The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, by Patrick Lencioni is a very classic book.  It’s about building a   great team.  This book presents the tips to create a healthy relationship among teammates and to produce the desired outcome. This book tells, how to   become a good leader who can resolve any kind of disagreements between the teammates or fellows.  This book is for every one who is indulged in teamwork or who is leader to any team. In the book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni explored the major obstacles that prevent most of the organizations from giving their finest output. He examined and elaborated the five basic dysfunctions present in most of the teams i.e.

Absence of Trust, Fear of Conflict, Inability to Commit, Avoidance of Accountability and Inattention to Results. At the end of the book he provided the readers with a model for overcoming these dysfunctions. He explained every thing with the help of the character, Kathryn Petersen who is a newly hired CEO to Decision Tech, a Silicon Valley firm. The firm is struggling for its existence in the market and at that time a new CEO is introduced to it.  The CEO is handed the charge of a group of Executives, which is totally dysfunctional. There exist a lot of conflicts among them. In this book he has shown a “Five Dysfunctions Model” in a pyramidal structure along with complete symptoms of each and every dysfunction. He explained what role a leader must play for winning the battle against that dysfunction. The entire problem described is displayed among the characters working under the CEO, which gives the reader far more clearance than practical experience.

The author presented some ways to treat the dysfunctions:

1. Absence Of Trust: This dysfunction hinders many organizations to produce effective teamwork. If team member are practically open to others regarding mistakes and shortcomings, the trust among them is impossible to strengthen.
2. Fear Of Conflict: This dysfunction is a result of first one. This dysfunction prevents the members from expressing their views over others work, thinking or decisions. This dysfunction prevents an honest debate over critical issues.
3. Avoidance Of Commitment: If the discussions are not honest, no one will get space to express his thinking over any issue. This will loosen their commitment over the decisions of the team.
4. Lack Of Accountability: Lack of accountability will arise if all the members are not satisfied with the decisions of the team. The only way to improve the standard of the teamwork is the presence of peer pressure of work. The leader should always be ready with an alternative if the first implementation method fails.
5. Inattention to Results: In most of the teams the desire to get individual credits exists. This disintegrates the focus of individuals over the collective success.

This book simply tells to take care of each and every pillar of the team. He presented efficient ways to discuss the business strategies and confidential issues. He also emphasized on the principle steps to get the right of governing the group. It tells that you can build trusty atmosphere between you and your teammates just with the help of some introductory measures. In this book the author boost up the team members to create a close relationship environment. The real life business issues must be discussed among the team members either by debate or by any presentation/speech. Patrick Lencioni specified all the challenges that a leader might face in his work. Patrick Lencioni provided the readers with certain specifications of the IT industry. He also expressed his dissatisfaction over some experiential programs implemented to prepare a strong team. But he also believes that these experimental practices can act as effective measures if they are applied on fundamental platforms. He explained the advantages of using the consultancies with strong foundations. Those organizations that have effective team management must read this book to improve the performance of their teams. Most of the teams with administrative responsibilities will look this story as any other normal story, but they will realize that the examples explained are somewhat similar to those they encounter in their real life. The book was really entertaining and successfully remained on the best sellers list for a long time.

References:

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, by Patrick Lencioni,

Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 2002, ISBN: 0787960756.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, by Patrick Lencioni,

Publisher: Random House Audible, 2002, ISBN: 0739304739.