"The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" - Patrick Lencioni

Notes and Review

One of those business “fable” books. Easy read; good lessons. Starts with understanding that high-performance teams are built on trust.

It turns out that members of truly cohesive teams behave in common ways:

They trust one another

They engage in unfiltered conflict around ideas.

They commit to decisions and plans of action.

They hold one another accountable for delivering against those plans.

They focus on the achievement of collective results.

The story takes you through the process of establishing this level of cohesion from the perspective of “an outside person is brought in to address a business problem.”

One key idea that is stressed is the idea that good teams also have conflicts. ““I don’t think anyone ever gets completely used to conflict. If it’s not a little uncomfortable, then it’s not real. The key is to keep doing it anyway.” “You are fighting. But about issues. That’s your job.” “Push with respect, and under the assumption that the other person is probably doing the right thing. But push anyway. And never hold back.”

My view is that too often we mistake politeness and passive-aggressive behaviors as signs that we have a good team. On the surface, all looks good. But this is not what makes great teams.

If you want to understand how to build high performance teams, this book is a good start.

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"The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" - Patrick Lencioni