Self Publishing Titans
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, 20th Anniversary Edition
by Patrick M. Lencioni
Published
April 11, 2002
Pages
256 pages
Language
English
Publisher
Jossey-Bass
Available Formats & Prices
View on AmazonKindle
$16.00
Hardcover
$14.57
Audiobook
$0.00
Audio CD
Not found
About This Book
The New York Times best-selling team leadership handbook for modern executives, managers, and organizations 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 every one 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.
Introduction
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, 20th Anniversary Edition, takes readers on an engaging journey of realizing the potential of effective teamwork through a compelling narrative. Written by Patrick Lencioni, this timeless guide delves into the subtle intricacies that can turn a group of talented individuals into a dysfunctional team. By exploring common behavioral pitfalls, Lencioni offers readers practical insights and essential tools to foster a more cohesive and successful work environment.
Key Takeaways
Lencioni identifies trust as the foundation for cohesive teamwork essential for building transparency among members. Communication counteracts dysfunction by encouraging healthy conflict fostering open dialogue and preventing misunderstandings. Embracing accountability cultivates commitment and ensures team members remain aligned with shared goals and values.
Detailed Description
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team reveals common barriers that hinder teams from reaching their full potential. By examining a realistic scenario the book captures the essence of challenges encountered by teams in various contexts. Lencioni immerses readers in a fictional yet relatable business story allowing them to witness the pitfalls of dysfunction firsthand.
Through detailed examples this captivating narrative not only showcases the issues that lead to team failure but also presents actionable solutions. Readers will be equipped with the knowledge to identify and combat these dysfunctions in their teams empowering them to cultivate a high-performance work culture. The updated 20th anniversary edition further enriches the content with fresh insights and reflections from Lencioni enhancing its relevance and applicability.
This edition underscores the importance of teamwork in achieving organizational success resonating with leaders and teams across diverse industries today. By presenting relatable scenarios and practical lessons The Five Dysfunctions of a Team continues to serve as a vital resource for leaders seeking transformation.
Standout Features
What distinguishes this book is its unique narrative format blending storytelling with insightful analysis making complex concepts easily digestible This anniversary edition incorporates updated insights and reflections further enriching the original content with contemporary relevance The author's pragmatic approach provides readers with hands-on strategies to tackle teamwork challenges offering more than just theoretical knowledge.
Book Details
0787960756
978-0787960759
5.8 x 1 x 11.7 inches
13.6 ounces
Specifications
Rating
Based on 13729 ratings
Customer Reviews
Read it more than 5 times and still learning
I would really thank you for this great book simple to understand yet take a long time to apply. I recommend to read this book at least once ever year
Great book... if the boss will listen!
I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Very easy to read and/or listen to. It is written and read in a way that is entertaining while still very informational and empowering. We read this book as a team in our office. My only issue with the book was that when all was said and done, my boss didn't really follow along with the principles taught. Obviously not this book's fault, but it did leave me with a sour taste for the experience. Given that I really liked this book, and the not-so-great circumstances mentioned above, I look forward to the day when I can read/listen to it again. Hopefully the next time around will be with a leadership team I am a part of and can provide a more positive influence and experience.
Good
Quick easy read. First time being exposed to this so will now go back and re-read and then implement into my organization.
pretty good guide to team/management pitfalls
This is a novel, not a reference book, but the storytelling works fairly well. Consequently, while it works okay for replicating the success in the story within your own team, if you happen across a situation that falls outside something they addressed in the story, you may be a bit lost in how best to deal with it. That's the nature of dealing with a novel instead of a direct implementation guide. On the plus side, it's a heck of a lot easier to read a story than a dry manual. :) It does feel just a bit contrived to me. The situations are relate-able, but they feel just a little forced... like the situations are designed to fit the lessons, rather than being strictly based in reality. The company and characters sometimes don't feel *real*... they feel as though they were designed to be generic, so as to be more generally relate-able... but in so doing they lose a dimension of their personality, and it's (paradoxically) harder to relate to them very deeply. It makes the story feel rather "jack of all trades, master of none." Which is okay, it provides a solid all-around basis, but I'd also want something more specific to either my industry or my field, or my particular problems. The actual 5 dysfunctions seem pretty solid to me. I somewhat disagree on just how bad each one might be and what sorts of behaviors will be better or worse, but it's a reasonably good framework for looking at a team and judging it's overall effectiveness. I do suspect that the book does not stress the lower dysfunctions (particularly the lowest one, lack of trust) strongly enough. This is based on my own experience- people want to try and talk about failures at all levels of the pyramid, but the reality is it's extremely difficult to effectively solve any problems above trust, until trust is already solved. Therefore, I believe it would be better to focus heavily on trust only until you're sure it's really nailed down, then move up the pyramid. Even the team in the story makes this mistake, and consequently backslides easily. I believe the book does not do enough to dissuade readers from trying to fix problems at every level right off the bat. To my earlier point of wanting a more focused book, I will add that if you're looking to fix an IT department specifically I'd *highly* recommend "The Phoenix Project" by Gene Kim, even instead of this one. This is still good (and there's a lot of info that's complementary), but that one is just flat better, for that specific scenario. It is also in novel form, but reads much more naturally to me (as an IT manager). I could certainly relate to things in 5 Dysfunctions, but I could feel the protagonists challenges in my soul in TPP. It's a whole other level of precision and applicability. I imagine there may be books like this for other disciplines.
Finally, a business fable that doesn't make you want to vomit
I have an aversion to business fables. The ones I've read give me the irrates. They seem to trivialise business.
