The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

A Leadership Fable

By: Patrick Lencioni

Narrated by: Charles Stransky; introduction by Patrick Lencioni

Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

In keeping with the parable style, Patrick Lencioni begins by telling the fable of a 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. 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 scenarios 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. At the end of the story, the main points are summarized, and clearly expressed suggestions and exercises are offered to help bring about change. Concise and easy to follow, this program is recommended for anyone who is a member of a team that needs improvement.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is also available in print from Wiley.

©2002 Patrick Lencioni
(P)2002 Random House Inc.

Critic reviews

"A gripping analysis of what makes teams work effectively. This fine work is a must-read for any leader that has come to grips with the fact that no one makes progress - much less succeeds - alone." (James Amos, president and CEO, Mail Boxes Etc.)

Relevant!

So relevant I felt like this was about my company. The personality types and situations are dead on!

Good stuff

Patrick does a great job of painting a picture of what a dysfunctional team looks like and potential strategies to work towards health.

Great story based approach

great story based approach to describing great ideas. I enjoyed the characters the descriptions of their thoughts during the story.

a must-read for anyone who works in a team

this was one of the best audio books I've heard so far. the content is great and the performance is great as well.

I really love how it starts with a story and ended with a summary of bullet point ideas and advices on how to overcome each of the five dysfunctions

Just 5 principles that unveils how your team is doing

After listening this book, whether you run a team or you are part of one, you ll realize how your team is working and things to improve. Though the book pinpoint some methods, I guess everyone have their own reality and as so youll come up with some ideas your self. I like a lot to present the book as a novel and at the very end of the book formalize the theory. I'm listening the book again ;)

Functional for the right crowd

This book is great and interactive, the target audience seems small, but there are applicable lessons that could be drawn for others reading the book but it is a stretch

Great Book

The story in this book provides great examples of the a dysfunctional team and how to coach team members to successful teams. narrator did an excellent job portraying each team member.

It has story

It talks about leadership & team building principals via stories, so it's entertaining to listen to.
However, to be honest, I can barely remember anything in the book a year later (now).

Good Explanation of a Lost Art

These practical skills for managers is a lost art, or worse, never taught. It would help any manager to follow these skills to creating better teams.

Excellent takeaways

So many excellent notes taken and my team has been so happy to embrace this. We are all excitedly moving forward and gained more clarity than ever before as we established a cohesive primary objective that we're now all excited about. thank you!

Catherine's story would make a great TV series! Reminds me of Suits yet with even more purpose.