The Five Dysfunctions of a Team:
A Leadership Fable
By Patrick M. Lencioni
Reviewed: April 2007

This is a wonderful little book. Written in “fable-form” (story), it presents a point of view in a less pedantic way than many other more “scholarly” leadership books, several of which I have read in the past couple of months and none of which do I feel moved to recommend. This book remembers a basic in human communication: Keep It Simple.

Through the story of Kathryn, newly appointed CEO of a fraying corporate structure with a mandate to resurrect or destroy, author Patrick Lencioni, founder of a management consulting group, lays out the five precepts that undermine teams, and that ultimately stagnate their development and the profitability of the company. Kathryn begins her tenure with a unique approach toward team development: she listens. And she observes. And then she holds people accountable. Simple.

The primary dysfunction of teams, according to Kathryn’s model, is the absence of trust. Without trust, there’s no vulnerability, so there can be no “safe” conflict—like a healthy family—which is necessary to the sustained viability of any team. From there, the story weaves its points just as Kathryn reweaves the corporate team and their new direction.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is a small gem. One of the best management/ leadership books I’ve read in a long time. The book—an easy, breezy read—is peppered with succinct nuggets of astute observation: “The note itself was short; the most damaging ones usually are;” and “I’m not saying there’s no place for ego on a team. The key is to make the collective ego greater than the individual ones.” These kind of simple insights make this book work at an emotional level as well as an intellectual one—a fact some writers would be well served to remember.

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