Overcoming the FIVE Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

It is called a field guide. Why? Because Patrick Lencioni, who is a CEO of a consulting firm called The Table Group, claims in his introduction that this book will provide managers and team leaders a practical tool for helping implement the concepts of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. The Five Dysfunctions of a team is stated in his book as absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability and inattention to results. Lencioni uses a story format (or Leadership format as he calls it) in trying to get his point out. He gives personal accounts of how he works with his teams as well as other leader examples (He uses Michael Jordan as an example, Nice). Within the read, you come across passages in story form to give you a better explanation into what he is saying. The book adds a lot of human elements into dealing with management instead of hitting management as x’s and o’s. For example, the book says time does not build trust, it’s courage. An interesting take the book goes into is that they recommend conflict in meetings because the lack of conflict makes meetings boring and boring meetings cause bad decisions. But obviously, he explains later how to resolute the conflicts as well. The book is a very easy read and it also acts as a fun reading text book with a summary like section on the end of each chapter called “Key Points” which goes over the main points of overcoming that dysfunction. I do like the message the book tries to give out especially how you can apply it to any type of team such as sports or even if you were a manger for a small store, the book definitely conveys strong insights in being a good and effective leader.

- Anton Ayson