The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni (2002)

The Amazon best-selling book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable，tells that a team could be dysfunctional. The story started when Kathryn became the new CEO of DecisionTech, a high tech company in Silicon Valley. Despite the amble investment and great products, the company was still in its downward spiral. Kathryn then used her ways to rebuild the team and got the company out of the difficult situation. Kathryn did this in several steps: 

Observation: Kathryn spent two weeks observing her team by attending meetings and walking around the office. 

Explaining Meaning of a Good Team: Kathryn hosted off-sites for team building. She frankly pointed out the issues in the team and urged the team to build trust, put down self-ego and set a goal for the team to work together.  Kathryn pointed out that the team played too much politics. 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. 

​Team Building: the practice of building a strong team is not easy. It took several cycles. Kathryn had to point out behavior issues directly, fire those who can't make the change and restructure the team more in line with the goal than personal achievements. The team building discussion was centered around a dysfunction pyramid listing the five dysfunctions of a team: the absence of trust (intolerability), the fear of conflict (artificial harmony), the lack of commitment (ambiguity), the avoidance of accountability (low standard), and the inattention to results (status and ego). ​I The five-level pyramid that identifies the crucial components of a dysfunctional team.

1. Absence of trust: when we don't trust others, We think others could have hidden personal agendas and work against us. As a result, we protect ourselves by not being willing to involve others in discussions and collaboration.
2. Fear of conflict: when we fear confrontations, we avoid productive debates and hold back our actual inputs, ultimately leading to a lack of participation in decision-making. We are also not fully invested in the outcome.
3. ​Lack of commitment: We have no buy-in because we feel their input has not been adequately considered, and they have not been appropriately involved in decisions. Thus, we do not commit to the final decisions, which creates ambiguity about priorities and directions, leading to lingering uncertainties.
4. Avoidance of accountability: When we have no buy-in about decisions, we avoid taking responsibility. Worse still, they do not hold their teammates accountable to high standards. Resentment festers, and mediocrity spreads.
5. Inattention to results: The ultimate dysfunction of a team is when People care about something other than the collective goals of the team. Goals are not met, results are not achieved, and you lose your best people to your competitors.

​We can see how amazingly this dysfunctional element is built on top of each other. We want to resolve the problem we have by changing the fundamental issues.It's the team who make the business success, and the importance of building a strong team can't be underestimated.

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