Book Report - "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable" by Patrick Lencioni
Every now and then, I try to sprinkle in some self-help and business savvy reading. My new Director of Software Engineering recommended “The Advantage” by Patrick Lencioni, but the local library didn’t have that in audiobook format. Instead, I decided to listen to another work by the same author. I checked out “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.”
The premise of the book is a sort of two-phase approach to explaining team dysfunctions: Lencioni gives a short fictional story with plenty of staged dialog and then finishes with a more concrete explanation about these dysfunctions and what we can do about them. The entire book is only about four hours in length, so it’s a super short time investment. More importantly, the content is valuable food for thought, even if the fable itself is a bit predictable.
Characters in the fable are clearly manufactured for the sake of example, but man if they don’t fit descriptions of people I know in real life. It just goes to show that things tend to be the same in the business world, no matter where you go. I’m sure Lencioni has worked with his fair share of analogues to the characters in his book, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were lifted directly from interactions he actually had. Sure, the exact wording and pace is set up to reach that “moral of the story” ending, but I’ve definitely had my fair share of similar conversations.
Similar to other business books, Lencioni makes no effort to hide or conceal the exact dysfunctions from the reader. Heck, they’re plastered right there on his site. But he makes the excellent point that you aren’t as likely to get as much insight from the dysfunctions unless you see them in practice. That’s the purpose of the fable.
Once you hear Lencioni’s (mostly) fictional tale and see how the exact dysfunctions and their resolutions are applied in that scenario, it’s very easy to apply a similar line of thinking to nearly any situation involving a team: work, church, kids’ sports, you name it. These same principles are visible almost EVERYWHERE when you know what to look for.
Fixing the dysfunctions? Well, that’s a little harder. Obviously, you can do your own part to address your own dysfunctions, or how you contribute to the dysfunctions of the team, but you can’t fix the whole team yourself. By that token, I think it’s probably a good idea to recommend this book to members of a team that you want to improve, as it should get everyone at least thinking on the same page. You can use common terminology and ideas to discuss the shortcomings of the team and work on ways to optimize and improve.
Working as a team is (duh) a team effort. And Lencioni’s fable does contain both dismissals and intentional departures. Those situations are often painful but necessary. I’m not saying that every single team has its share of dead weight or dissenters that must be removed, but it is a real possibility that the team needs to consider. I’m never in favor of someone losing their job, but a functional and efficient team is more important than the individual livelihood and pride of particular individuals on the team.
With such a short runtime, it’s hard to not recommend “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.” At worst, you wasted four hours that you could’ve been listening to a podcast, or another book, or just silence. If you want something to mull over and maybe improve yourself and any teams you are involved with (and don’t tell me you aren’t involved with ANY teams), it’s at least worth a listen. Besides, some of the dialog is hilarious with both how stilted it sounds, but how close it comes to actual conversations I’ve had.
Resources:
The premise of the book is a sort of two-phase approach to explaining team dysfunctions: Lencioni gives a short fictional story with plenty of staged dialog and then finishes with a more concrete explanation about these dysfunctions and what we can do about them. The entire book is only about four hours in length, so it’s a super short time investment. More importantly, the content is valuable food for thought, even if the fable itself is a bit predictable.
Characters in the fable are clearly manufactured for the sake of example, but man if they don’t fit descriptions of people I know in real life. It just goes to show that things tend to be the same in the business world, no matter where you go. I’m sure Lencioni has worked with his fair share of analogues to the characters in his book, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were lifted directly from interactions he actually had. Sure, the exact wording and pace is set up to reach that “moral of the story” ending, but I’ve definitely had my fair share of similar conversations.
Similar to other business books, Lencioni makes no effort to hide or conceal the exact dysfunctions from the reader. Heck, they’re plastered right there on his site. But he makes the excellent point that you aren’t as likely to get as much insight from the dysfunctions unless you see them in practice. That’s the purpose of the fable.
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| Source: https://www.tablegroup.com/product/dysfunctions/ |
Once you hear Lencioni’s (mostly) fictional tale and see how the exact dysfunctions and their resolutions are applied in that scenario, it’s very easy to apply a similar line of thinking to nearly any situation involving a team: work, church, kids’ sports, you name it. These same principles are visible almost EVERYWHERE when you know what to look for.
Fixing the dysfunctions? Well, that’s a little harder. Obviously, you can do your own part to address your own dysfunctions, or how you contribute to the dysfunctions of the team, but you can’t fix the whole team yourself. By that token, I think it’s probably a good idea to recommend this book to members of a team that you want to improve, as it should get everyone at least thinking on the same page. You can use common terminology and ideas to discuss the shortcomings of the team and work on ways to optimize and improve.
Working as a team is (duh) a team effort. And Lencioni’s fable does contain both dismissals and intentional departures. Those situations are often painful but necessary. I’m not saying that every single team has its share of dead weight or dissenters that must be removed, but it is a real possibility that the team needs to consider. I’m never in favor of someone losing their job, but a functional and efficient team is more important than the individual livelihood and pride of particular individuals on the team.
With such a short runtime, it’s hard to not recommend “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.” At worst, you wasted four hours that you could’ve been listening to a podcast, or another book, or just silence. If you want something to mull over and maybe improve yourself and any teams you are involved with (and don’t tell me you aren’t involved with ANY teams), it’s at least worth a listen. Besides, some of the dialog is hilarious with both how stilted it sounds, but how close it comes to actual conversations I’ve had.
Resources:
Lencioni, Patrick. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. Narrated by Charles Stransky, Random House Audio, 2002. Audiobook.
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