33 pages • 1 hour read
Patrick LencioniThe Five Dysfunctions Of A Team: A Leadership Fable
Patrick LencioniNonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2002A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 1, Part 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1, Part 2: “The Fable”
Chapter 1, Part 2 Summary: “Luck, Part Two: Lighting the Fire”
Part 2 begins with a conflict between a sales opportunity the DecisionTech team wants to pursue and the retreat that Kathryn has organized in Napa Valley. When Kathryn asks the team to reschedule the sales meeting, she encounters significant resistance. From the team’s point of view, the off-site meeting seems secondary in comparison with a major sales opportunity, particularly given DecisionTech’s recent struggles. Calmly but firmly, Kathryn reiterates that her primary responsibility is to rescue the company from its downward trend and emphasizes that this primary objective takes precedence over any individual sales opportunity, no matter how appealing it may be.
During the retreat, Kathryn discusses the purpose of the gathering and the problem she perceives within the team. Right away she identifies a lack of trust among them, which she relates to their inability to engage in healthy debate. As she establishes ground rules for the meeting, including being present and engaged, she encourages the team to spend time getting to know one another.
Kathryn then facilitates the team’s efforts to arrive at shared goals. Initially, they identify these goals without much conflict, but Kathryn points out that these initial goals reveal a lack of information flow, which prompts her to continue emphasizing the importance of consensus-driven goals. Despite their initial skepticism and blasé approach to the task at hand, the group starts to recognize the seriousness of the issue.
Kathryn then explains the importance of the absence of trust, the first of five dysfunctions that plague the team. She also engages stresses the importance of creating a space where healthy debate can flourish. Finally, Kathryn prompts the team to determine the most crucial goal for the rest of the year. As a result, the team engages in a clear back-and-forth, constructive debate, leaving them feeling more positive about the retreat.
These changes do not come smoothly. While Kathryn begins to “entertain hopes that the momentum would continue and the day would be a runaway hit” (67), various setbacks hamper the proceedings and erupt more forcefully in Part 3. For the moment, though, she has most of the team on board.
Chapter 1, Part 2 Analysis
By beginning this part with a clash between a sales opportunity and the scheduled executive off-site meeting, Lencioni sets the stage for exploring the theme of Transparency and Accountability. It emerges in particular in Kathryn’s assertion that her responsibility to rescue the company takes precedence over everything else, as well as in her explicit statement that all team members must be accountable for DecisionTech’s progress. Moreover, the establishment of ground rules for the meeting, such as being present and engaged, speaks to the importance of fostering an environment conducive to healthy conflict resolution.
These ground rules, in turn, highlight the theme of Healthy Versus Unhealthy Conflict. Whereas healthy debate is essential for effective teamwork, Kathryn does not see such debate occurring among the team and sees the lack of trust among the members as a cause. Her encouraging the team to spend time getting to know each other leads to open and honest communication, which allows the team to begin to address conflict itself in a constructive way.
The title of this section, “Lighting the Fire,” refers to the turning point of the retreat, when the DecisionTech team members start to confront the core issues hindering their effectiveness and begin to work toward positive change. The act of lighting the fire corresponds with the activation of their collective energy and enthusiasm, as they become increasingly invested in their shared goals and objectives. During this key phase of the team’s development, as they recognize the importance of healthy conflict, transparency, accountability, and trust, they begin laying the groundwork for building a cohesive and high-performing team.
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