Reviewed By Rolf Crocker

The Book Report - April, 2011

In my January Book Report, I set forth my initial opposition to, but subsequent embrace of the "Business Fable" as a teaching device.  I have since read two (2) additional Business Fable books, so this will be the third book covered.  Far and away the Author's most popular book, this came at a critical time in our local company where we needed to address long-standing issues that were detrimental to our overall success.  I have been teaching this to our staff over the last couple of months and am seeing levels of teamwork previously unrealized.  This has been a significant help to our team and, if implemented properly, will be a significant help to your team as well.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team - A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni (©2002 Jossey-Bass Publishing, Kindle Edition).  Being Lencioni's most popular book, I purposely shied away from it as I don't tend to be a fan of what I incorrectly perceived as a "fad."  Having read two of Lencioni's previous books ("The Three Signs of a Miserable Job" and "Getting Naked" about the role of vulnerability in developing client loyalty), it set the stage to take on this book.  I am so glad I did, and now understand why it has become and remains so popular.  You'll need to get the book for the fable and the fix (of course), but the five dysfunctions (outlined in a pyramid from the bottom up) are as follows:

1) An absence of trust.  It's difficult to have open, honest and productive conversations if you feel like others are out to get you or you'll be ostracized if you say the wrong thing.  Healthy teams show vulnerability and don't mistake it for weakness.

2) A fear of conflict.  If you don't trust those around you, you spend an inordinate amount of time couching what you say and walking on eggshells.  Consequently, you don't engage in the healthy, ideological conflict necessary to vet all ideas and come up with the very best the team has to offer.

3) A lack of commitment.  Since you haven't engaged in the conflict necessary to vet out the very best ideas/processes/procedures the team has to offer, you don't get the commitment or buy-in necessary to carry out the task.  You might get what one author called "the kiss of 'yes'", but not the actual follow-through the task requires

4) Avoidance of accountability.  Because no one is committed to the task, no one feels ownership.  As a result, no one feels they need to be or should be accountable for the results.  This works on both a supervisor-to-subordinate and peer-to-peer level.  Where there is true ownership and accountability, everyone throws in to support the effort.

5) Inattention to results.  Where there is no ownership, there is no positive outcome.  Everyone is out for themselves, so the outcome of the whole is sacrificed.  One of John Maxwell's 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is "The Law of Significance," which states "One is too small a number to experience greatness."  Teams wherein members feel like they're 'lone rangers' will never experience the level of success that can only come from a true team effort.

So, taken in reverse, if you want to get stellar, sustainable results, you have to start from the foundation and work your way up. There are other ways of motivating people wherein you'll get some measure of positive outcome.  However, it will never become what it could be without the active participation of all the players.  This model provides a roadmap to make that happen.  I recommend you take this and do something with it.   5 Stars!

 Rolf Crocker is a national Vice President with Associa and CEO of M&C Communities in Stockton, CA  and he can be reached at

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