The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

One of my teachers is Wayne Jones, and he has told me that when starting with new corporate clients he very often sends them a copy of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. This is one of those wonderful stories that teaches management concepts through a fictional person's learning experience.

In this case it is Kathryn Peterson, the new and unexpected CEO of DecisionTech. Her job on appointment is to unit a team that is in such disarray that it threatens to bring down the entire company. She has to use her skills to help the team confront their situation and to facilitate the departure of some key people. She has done this before and the story tells how she runs a series of workshops in which she introduces her concept for five dysfunctions of the team.

Speaking as a facilitator, I found the story both realistic, engaging and true. At the beginning of the first workshop she draws a triangle with five levels in it, starting off by filling the bottom layer with "absence of trust".

As the story continues, she fills in the other levels as follows: "fear of conflict", "lack of commitment", "avoidance of accountability", "inattention to results".

I devour many management books and particularly enjoy these story-based reads. This one is particularly useful if, as suggested by Wayne Jones, you use it as pre-work with new clients, both individual managers and teams. Not only does it introduce a useful team model, but the realism of the story helps managers to come to terms with letting staff go. It also ensures that they understand that what happens should not ever be a surprise, but the result of a strategy.

There is also a workbook related to the story, "Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team".

USEFUL LINKS

• Wayne Jones, Perfect World Coaching


• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership FableThe Five Dysfunctions of Team - Amazon UK


• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership FableThe Five Dysfunctions of Team - Amazon USA

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