Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14185 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 229 pages

Review
In keeping with the parable style, Lencioni (The Five Temptations of a CEO) begins by telling the fable of 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, president of his own management consulting firm and author of The Five Temptations of a CEO. 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 story is about a female CEO who is hired to bring together a dysfunctional executive staff to work as a team in a company that just two years earlier had looked promising. The scenarios that follow 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. The five dysfunctions discussed are absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. At the end of the story, the main points are summarized, and clearly written suggestions and exercises are offered to help, bring about change. Concise and easy to follow, this book is recommended for academic and public libraries with management collections and for anyone who is a member of a team that needs improvement. —Bellinda Wise, Nassau Community Call. Lib. Garden City, NY (Library Journal, April 15, 2002)

"...there is a lot of good sense in this book...certainly offers some useful pointers..." (Supply Management, 28 March 2002)

"...is worth exploring..." (Progress, Summer 2002)

"...an entertaining quick read filled with information easy to digest..." (The star online, 12 August 2003)

Review
"Succinct yet sympathetic, this guide will be a boon for those struggling with the inherent difficulties of leading a group."

"Concise and easy to follow, this book is recommended for academic and public libraries with management collections and for anyone who is a member of a team that needs improvement." (Library Journal, April 15, 2002)

"...there is a lot of good sense in this book...certainly offers some useful pointers..." (Supply Management, 28 March 2002)

"...is worth exploring..." (Progress, Summer 2002)

"...an entertaining quick read filled with information easy to digest..." (The star online, 12 August 2003)

From the Inside Flap
After her first two weeks observing the problems at DecisionTech, Kathryn Petersen, its new CEO, had more than a few moments when she wondered if she should have taken the job. But Kathryn knew there was little chance she would have turned it down. After all, retirement had made her antsy, and nothing excited her more than a challenge. What she could not have known when she accepted the job, however, was just how dysfunctional her team was, and how team members would challenge her in ways that no one ever had before.

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, DecisionTech’s CEO, faces the ultimate leadership crisis: uniting a team that is 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 riveting tale serves as a timeless reminder that leadership requires as much courage as it does insight.

Throughout the story, Lencioni reveals the five dysfunctions that 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 deceptively simple yet powerful message for all those who strive to be exceptional team leaders.

Customer Reviews

Recognise anyone ?
If you work in a team where things don't always go the way you'd expect then this is a book you should read. I bought it for three reasons: it's short, it's a single story, I needed something to read on a flight.

Short: Forget about those long management tomes which lose your attention after page 5 and feel like homework. This is a simple short story which Lencioni uses to illustrate his points on team membership leadership, membership and engagement. You will read this in two hours.

Single Story: Like me are you tired of reading all those guru books that read like a collage of name dropping and half pages of useless anecdotes? This book has a story line that will engage and retain you attention without forcing management bs down your retinas on every page. It's readable , the characters plausible and you will want to turn the page.

Makes Sense: Like anything good that has ever been written on management there is a healthy dose of common sense here. Unlike many other books I liked the fact that it does not contain the "How To" as much as it illustrates how to recognise specific issues in Teams and offers ideas on how to deal with them. The model used is simple and progressive and you can't apply it in one minute.

Does it work ? I have no idea but I will definitely use the ideas.

Recognise Anyone? absolutely.

Recommend it to a friend ? Yes and I'll also leave a copy on my bosses desk when I leave!

The best model for team development I've found.
I usually hate management books with "parables" in because I find them badly written, contrived and twee. This one is better than most - the story is plausible (and familiar) and Lencioni's writing style is punchy and clear. More importantly, it conceals an excellent model of senior team development.

What I like about the model is that all the stuff I already use in organisational development slots in nicely: what it gives is a clear roadmap. Using the model, both the facilitator and the participants can all be clear about what they are doing and why. For example, I've used psychometrics many times, but using them within the framework of building trust (the first stage in the model) seemed to make the learning deeper and more lasting.

Anyone who is part of a senior level team (where the team members are also team leaders), or anyone who works with these teams should find the book useful.

Priceless guidance on a too common problem
I have read enough management books to I hope know the good from the bad - the fact that this book is the first one that after having read it I immediately started to read all over again, makes it for me a unique offering. This is due to:

1. The subject is one which applies in so many work situations that its potentially wide application cannot be denied. The comments made by other reviewers as to recognising the many different types of personalities involved and the five individual issues from their own experiences demonstrates the consistency of the problems being identifiable under many different factual scenarios.

2. The book is written in a very easily assimilated style and precise chapters per point plus the use of a fictional parable style story makes it come alive in a way that rarely happens in most management books.

3. The analysis of the five issues having been gone through is then in a summary end piece restated not only as to their individual relevance but also how they inter-relate and practical methods of addressing each is provided - this hands on solution solving makes the book a very powerful basis for personal decision making using the tools provided.

In part the impact of the book on myself may reflect that I read it as I was starting to grapple with one of the most difficult teams I have had to ever lead in over twenty years of management roles. That this book provided me with a number of options to consider and apply in making progress reflects the true value of the lessons it shares.