The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

I am reading Patrick Lencioni’s best-seller, “The Five Dysfuntions of a Team and enjoying it as much as I thought I would. Patrick has a great writing style that keeps you interested.

Patrick uses a fable to teach about teams and how critical they are to the success of an organization. Most of us tend to prioritize other things higher than investing in creating a highly effective and functional team. It is not as visible as a million dollar sale or software release.

I won’t spoil the story for those of you who have not read the book, but I want to highlight one particular part that I think is poignant.

Patrick introduces the characters of his story one by one and just briefly describes their strengths and weaknesses. Jeff, the 37 year old CEO is asked to step down and accept a demotion. His replacement: a retired woman, Kathryn, who is described as a surprise pick hand-selected by a board member who had a hunch she was the one to get this fictitious company back on its feet again.

Martin, the chief engineer sends an email out to the executive leadership announcing a potential great sales opportunity. The problem: Kathyrn, the new CEO had already scheduled a leadership executive retreat in Napa Valley during the week that the potential customer wanted to meet with them.

Go after the sale right? This company is losing money and is in jeopardy of failing. They need the money. How can they go to Napa and potentially lose this sale?

Kathryn, the new CEO asks them to reschedule after several attempts by Martin and the ex-CEO, Jeff to miss the first day of the retreat.

Bottom line: Kathryn feels that building the team is more important than running after the sale. She suggests they schedule a meeting with the company a week later.

This is an incredible message to this dysfunctional executive team. If they do not learn how to work effectively and functionally, great sales are not likely to keep them from ultimately failing as a company.

This reminded me of Circuit City. Everyone is saying, “Look what the downturn of the economy has done to the #2 electronics retailer.” Circuit City declared bankruptcy and then weeks later, was forced to close the remaining 567 stores.

Why?

The company didn’t have a Kathyrn I bet. Critics have declared that Circuit City has been mismanaged for years. One critic, George Whalin, president and CEO of Retail Management Consultants said the company had made massive management mistakes.

Lack of leadership and an effective management team cost 34,000 people their jobs.

I’ll be posting more about this issue over the next several weeks.