Autodesk Labs is part of the Corporate Strategy & Engagement team that is part of the Office of the CTO. As part of a team building exercise, we all read The FIVE Dysfunctions of a TEAM: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni.
Without question, this is the most enjoyable management book I have ever read. The first 184 pages tell a tale of a fictional company with team members that anyone in any company can recognize. I was so captivated by the story when I started reading it at work that I could not wait to get home so I could finish reading it that night. See if any of these fictional team member descriptions and actions sound familiar?
The book concludes with three pages that describe a model of the five dysfunctions.
Three pages are all that is needed because the reader "gets it" having read the story. How often can a management model be described in only three pages? The book concludes with an assessment that you can use for your own teams and strategies for overcoming the five dysfunctions. Our team scored well, but there's always room for improvement. I definitely recommend this book.
Team building is alive in the lab.