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The Five Dysfunctions of a Team  By  cover art

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

By: Patrick Lencioni
Narrated by: Charles Stransky; introduction by Patrick Lencioni
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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.)

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What listeners say about The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Clear Headed Guidance on Building Teams

This book uses a story about a newly created management team as the backdrop for it's lessons. If you liked the clear and concise story approach used in "Who Moved My Cheese?" or "Fish!" you'll enjoy this audiobook. There is a good summary at the end which is well worth sitting down and taking notes from.

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31 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great approach to the topic

At first I was annoyed by the fact that 80% of the book is a fictional account of an executive team working through the dysfunctions. But I've found that the story (and lessons) has stuck with me much better than had this been a straight non-fiction leadership book. I look forward to more books from this author.

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30 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Good concepts and great medium to convey them...

Truly enjoyed the story. Leadership concepts conveyed in the book are, quality, basic ideas and to the point, re-iteration and real-life scenarios have been plugged in very well.
The usage of a storyline to convey the theme is quite effective for some folks, giving the content more "spice", other readers/listeners who do not like story based books might want to skip out on this one. The narrator does a great job as well, kudos to him and the authors.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

The BEST book on teamwork available!

One of the great things about fables is the ability to identify with characters. Lencioni makes it easy to gauge where you are in your success and/or failure in building an awesome team. You will NOT be an effective leader without overcoming the 5 dysfunctions of a team.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Almost Useful

I have to agree with the Five Dysfunctions of a Team:
Absence of trust, Fear of conflict, Lack of commitment, Avoidance of accountability, Inattention to team results
But the solutions proposed in this book, although they might help, seem inefficient and out of date. I have gone through almost identical programs with teams, and there was a little short term benefit but the techniques did not lead to lasting, meaningful change. Years later (after several intervening ineffective management initiatives) we adopted Scrum development which led, almost immediately, to evolutionary positive enduring change (which adds up quickly to substantial change). The off-sites in pretty places and trust-chairs described in this book are very slightly helpful, but Scrum is the first fully fleshed out system I have actually seen work.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A coherent framework for thinking about teams

This was a worthwhile listen - short, sweet, and a great distillation of what most experienced team leaders have in their head as common sense. The five dysfunctions are real, readily applied in the real world, and I have yet to find a colleague who didn't immediately appreciate this way of looking at how people work together to solve problems.

Constantly wondering why your team isn't as effective as it should be? Listen to this book. I did, and it really helped me in how I lead my team (I am VP-Technology for a professional services firm). This is the first audio title, after 3 years of audible.com, that made me want to go out and get the hard copy of the book for my office reference bookshelf.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent. Engaging. Uplifting

I strongly recommend this book. Situations were fictional but realistic. This is my first "non-fiction" fiction book and I like it! This is filled with positive energy.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Entertaining Education

The business fable is entertaining education. A great listen. I wish Patrick Lencioni had many more.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Bland

This book discusses the 5 key fundamental problems with teamwork, and hopes to illustrate its concepts with a fictional story. While somewhat interesting and humorous at times, the story was excessively detailed and does not relate to the principles directly. Hence, I could not remain focused on the story.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Simply stated

Lencioni does a wonderful job of characterizing the different personalities that are found within most organizations. You'll recognize co-workers in an instant! Lencioni breaks down the pitfalls of a team to five key points...and hits the nail on the head. I've begun to build my management team around these five principals and have experienced great success.

Double thumbs up!

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7 people found this helpful