The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

Jacket Description/Back:

Praise for The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

"The Five Dysfunctions of a Team has been my playbook for developing our staff and locker room culture for the last decade. The book is a classic--it covers all the real stuff that drives productive teams that many of us are usually too uncomfortable to address."
--Erik Spoelstra, Head Coach, Miami Heat

"I have watched this book become the foundational source on teamwork within our company, and in just about every other organization I know. It's hard to imagine the world of work without The Five Dysfunctions of a Team."
--Elizabeth Bryant, SVP of People, Learning & Development, Southwest Airlines

"Patrick Lencioni's classic book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, is one of the most helpful organizational leadership books of all time. These principles greatly influenced my personal and foundational leadership strategy. This is a book I've revisited many times and learn more each time I read it. Get a copy for yourself and everyone on your team."
--Craig Groeschel, Founding Pastor of Life.Church and New York Times best-selling author

"The Five Dysfunctions of a Team has stood the test of time, because practicing leaders--those who must get things done through the power of teams--find its insights timeless, incisive, and useful."
--Jim Collins, author, Good to Great, co-author, Built to Last

"The Five Dysfunctions of a Team has stood the test of time, because practicing leaders--those who must get things done through the power of teams--find its insights timeless, incisive, and useful."
--Jim Collins, author, Good to Great, and co-author, Built to Last

"The Five Dysfunctions of a Team has been my playbook for developing our staff and locker room culture for the last decade. The book is a classic--it covers all the real stuff that drives productive teams that many of us are usually too uncomfortable to address."
--Erik Spoelstra, Head Coach, Miami Heat

"I have watched this book become the foundational source on teamwork within our company, and in just about every other organization I know. It's hard to imagine the world of work without The Five Dysfunctions of a Team."
--Elizabeth Bryant, SVP of People, Learning & Development, Southwest Airlines

"Patrick Lencioni's classic book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, is one of the most helpful organizational leadership books of all time. These principles greatly influenced my personal and foundational leadership strategy. This is a book I've revisited many times and learn more each time I read it. Get a copy for yourself and everyone on your team."
--Craig Groeschel, Founding Pastor of Life.Church and New York Times best-selling author

"Every manager and executive will recognize themselves somewhere in this book. Lencioni distills the problems that keep even the most talented teams from realizing their full potential. Even more important, he shows -- in prose that is crisp, clear, and fun to read -- how to solve them."
--Geoffrey A. Moore, Chairman Emeritus of The Chasm Institute, The Chasm Group, and TCG Advisors and author, Crossing the Chasm and Zone to Win

PATRICK M. LENCIONI is the pioneer of the organizational health movement and the author of 13 best-selling books, including The Advantage, The Ideal Team Player, and The Six Types of Working Genius. For the past 25 years, Pat and his firm, The Table Group, have provided leaders with products and services to make their organizations more effective, their teams more cohesive, and their employees more fulfilled. Fascinated with the nature of jobs since his youth, he believes that one of the best ways to impact culture and society is through greater engagement and dignity at work.

To learn more about Patrick and The Table Group, please visit www.tablegroup.com.

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.

For twenty years, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team has been engaging audiences with a page-turning, realistic fable that follows the travails of Kathryn Petersen, DecisionTech's CEO, as she faces the ultimate leadership crisis. She must unite a team in such disarray that it threatens to derail the entire company.

Equal parts leadership fable and business handbook, this definitive source on teamwork by Patrick Lencioni reveals the five behavioral tendencies that go to the heart of why even the best teams struggle. He offers a powerful model and step-by-step guide for overcoming those dysfunctions and getting everyone rowing in the same direction.

Today, the lessons in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team are more relevant than ever. This special anniversary edition celebrates one of the best-selling business books of all time with a new foreword from the author that reflects on its legacy and lessons.

-Every manager and executive will recognize themselves somewhere in this book. Lencioni distills the problems that keep even the most talented teams from realizing their full potential. Even more important, he shows -- in prose that is crisp, clear, and fun to read -- how to solve them.-
--Geoffrey A. Moore, Chairman, The Chasm Group, Author, Crossing the Chasm; Inside the Tornado; Living on the Fault Line

-I read most best-selling business books. What sets Lencioni apart is his ability to provide insightful and practical solutions to complex management challenges.-
--Phillip Hildebrand, Executive VP and Chief Distribution Officer, New York Life Insurance Company

-A gripping analysis of what makes teams work effectively. This fine work is a must read for any leader that has come to grips with the fact that no one makes progress -- much less succeeds -- alone.-
--James Amos, president and CEO, Mail Boxes, Etc.

-Compelling and incisive, this will become the definitive guide on how to build and manage successful teams.-
--Jean Kovacs, president and CEO, Comergent Technologies

"Every manager and executive will recognize themselves somewhere in this book. Lencioni distills the problems that keep even the most talented teams from realizing their full potential. Even more important, he shows -- in prose that is crisp, clear, and fun to read -- how to solve them."
--Geoffrey A. Moore, Chairman, The Chasm Group, Author, Crossing the Chasm; Inside the Tornado; Living on the Fault Line

"I read most best-selling business books. What sets Lencioni apart is his ability to provide insightful and practical solutions to complex management challenges."
--Phillip Hildebrand, Executive VP and Chief Distribution Officer, New York Life Insurance Company

"A gripping analysis of what makes teams work effectively. This fine work is a must read for any leader that has come to grips with the fact that no one makes progress -- much less succeeds -- alone."
--James Amos, president and CEO, Mail Boxes, Etc.

"Compelling and incisive, this will become the definitive guide on how to build and manage successful teams."
--Jean Kovacs, president and CEO, Comergent Technologies

Every manager and executive will recognize themselves somewhere in this book. Lencioni distills the problems that keep even the most talented teams from realizing their full potential. Even more important, he shows -- in prose that is crisp, clear, and fun to read -- how to solve them.
--Geoffrey A. Moore, Chairman, The Chasm Group, Author, Crossing the Chasm; Inside the Tornado; Living on the Fault Line

I read most best-selling business books. What sets Lencioni apart is his ability to provide insightful and practical solutions to complex management challenges.
--Phillip Hildebrand, Executive VP and Chief Distribution Officer, New York Life Insurance Company

A gripping analysis of what makes teams work effectively. This fine work is a must read for any leader that has come to grips with the fact that no one makes progress -- much less succeeds -- alone.
--James Amos, president and CEO, Mail Boxes, Etc.

Compelling and incisive, this will become the definitive guide on how to build and manage successful teams.
--Jean Kovacs, president and CEO, Comergent Technologies

Introduction vii

The Fable 1

Luck 3

Part One: Underachievement 5

Part Two: Lighting the Fire 27

Part Three: Heavy Lifting 115

Part Four: Traction 171

The Model 185

An Overview of the Model 187

Team Assessment 191

Understanding and Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions 195

A Note About Time: Kathryn's Methods 221

A Special Tribute to Teamwork 223

Acknowledgments 225

About the Author 228

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 College Library, Garden City, NY Library Journal, April 15, 2002

"... gripping... highly recommended."
--Talent Engagement Review, June 2011

"... an entertaining quick read filled with information easy to digest...."
--The Star Online, 12 August 2003

"... 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

Review Citations:

• Harvard Business Review 04/01/2002 pg. 28 (EAN 9780787960759, Hardcover)
• Publishers Weekly 03/25/2002 pg. 54 (EAN 9780787960759, Hardcover)
• Booklist 04/01/2002 pg. 1288 (EAN 9780787960759, Hardcover)
• Library Journal 04/15/2002 pg. 102 (EAN 9780787960759, Hardcover)