Review: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Not finance. Not strategy. Not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare".

Thus embarks the author, Patrick Lencioni, with his narrative in the form of a parable, that beautifully demonstrates the dysfunctions a team might suffer from. The author has developed a framework, and through this framework he drives his point across about the five dysfunctions that a team might have. The book also contains a lot of practical advice on how readers can apply the lessons learned from the book. At the end of the parable, the author re-iterates everything and provides very actionable and practical advice on how to make the most of the book.

All in all, this was a very valuable resource in learning how to weed teams of their dysfunctions and on how to build strong teams. As I was reading the book, I was taking copious amounts of notes. I will definitely be revisiting the book as I implement some of these exercises in my own team.

At the end of the day, we need to remember that human beings are way to complex to adhere to any model or framework that any other human can come up with. Bearing that in mind, we must recognize that even this model has its flaws and one needs to exercise judgement while using it. In the author's own words,

"...the reality remains that team work ultimately comes down to a practicing a small set of principles over a long period of tie. Success is not a matter of mastering subtle, sophisticated theory, but rather embracing common sense with uncommon levels of discipline and persistence".

View all my reviews