Patrick Lencioni on Team Building
Lencioni, Patrick, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. Jossey-Bass, 2002.
Companion volumes:
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: Participant Workbook
- Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Managers, and Facilitators
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Facilitator’s Guide
Referenced in: Ministry Teams, General Resources
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
Though not ministry-based, Lencioni is one of the most highly recommended and widely used resources on team-building in the corporate arena. This is one of his most popular books, and is worthy of attention from church leaders who are serious about teams.
The “Five Dysfunctions” are the fundamental causes of team failure. Lencioni identifies these five, and targets specific leadership strategies to address each:
- Absence of Trust — This occurs when team members are reluctant to be vulnerable with one another and are unwilling to admit their mistakes, weaknesses or needs for help. Without a certain comfort level among team members, a foundation of trust is impossible. The leader must go first.
- Fear of Conflict — Teams that lack trust are incapable of engaging in unfiltered, passionate debate about key issues. This causes situations where team conflict can easily turn into veiled discussions and back channel comments. In a work setting where team members do not openly air their opinions, inferior decisions are the result. The leader must mine for conflict.
- Lack of Commitment — Without conflict, it is difficult for team members to commit to decisions, creating an environment where ambiguity prevails. Lack of direction and commitment can make employees, particularly star employees, disgruntled. The leader must force clarity and closure.
- Avoidance of Accountability — When teams don’t commit to a clear plan of action, even the most focused and driven individuals hesitate to call their peers on actions and behaviors that may seem counterproductive to the overall good of the team. The leader must control difficult issues.
- Inattention to Results — Team members naturally tend to put their own needs (ego, career development, recognition, etc.) ahead of the collective goals of the team when individuals aren’t held accountable. If a team has lost sight of the need for achievement, the business ultimately suffers. The leader must focus on collective outcomes.
Each of these tendencies is continuously present in churches, and in fact may be exacerbated by the fact that churches are even more loosely organized and structured than corporate settings. There is also a deeper sensitivity to “keeping the peace” and projecting images of spirituality and togetherness that avoids difficult “elephant-in-the-living-room” issues. Even if a church is unable to structure itself around Lencioni’s strategies, his insight is quite valuable for ministry teams.
From the Publisher
In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Patrick Lencioni once again offers a leadership fable that is as enthralling and instructive as his first two best-selling books, The Five Temptations of a CEO and The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive. This time, he turns his keen intellect and storytelling power to the fascinating, complex world of teams.
Kathryn Petersen, Decision Tech’s CEO, faces the ultimate leadership crisis: Uniting a team in such disarray that it threatens to bring down the entire company. Will she succeed? Will she be fired? Will the company fail? Lencioni’s utterly gripping tale serves as a timeless reminder that leadership requires as much courage as it does insight.
Throughout the story, Lencioni reveals the five dysfunctions which go to the very heart of why teams even the best ones-often struggle. He outlines a powerful model and actionable steps that can be used to overcome these common hurdles and build a cohesive, effective team. Just as with his other books, Lencioni has written a compelling fable with a powerful yet deceptively simple message for all those who strive to be exceptional team leaders.
About the Author
Patrick Lencioni is president of The Table Group, a San Francisco Bay Area management consulting firm, and author of the best-selling books The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive and The Five Temptations of a CEO. In addition to his work as an executive coach and consultant, Pat is a sought-after speaker. Prior to founding The Table Group, he worked at the management consulting firm Bain & Company, Oracle Corporation, and Sybase, where he was vice president of organizational development. He is on numerous advisory boards and sits on the National Board of Directors for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America. Over the years, Pat has worked with hundreds of executive teams and CEOs—all struggling, at one time or another, with the potential for dysfunction among their teams.
Pat lives with his wife, Laura, and their twin boys, Matthew and Connor, in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can reach him at The Table Group’s web site, www.tablegroup.com, or at [email protected].
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