The Five Dysfunctions of a Team : A Leadership Fable

Review By: John Woolf, Compare Book Suit
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Forged deep in the psyche of the American way of life is the independent, rugged individualist who through sheer strength of will prevails over insurmountable odds. Our history is replete with them. That's fine if you are a one-man show. However, most of us find ourselves working within management teams in the corporate world where exercising such attributes does not always serve us, others, or the company. This is aptly illustrated by Patrick Lencioni's compelling book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Written as a fictional tale, this entertaining, quick read book delivers hard hitting truths about the natural disruptive tendencies of any corporate dynamic- and why it is so damaging to all concerned, most often resulting in an anemic marketplace performance.

As the final entry of his trilogy of corporate fables, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team weaves its lessons around a troubled silicon Valley firm and its replacement for a new CEO. As a retired, 57 year old manager from a traditional manufacturing company, she is an unexpected choice. Overcoming the dysfunctional corporate inertia proves a daunting task, but she prevails in showing, no matter how talented and dedicated individuals may be, unless personnel function as a team unit, they are doomed to the dysfunctions of continued corporate politics most of us have experienced. While the concepts are easy, it is easier said than done and requires continued vigilance to keep from slipping back into bad habits.

The book distills down these dysfunctions into five basic reasons. First is the lack of trust which is the foundation of ills plaguing any group or team. It seems our egos get in the way. We instinctively want to protect our positions and reputations. We tend to view our teammates as competitors rather than friends and associates, striving for a common goal. True teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability. If you feel your team-mates conceal their weaknesses and mistakes from one another, hesitate to ask for help or offer help outside their own areas of responsibility, dread having meetings, hold grudges or jump to conclusions about the intentions of others, chances are your company has trust issues.

The second reason is fear of conflict. Productive debate is essential for any team success. If you don't trust your teammates, you won't feel comfortable disagreeing with them. Team members need to be able engage in heated discussions of the issues, while staying away from personal attacks. If this is not done, an artificial harmony will prevail, leaving pertinent objections and concerns not being heard, with few functional decisions being made. If you have boring meetings, environments where back-channel politics and personal attacks thrive, or ignore controversial topics, chances are your company is dysfunctional in this area as well.

The third reason is lack of commitment. Not to be confused with consensus, which may be symptomatic of dysfunction, dynamic teams find a way to achieve complete "buy-in", to common goals and objectives by having all ideas genuinely considered. This does not mean that all necessarily fully agree, but all are confident that no one on the team is quietly harboring doubts whether to support the actions agreed on. The forth is the avoidance of accountability. If you don't have buy-in, team members lack loyalty to the goal and objectives of the team. However, if all team members have agreed to a set of activities to achieve a common goal, each should feel comfortable calling the other to account for his or her progress. The fifth one, inattention to results fits naturally. If you do not honor your commitments, you won't achieve results; since results are, by definition, how well you meet the goals and team's commitments.

If you are wondering how to recognize and overcome these five basic dysfunctions, this is clearly outlined in the second part of the book. A questionnaire is provided for use in evaluating your own teams with specifics to help understand and eliminate these all too common corporate obstacles.

As truly cohesive teams are rare, this book along with the author's previous books, The Five Temptations of a CEO and Obsession of an Extraordinary Executive, are a must read for anyone in management at any level.