Book Summary By Bud Roth

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team A Leadership Fable By Patrick Lencioni

A Book Summary by Bud Roth, Roth Consulting Group, LLC

Since this is a fable as is Who Moved My Cheese or Lencioni’s other book Five Temptations of a CEO, I will focus on the principles expressed in the book. Let’s look at his model first.

The first dysfunction is the absence of trust among team members. Essentially, this stems from their unwillingness to be vulnerable within the group. Team members must be genuine and open to include revealing their mistakes and weaknesses.

The failure to build trust is damaging because it sets the tone for the fear of conflict. Teams that lack trust are incapable of engaging in unfiltered and passionate debate of ideas. Instead, they resort to veiled discussions and guarded comments.

A lack of healthy conflict is a problem because it ensures the lack of commitment. Without having aired their opinions in the course of open debate, team members rarely buy in and commit to decisions. They may fake agreement in a team meeting.

Since there is a lack of real commitment and buy-in, team members can avoid accountability. Without committing to a clear plan, even the most focused and driven people often hesitate to call their peers on actions and behaviors that seem counter productive for the team.

Failure to hold one another accountable creates an environment where inattention to results occurs when team members put their individual needs above the collective goals of the team.

Let’s look at the positive functioning of a team. The author has his fable focus on the dysfunctions more than how to build a positive, productive environment.

The author offers suggestions for overcoming the five dysfunctions. Lencioni says that members of trusting teams behave in the following manner:
• Admit weaknesses and mistakes
• Ask for help

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• Accept questions and input about their areas of responsibility.
• Give one another the benefit of the doubt before arriving at a negative conclusion.
• Take risks in offering feedback and assistance.
• Appreciate and tap into one another’s skills and experiences.
• Focus time and energy on important issues, not politics.
• Offer and accept apologies without hesitation.
• Look forward to meetings and other opportunities to work as a group.

Conflict is unfortunately considered taboo in most work situations. All good relationships, the ones that last over time, require productive conflict in order to grow. This is true in marriage, parenthood, friendship, and certainly business. Teams that engage in conflict behave in the following way.
• Have lively, interesting meetings
• Extract and exploit the ideas of all team members
• Solve real problems quickly
• Minimize politics
• Put critical topics on the table for discussion

In the context of a team, commitment is a function of two things: clarity and buy-in. Great teams make clear and timely decisions and move forward with complete buy-in from every member of the team. A committed team demonstrates the following actions.
• Creates clarity around direction and priorities
• Aligns the entire team around common objectives
• Develops an ability to learn from mistakes
• Takes advantage of opportunities before competitors do
• Moves forward without hesitation
• Changes direction without hesitation or guilt

When we speak of team work, accountability refers specifically to the willingness of team members to call their peers on performance or behaviors that might hurt the team. A team that holds one another accountable:
• Ensures that poor performers feel pressure to improve
• Identifies potential problems quickly by questioning one another’s approaches without hesitation
• Establishes respect among team members who are held to the same high standards.
• Avoids excessive bureaucracy around performance management and corrective action.

For any team that judges itself on performance there must be an unrelenting focus on specific objectives and clearly defined outcomes. These outcomes must include how the group will perform or grow as a team, not just profit or achieving the strategic goals. A team that focuses on collective results behaves in the following way:
• Retains achievement-oriented members
• Minimizes individualistic behavior
• Enjoys success and suffers failure acutely together
• Benefits from individuals who subjugate their own goals/interests for the good of the team
• Avoids distractions

Patrick Lencioni demonstrates these principles in an entertaining fable. You can’t help seeing the dysfunctions in the teams you are a member or a leader. The team development process is best served by a team coach with experience being a member of many teams and helping other teams develop into high performance teams. An internal or external coach will speed the development process. Keep in mind that a great team asks for help when they need it.

This summary is compliments of Roth Consulting Group

Roth Counsulting Group, LLC
5914 Silas Moffitt Way, Suite A, Carmel IN 46033
ph: 317-843-9521 webmaster@rothcg.com

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