Brian's Notes: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Man oh man am I tired of motivational books where managers 'trick' their reports into 'finding their cheese' or whatever. This book, however, was refreshing. Written by the same guy that did 'The Five Temptations of a CEO' (Patrick Lencioni), this book pretty much skips the fluff and gets to the point through a nice little parable about a startup company.

It's pretty funny to see the different personality types and how they interact (you'll find you self saying...'Oh yeah! That's me!' or 'Man, that sounds just like something so-and-so would say.' Anyway, here is the main gist.

Look at your team. The people you meet with on your level. If you're a chick on the executive team it would be your executive team. If you're just some dude in a department it's the people you meet with in the department. After looking at your team, are you moving in the same direction, toward one common goal?

Do you trust each other? (Are you willing to show where you're weak within the group)
Do you fear conflict? (Are you incapable of engaging in unfiltered straight-up debate)
Do you lack commitment? (Are you completely sold out to your agreements)
Do you hold each other accountable? (Are you able to call people on the carpet if they commit and don't follow through)
Do you pay attention to results? (Are you putting your individual needs (ego/recognition) ahead of the teams one common goal)

It all builds like the pyramid at the top (the only one I could find is built backwards...go figure).

Trust each other so you can have blunt debates so you can totally commit so you can hold each other accountable so you can pay attention to the common goal of the team!

Hope that was helpful...Go get the book or have your company/organization start a library where you could 'read up' on some books...even the one about Cheese.