The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

by Patrick Lencioni

when a group of people decide that they want to work together to make things better.

“If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time.”

teams, because they are made up of imperfect human beings, are inherently dysfunctional.

There was no sense of unity or camaraderie on the team, which translated into a muted level of commitment.

nothing excited her more than a challenge.

What she could not have known when she accepted the job, however, was just how dysfunctional her executive team was, and how they would challenge her in ways that no one before had ever done.

Though open hostility was never really apparent and no one ever seemed to argue, an underlying tension was undeniable.

she talked more than the others, occasionally coming up with a brilliant idea, but more often complaining

she were a spectator or, better yet, a victim of circumstance, at her new company.

Martin didn't disrupt staff meetings. In fact, he rarely participated. It wasn't that he refused to attend those meetings (even Jeff wouldn't allow such a blatant act of revolt); it was just that he always had his laptop open, and he seemed to be constantly checking e-mail or doing something similarly engrossing. Only when someone made a factually incorrect statement could Martin be counted on to offer a comment, and usually a sarcastic one at that.

In spite of what the staff called JR's flakiness, he was able to maintain a measure of respect from his peers because of his track record. Before coming to DecisionTech, he had never missed a quarterly revenue number in his entire career in sales.

Carlos spoke very little, but whenever he did, he had something important and constructive to say. He listened intently during meetings, worked long hours with no complaint, and downplayed his prior accomplishments whenever someone asked about them. If there was a low-maintenance member of the staff, and a trustworthy one, it was Carlos.

Jan was a stickler for detail, took pride in her knowledge of the industry, and treated the company's money as though it were her own.

though he certainly never said so to any of his peers, Nick felt he was the only executive in the company qualified to be CEO.

“Look, Kathryn, you know I don't want to tell you how to go about doing this, but maybe you should try to build a few bridges over there before you start setting any on fire.”

a fractured team is just like a broken arm or leg; fixing it is always painful, and sometimes you have to rebreak it to make it heal correctly. And the rebreak hurts a lot more than the initial break, because you have to do it on purpose.”

All of us are eminently employable, and it wouldn't be the end of the world for anyone to leave if that is the right thing for the company—and the team.”

absence of trust.”

“Trust is the foundation of real teamwork. And so the first dysfunction is a failure on the part of team members to understand and open up to one another.

“Great teams are honest with one another,” she said. “They are unafraid to air their dirty laundry. They admit their mistakes, their weaknesses, and their concerns without fear of reprisal.”

every effective team I've ever observed had a substantial level of debate. Even the most trusting teams mixed it up a lot.”

“Why do you suppose there is so little passionate discussion or debate among this group?”

“So you don't agree on most things, and yet you don't seem willing to admit that you have concerns. Now, I'm no Ph.D. in psychology, but that's a trust issue if I've ever heard one.”

“Remember, teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.”

I really prefer people who aren't sensitive. I like to have conversations with people on a purely intellectual level and not have to worry about what they're feeling or anything like that.

Mikey's behavior was having a very real impact on the rest of the group.

inattention to results

The key is to make the collective ego greater than the individual ones.”

No matter how good an individual on the team might be feeling about his or her situation, if the team loses, everyone loses.”

I don’t understand why everyone thinks sports is the only way to learn about teamwork. I never played sports much, even as a kid. But I was in a band in high school and college, and I think I figured out the team thing from that.”

“The key, of course, is to define our goals, our results, in a way that is simple enough to grasp easily, and specific enough to be actionable.

“Politics is when people choose their words and actions based on how they want others to react rather than based on what they really think.”

fear of conflict. “If we don’t trust one another, then we aren’t going to engage in open, constructive, ideological conflict. And we’ll just continue to preserve a sense of artificial harmony.”

Harmony itself is good, I suppose, if it comes as a result of working through issues constantly and cycling through conflict. But if it comes only as a result of people holding back their opinions and honest concerns, then it’s a bad thing. I’d trade that false kind of harmony any day for a team’s willingness to argue effectively about an issue and then walk away with no collateral damage.”

lack of commitment and the failure to buy in to decisions.”

When people don’t unload their opinions and feel like they’ve been listened to, they won’t really get on board.”

“Consensus is horrible.

consensus becomes an attempt to please everyone.”

“Which usually turns into displeasing everyone equally.”

they need to weigh in before they can really buy in.”

avoidance of accountability.

“Once we achieve clarity and buy-in, it is then that we have to hold each other accountable for what we sign up to do, for high standards of performance and behavior. And as simple as that sounds, most executives hate to do it, especially when it comes to a peer’s behavior, because they want to avoid interpersonal discomfort.”

People aren’t going to hold each other accountable if they haven’t clearly bought in to the same plan.

meetings should be at least as interesting as movies.

every staff meeting we have will be loaded with conflict. And they won’t be boring. And if there is nothing worth debating, then we won’t have a meeting.”

“During the next two weeks I am going to be pretty intolerant of behavior that demonstrates an absence of trust, or a focus on individual ego. I will be encouraging conflict, driving for clear commitments, and expecting all of you to hold each other accountable. I will be calling out bad behavior when I see it, and I’d like to see you doing the same. We don’t have time to waste.”

You have to decide what is more important: helping the team win or advancing your career.”

I don’t think it’s news to anyone here that I hate doing this team stuff. I mean, it’s like fingernails on a bloody chalkboard to me.”

am much closer to my staff than I am to this group here. I’m sorry, but it’s true.”

when a company has a collection of good managers who don’t act like a team, it can create a dilemma for them, and for the company. You see, it leads to confusion about who their first team is.”