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Leadership & “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”

5 Dysfunctions
03 Aug

“The Five Disfunctions of a Team” by Patrick Lencioni (2002) is a reputable Leadership Development book. It’s a fable that I had heard of but never had the chance to read. As I’m digging deeper into the notion of trust, one of my colleagues and friends gave me a copy of this book and she said it was her go-to when advising teams on trust. It’s a fast-paced, easy and interesting read, with many points that translate directly to my work life. I imagine it has helped serve countless C-suite teams function better.

Overview: The roughly 200-page book walks us through Katherine’s journey of becoming a CEO of a company in an industry that she has no real experience. She was brought in to re-build the team at the top layer of the organization. In the book we get to know each of the C-Suite members as Katherine takes them on a series of off-site retreats and hosts staff meetings, where she explains the 5 Dysfunctions Pyramid Model. In the book, readers learn the strengths and the dirty laundry of each team member. They see some members leave the organizations, new members come in, and the existing team strengthen through conflict and building trust. The five dysfunctions are 1) Absence of Trust 2) Fear of Conflict 3) Lack of Commitment 4) Avoidance of Accountability and 5) Inattention to Results. See image below:

5 Dysfunctions of a Team Pyramid Executive Agenda

Image Source: Executive Agenda

Key Message: Lencioni’s key message is that a healthy organization comes from the leaders’ ability to engage and work through conflict.

Areas of Strengths: I love fables. In my experience, this type of organizational leadership book is the most effective because it walks readers through the model in the context of a realistic organizational challenge. Many of the the self-help and organizational change books are theoretical, which teach us new vernacular and ways to think about phenomena, but hard to put into practice. In this book’s case, the Five Dysfunctions Model is about aligning a group to care more about the team success, rather than their individual departments.  It was great to have a team assessment at the end too. It’s a highly practical book that contains humor and anxiety – of which we feel in organizations every day!

Supplemental Information:

Where it Falls Short: The story ends abruptly. It threw me off because there are 50 pages of supplemental information at the end. I would have liked a smoother closing of the model with the introduction of the new hire. I also think that the model itself could have explained the outer polarity elements, such as: invulnerability, artificial harmony, ambiguity, low standards, and status/ego. I understand that these are often the cause of the dysfunction, but it would have had a stronger argument if the story called them out.

Overall Assessment & Why: I rate it a 8 out of 10 in terms of a leadership development book. I don’t find it as strong as the Fable Our Iceberg is melting, which covers the eight steps to leading  and mobilizing change, but I think it can do wonders for in-tact team-building.