2002, by Patrick Lencioni

Patrick Lencioni’s model is a classic that I believe every leader should be familiar with.  He makes clear the five factors that create dysfunctional teams.  

They are (1) Absence of Trust (2) Fear of conflict (3) Lack of Commitment (4) Avoidance of Accountability (5) Inattention to Results.  He describes behaviors that are commonplace in today’s high stress workplace.  Lencioni reviews mindsets and strategies that leaders can adopt to address each of these dysfunctional tendencies in order to lead your team to achieving your organization’s strategic objectives.  Lencioni’s framework dovetails nicely with other authors who focus on how to create high performance workplaces (Adams, Scott, Emerald, Kusy and Halloway).  I use Lencioni’s conflict continuum when helping clients differentiate between healthy and unhealthy conflict.  The book is written as a story, with the model, assessment tools and other resources in the appendeces.  The Field Guide is really helpful if you want to practical how-to steps to implementing Lencioni’s model in your organization.