The five dysfunctions of a team
Patrick Lencoini is a president of the Table Group, a San Francisco Bay Area management consulting firm. He is also a speaker invited by many corporations to talk about success of business enterprises; he worked at management consulting firm Bain & company, Oracle Corporation, and Sybase where he worked as a vice president of organizational development. He also works on many advisory boards and National Boards of Directors for the Make-A-wish Foundation of America. He lives in Alamo California with his wife and four sons in San Francisco Bay area. Patrick has written many business books which have helped leaders to improve their businesses. Among them is “The Five Dysfunction of a Team” which is a book that gives leadership fable to managers and CEOs of different companies and what they should do to run their businesses effectively. It was published by Jossy Bass on 11th April 2002. It is written in English and its dimensions are 6.1 x 0.9 x 8.6 inches. Its weight is about 12 ounces.
The targeted audiences of the book are people who are working as leaders or managers and CEO of companies who want to emphasize on team work. This is because he has analyzed a story of a woman who was working as CEO in a Silicon Valley firm. She encouraged team work and won many hearts of people who had negative attitude towards work. Most of the people had no trust, lacked commitment, fear and avoided accountability. She struggled to reduce these challenges by working with them as a team and encouraging them to work hard so that they could attain their goals. Through this approach she managed to compete with other businesses in the region.
The author is biased because he is giving a real life situation he has come across. When he talks about a CEO who struggled to make his employees work as a team and succeeded, it is not an assumption. He gives the problems that make even the most talented people fail to utilize their potentials. Working as team makes work easier and effective because no one can succeed alone. This is because people share different ideas and come up with a strong solution for any existing problem within the company. Leaders should encourage group work in their companies and organize them accordingly because it is the only good way for enabling companies to compete with others. Goods produced by a team are of high quality due to combination of different ideas and therefore winning the hearts of customers. Leaders who have read this book are aware of different ways of solving problems according to their levels due to different types of people in their business.
The information given in this is out of experience. Patrick worked as president of Bay Area management consulting firm. He has worked in many other companies and organizations where he has witnessed these. In his discussions, he has practically used Peterson who was working in a manufacturing company. He explains how she won her executive team who were negative with his leadership because of her background. Peterson conducted different meetings giving direct reports on problems encountered in his company and how to solve them. Patrick used five dysfunctions; lack of trust, fear of conflict, unwillingness to commit, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results to show how Peterson recognized them and fixed them to ensure smooth running of Silicon Valley.
The organization of the book is as follow;
1. Introduction.
2. The Fable.
3. Luck.
4. Part One: Underachievement.
5. Part Two: Lighting the Fire.
6. Part Three: Heavy Lifting.
7. Part Four: Traction.
8. The Model.
9. An Overview of the Model.
10. Team Assessment.
11. Understanding and Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions.
12. A Note about Time: Kathryn's Methods.
13. A Special Tribute to Teamwork.
14. Acknowledgments.
15. About the Author.
There are many quotes that Patrick used to pass different information to people especially leaders. Some of them which I treasure are;” If everything is important, then nothing is good”. In this quote I understand that when you realize what is happening in the organization is always good, nothing is being done. In most cases and in real life situation, a place with a group of people we expect problems and once you don’t realize them you are fooling yourself. Something somewhere is not in order and as a leader you should be wise enough and check the output of your business and see if it is in the right order. The other quote I like is; “Great teams do not hold back with one another. They are unafraid to air their dirty laundry. They admit their mistakes, their weaknesses, and their concerns without fear of reprisal.” To work effectively as a team you should appreciate when you wrong and try to improve on your weaknesses. This can only be achieved if leaders take their time with workers.
I would recommend this book to all leaders especially CEOs and managers in every organization. This is because the book has outlined the problems experienced in those organizations and the methods which can be used to solve them. The book has also given ways of building team work and how leaders can ensure those teams have positive benefits to the company. It has also given solutions for five dysfunctions of a team and therefore it’s is upon these leaders to use them to solve problems they encounter in their companies to enable them work friendly within the organization and outside its environment.
When it comes to rating of this book, I would give it 9 because it gives solutions to many problems leaders encounter. These problems are not only found in business companies but also in government offices. Therefore, every leader has a chance to read it and follow its teachings so that their businesses will perform better and be able to compete with others. In addition, they will be producing quality goods. This will enable them to make more profits.
In conclusion, Patrick has given a great chance to leaders who want their businesses to excel and be able to compete with others. This will be achieved by building team work and close encouragement of workers. The book specifically has a clear picture of real life experience of great leaders like Peterson and Patrick. Their success was due to realizing five dysfunctions of a team and used their wisdom to fix and solve them. I urge all leaders to make use of this book and success will be upon them.
References
Patrick L. 2002. The Five Dysfunctions of A Team. Joss Bass Publishers
