A classic on leadership and teamwork, revisited for a new age of work

First published 20 years ago, this “leadership fable” by Patrick Lencioni has become a classic of organisational thinking and practise, and it has gained new relevance in the pandemic era of work.

The book focuses on how even the best teams, comprised of the best people doing the best possible work, can struggle to find cohesion and connection.

The book starts out by emphasising the importance of teamwork, and how it can provide companies with a competitive advantage, beyond ideas, money, and strategy. If a company is grappling with internal conflict, says Lencioni, then it is sabotaging its own success.

Then the book takes a sharp detour from the fact-laden route, and into the realm of fable, telling the story of a CEO named Kathryn, and the problems she faces as she tries to bring together a company torn apart by backstabbing and politics.

The story is grippingly told, introducing the reader to a variety of workplace characters, including the trouble makers, the sarcastic ones, the “oh I am so very busy and important” ones.

If you want to jump straight to the meat and potatoes of the book, you can flip past the fable of Kathryn and straight to the breakdown of Lencioni’s model itself. You can use the concepts in your own teams to create more cohesive groups that get better results.

While this book will not solve every team’s problems, it does include insights that you can use to transform your engagement with your own teams.

If you’re not a business leader, you can use the principles to ground your own behaviours. If you are a leader, you can use the principles to reframe and resolve issues you may be experiencing.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is a great toolkit and a superb read. In the process, you’ll get strangely attached to Kathryn, Jeff, Martin, and Jan, and you’ll walk away feeling you’ve learned something of value.