20th December, 2011

DARREN CRONSHAW

Patrick Lencioni

The Five Dysfunctions of TEAM: A Leadership Fable

Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2002

ISBN-13: 978-0787960759

"As well as the story modelling a healthy approach to team refocusing, the book explains a collection of tools to overcome the five dysfunctions. And it helpfully offers a simple diagnostic questionnaire to see how your team is going."

Trauma in church leadership teams can derail our efforts to be open to God, hope and mission. When pastors and deacons lock horns over who holds authority, when senior pastors and youth pastors fail to understand one another’s passions, when couples in ministry are on different wavelengths, when teams fail to develop trust and sweep conflict under the carpet, and when leaders refuse to be accountable, it can make for a traumatic experience for all involved.

If I lead a church with active evangelism, authentic worship and widespread community engagement, but lack healthy teamwork, I know the church will not be reaching its potential.

The best book on teamwork I have discovered is The Five Dysfunctions of TEAM. It is easy to read because most of the book is a story of new CEO Kathryn and her executives overcoming the natural but dangerous pitfalls Lencioni says can undermine any team:

• Absence of trust (and not being vulnerable)

• Fear of conflict (and artificial harmony)

• Lack of commitment (and ambiguity over goals)

• Avoidance of accountability (and low standards)

• Inattention to results (instead focusing on individual status and ego).

Kathryn’s team storms together as they learn to know one another. They roll their eyes at Kathryn’s exercises, play political games, some of them leave and others find new (demoted) roles in the company. But Kathryn teaches them to share what they really think, thrash through their issues, focus on what is most important (after fighting over what that actually is), and get on with their main business.

As well as the story modelling a healthy approach to team refocusing, the book explains a collection of tools to overcome the five dysfunctions. And it helpfully offers a simple diagnostic questionnaire to see how your team is going. Wherever your team is at, this concise leadership book will help you avoid the trauma of dysfunctional teamwork.

Darren Cronshaw coordinates leadership training with the Baptist Union of Victoria and serves as a pastor of Auburn Baptist Church. This review was previously published in Witness: The Voice of Victorian Baptists, Vol. 90, No.3 (April 2010), 19.

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