Five Dysfunctions of a Team

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.

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) "...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) "...an entertaining quick read filled with information easy to digest...." (The Star Online, 12 August 2003), "[...] Das Besondere an diesem Buch sind jedoch nicht die Inhalte, sondern es ist die Art der Vermittlung von Know-How und Praxiswissen. Lencioni gelingt dabei das Kunststück, Sachinformation in ein packendes Fallbeispiel zu verpacken - eine Eigenschaft, die er mit vielen amerikanischen Autoren teilt. Das erleichtert die Identifizierung des Lesers mit den Erkenntnissen und sorgt fü eine ganze Reihe von Aha-Erlebnissen.[...] Dankenswerterweise lässt Lencioni den Leser dabei nicht allein mit einer spannenden Prosa, sondern liefert zudem auch Hinweise zur praktischen Realisierung des Erlernten." (personalmagazin, 07/2007)

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.