The Five Dysfunctions of a Team - Patrick Lencioni

 Patrick writes it like a fable - a Silicon Valley startup which is not doing as well as it should brings in a new CEO to change things around - a 57 year old ex-teacher Kathryn. She knows little about the Silicon Valley culture or technology but knows enough about teams and how they work. So she takes the lot into an off-site and works on building a team.

The five dysfunctions of a team are 

1) absence of trust (caused by invulnerability)
2) Fear of Conflict (caused by artificial harmony - a factor of absence of trust)
3) lack of commitment (caused by ambiguity)
4) avoidance of accountability (shown through low standards) and
5) Inattention to results (caused by putting status and ego ahead of team goals).

A good team or a functional team would on the other hand display 

• Trust
• Engage in healthy conflict to bring best ideas 
• Commit to goals
• Hold each other accountable
• Collaborate to achieve results

 Patrick goes through the book giving suggestions and scenarios on how things break down and how they can rebuilt. Kathryn builds trust, a sense of collective purpose, removes the bad apples and saves the good ones.

At the end of the book he gives some exercises for each dysfunction
1) To build trust - Personal Histories Exercise (share your stories), Team Effectiveness Exercise (each member shares how the others have contributed to the team and also a point about what they can improve on to make it better), Myers-Briggs Instrument, 360 degree feedback, Experiential team games.

As a leader has to facilitate an environment that does not punish vulnerability.

2) Engage in Conflict - Mining exercise (to mine points that have been hidden and not debated)

3) To improve Commitment - Cascading Messaging, Deadlines

4) To Improve Accountability - Make it public, Periodic Progress reviews, Rewards

5) To Improve Focus on Results - Public declaration of results, Result-based rewards

 Interesting book and certainly useful to build teams. Lots of practical information at the end. Thanks Chandra for recommending.