The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
Marie's Review
Leadership fables are all the rage. Why not? While some get downright silly, others are enjoyable to read and manage to impart a few lessons along the way. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team falls into this latter category. With just over 200 pages of type large enough to almost qualify the regular book as a “Large Print Edition”, it is a quick read – great for those of us who follow the mantra “too many books, too little time.”
The story follows the mythical Kathryn Petersen, the not-so-warmly embraced newly hired CEO of the equally mythical DecisionTech, Inc. Kathryn has just come onboard to turn-around the formerly successful company, only to find very quickly that the team at the top is the company’s greatest impediment.
Through telling the story of Kathryn’s work with her executive team, Lencioni unveils a five-step model illustrating what he believes are the five primary reasons that teams are dysfunctional, hence the title of the book. The story shows the reader why overcoming the five dysfunctions is so critical, but yet so difficult for most teams.
Anyone who has ever struggled with attitudinal or conflict-adverse team members, or attempted pulling together a team that “just wasn’t a team”, will appreciate Kathryn’s challenges and learn something about what makes great teams accomplish great results.