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Summary: The Five Dysfunctions Of a Team
Review: Outstanding book for your organization. Even if you feel your team is "functional" you will learn how to bring them to the next level. Buy a copy for your staff and have each person take a dysfunction and discuss how it applies to your firm. I bet you will learn something.... My team really opened up.
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Summary: Fictitious P.O.S. SAVE YOUR MONEY AND MOVE ON!
Review: It's easy to say that there are 5 dysfunctions of a team in a business conetext, especially when you make up that business context. I wish I could take the time back I wasted readingthis book. This book is a COMPLETE waste of time!!! DON'T BUY IT!!!!!!!! The book follows a fictitious CEO, and her wildly unbelievable executive board through an equally unbelievable sequence of made up events. THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH THIS BOOK IS THAT THERE ARE NO REAL PEOPLE AND NO REAL MONEY INVOLVED.
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Summary: The best book yet on what it means to work as a team
Review: This book has been like medicine to my software engineering soul. I have just recently been involved in a VERY DYSFUNCTIONAL team experience and was totally blind sided by the immaturity and pettiness this "professional" group was caught in. Naturally, production was out the window. I had to exit!! I just finished reading this book and it has provided the insight I needed to understand just how dysfunctional this last team was and most importantly how to deal with this situation in the future!! The greatest book ever written on teamwork!!!
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Summary: Finally! Another VERY helful and applicable management book!
Review: By dedicating 90% of his book to a so-called leadership fable, Patrick Lencioni very effectively conveys the very essence of the model he proposes in order to deal with dysfunctional teams. Though the story he presents is that of a hypothetical newly appointed CEO of a distressed start-up and (in the beginning of the story) her highly dysfunctional executive team, the model is perfectly applicable to any team throughout most organizations.The model consists of a pyramid with the five dysfunctions of a team (from the bottom, up):
1) Absence of trust: stemming from an unwillingness in the team members to be vulnerable and genuinely open up with one another about their mistakes and weaknesses.
2) Fear of conflict: inability to engage in unfiltered, passionate (yet constructive, though it may strike you as odd) debate.
3) Lack of commitment: no buy in and commitment can be expected when ideas and opinions have not been aired and genuinely taken into consideration prior to a decision.
4) Avoidance of accountability: without commitment to a clearly defined set of goals, team members will hesitate to call their colleagues on their actions and behaviors that are counterproductive for the team.
5) Inattention to results: Lencioni brings it all home through the realization that avoidance of accountability leads to a state where team members tend to put their individual needs above the team's collective goals. Throughout the last leg of his book, Lencioni contrasts how dysfunctional teams behave by comparing them to a cohesive team in the case of each of the five dysfunctions. He also provides suggestions on overcoming each of the dysfunctions and insights into the role of the leader in this process, all in a very structured and to-the-point way. Complementing this, he provides a Team Assessment tool to help determine where your team is at in terms of each of the five elements of the model. As much as the book can be digested without too much trouble in 2-3 straight hours, it is inevitable (unless you are fooling yourself or you operate in a very healthy team) to have your managerial wheels in your mind turning at full speed by the time you are done with it. As a manager and an avid reader, I welcomed this book with open arms because I found it to be very useful and readily applicable. Now comes my challenge in putting it to use.
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Summary: Know what's wrong, explore options and choose the best
Review: When team members don't trust each other, fear conflict, lack commitment, avoid accountability, or are inattentive to results then the team is disfunctional. Bravo Patrick Lencioni for writing a book that gets to the core of team disfunction. I recommend this book highly along with my favorite book, Optimal Thinking: How to be your best self which showed me how to optimize the toughest situations, bring out the best in others and create optimal results.
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Summary: A True Fable
Review: A fable is a make-believe story and this author insults the intelligence of the reader by pretending to present an adult story about adult lives. The narrative destroyed the message of what could have been true guidance.
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Summary: great book
Review: Sound (and usable) tenets of teamwork wrapped up in a very readble story. Great way to get the points across, and the characters are definitely believable. You'll recognize most of them.
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Summary: Good book, but there is more than the Five Dysfunctions
Review: Although I really liked the focus by Lencioni on trust and conflict, I felt that too much emphasis was placed on explaining in detail trust issues and using conflict creatively and not enough on examples and concrete advice on several ways to create trust and encourage creative conflict. In other words, I would have liked less on definitions and more on solutions. Ultimately teams will also suceed or fail based on the composition of the team and their personalities and how they interact. Communication skills, listening, learning styles, clarity are needed by team members. It is possible that the players are the wrong players and how do we know which ones and what and how strong their dysfuctions are? The Myers-Briggs is a start, but with the wrong players the team skill sets and training don't work (there are 3 or 4 great tests that will help build team). I wish he had spent more time on those issues. The last few pages of the book are very powerful and Lencioni demonstrates a wonderful grasp of ways to fix teams. The exceptional storybook style and then the more common business book style give all types of readers a way to relate to his message. We are a nation of story tellers and Lencioni tells a very compelling story; as a matter of fact, United States uses storytelling as a way of illustrating points more than any nation in the world! In business we continually experience the issue of "lack of creative conflict" and I feel it is a bigger problem than any of the other 4, because we do not like to rock the boat. Lencioni does an exceptional job in strongly making that case and illustrating it well. One of the most powerful things that Lencioni pointed out was that teams must be loyal to the team and not undermine team loyalty...we do this by placing the needs of our department or division ahead of the teams! Teams need to really believe that they have a common fate and not just a common goal! This was the most powerful book I have read on team dysfunctions. I liked it so much that I reviewed it in my monthly newsletter. It captures the essence of why teams fail and presents it in a clear and entertaining style.
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Summary: Fascinating Read
Review: I just finished this book tonight (I have been on a reading binge lately) and was very impressed. Dysfunctions is structured more like a short story or novelette than a traditional business book. This allowed me to get very involved in the story. Indeed, I believe a good story is always the best way to approach life and business. Whether you are writing a resume or trying to solve difficult business problems, a good story can illuminate the issue better than any combination of charts and reports. The end of the book contains a more "business-like" restatement of the lessons, for those who want a more traditional review. More importantly, I saw many aspects of my past business dealings echoed in the book. I think that anyone who is involved in business, in any form, has faced many of these same problems and issues. I requested this book from the library after seeing a short mention, possibly just the title in some magazine I was reading. I had no preconceptions about what I might find within, and I have been pleasantly surprised with the quality and importance of Dysfunctions. While telling a good story helped to clearly explain the concepts, there were a few times when the characters came around too quickly to the lesson.The main character, a newly minuted CEO brought in to build a better executive team, seems a bit too assured with her process, but yet exhibits some moments of fear and regret. Overall, this is a great book and I would highly suggest that it be recommended to your employees and your peers as a way of explaining how teamwork can and will develop if everyone is committed to making it happen.
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Summary: You gotta read "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team"
Review: Before I read "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" by Patrick Lencioni, I was unaware that professionals who work together in groups and teams face the same problems as teenagers in high school. Lencioni disscusses the five dysfunctions that teams face. He uses a spectacular model to explain them.... a story line about a major company facing troubles because the survival of the company depends on a team of about 7 people who are in such a disarray and "just can't get along." Lencioni told the story in the point of view of a new CEO of the company, who was challenged to piece the team and the company back together. There were pros and cons to this book, although I really really enjoyed it. The discussions among the CEO and group about why they are failing as a team and at succeeding (i.e. lack of trust, avoidance of conflict/accountability) were so general and so obvious, but at the same time so necessary. I believe that people can relate to some of the characters on the team. It will help you to understand your team members, it allows other teams members to understand you, and it allows everyone to be able to relate to each other. Because I guarantee, if you are in a team, you have experienced much of what was discussed and experienced in the story. This book will allow you to overcome those obstacles and hopefully work towards a better work atmosphere and create healthier, more understanding relationships with your co-workers. Another positive aspect of "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" is that the story is told through the narrations of the CEO. This allows people to get a closer sense of what she is dealing with and how she is feeling at the time. However, the story is a bit long, and if you are reading the story and trying to apply it at the same time, it would not be much help right away. Also, the story sometimes went off on tangents when in the group discussions, which caused them to get off of the subject at task. There could have been more stress on how the teams overcame their hurdles, instead of elaborating so much on explaining each dysfunction. Because the dysfunctions were the obvious part, it was the overcoming part of it that is important in guiding readers to overcome the same hurdles. Overall, I really believe that this book is really effective in teaching a lesson, guiding readers to success, and even giving people a reality check as to why they may be hurting their own team. I would definitely recommend this book to CEO's and team leaders/members. If you are in a dysfunctional team and wonder why, I guarantee this book can explain it and guide you to success, also!
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