highly* recommend "The Phoenix Project" by Gene Kim, even instead of this one. This is still good (and there's a lot of info that's complementary), but that one is just flat better, for that specific scenario. It is also in novel form, but reads much more naturally to me (as an IT manager). I could certainly relate to things in 5 Dysfunctions, but I could feel the protagonists challenges in my soul in TPP. It's a whole other level of precision and applicability. I imagine there may be books like this for other disciplines.
15 people found this helpful
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PS
5.0 out of 5 stars informative
Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2024
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This book was engaging, helpful and informative. A a leader at work this really opened my eyes into ways I can improve as a leader and as a member of the team.
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Shawn D. Callahan
5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a business fable that doesn't make you want to vomit
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2012
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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.
22 people found this helpful
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Veronica Sander
5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to read, captivating lessons in story form
Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2024
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Great book! Appreciate the clarity of each dysfunction and how to overcome them. I was constantly evaluating my teams to find opportunities for growth.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Eduardo
5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente livro
Reviewed in Brazil on April 24, 2023
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Importante perspectiva sobre a liderança de times
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James Staring
5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 16, 2024
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This is a fantastic book to re-set your ship if it’s off course, or to keep it going in the right direction. Very simple to understand and follow, with practice steps to implement. Can’t wait to get started!
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Maja Draginčić
5.0 out of 5 stars As described
Reviewed in Spain on November 20, 2023
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Great book! Everything according to description.
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Ana Cristina Brenes Jimenez
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for team leaders or aspiring team leaders
Reviewed in Germany on November 16, 2023
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The book is written like a story telling and then at the end the theory is presented.

I consider it very well written, useful and with practical takeaways.

This book helped me identify some of my pitfalls and I found some of my experience reflected there.
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Rajith
5.0 out of 5 stars very interesting
Reviewed in Italy on July 1, 2023
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A book that makes you to think about a lot it’s very interesting educative a really good book read it you will be definitely satisfied
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