The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
A Leadership Fable
By Patrick M. Lencioni
John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0-7879-6075-6
Chapter One
BACKSTORY
DecisionTech was located in Half Moon Bay, a foggy, coastal
farming town just over the hills from the San Francisco Bay.
It was not technically part of the Silicon Valley, but the Valley
is not so much a geographical entity as a cultural one.
And DecisionTech certainly fit within that world.
It had the most experienced-and expensive-executive
team imaginable, a seemingly indestructible business plan,
and more top-tier investors than any young company could
hope for. Even the most cautious venture firms were lining
up to invest, and talented engineers were submitting their
resumés before the company had leased an office.
But that was almost two years earlier, which is a lifetime
for a technology start-up. After its first few euphoric
months of existence, the company began experiencing a
series of ongoing disappointments. Critical deadlines
started to slip. A few key employees below the executive
level unexpectedly left the company. Morale deteriorated
gradually. All of this in spite of the considerable advantages
that DecisionTech had amassed for itself.
On the two-year anniversary of the firm's founding, the
board unanimously agreed to "ask" Jeff Shanley, the company's
thirty-seven-year-old CEO and cofounder, to step
down. He was offered the job of heading business development,
and to the surprise of his colleagues, he accepted
the demotion, not wanting to walk away from a potentially
huge payout should the company eventually go public.
And even in the difficult economic climate of the Valley,
the company had every reason to go public.
None of DecisionTech's 150 employees were shocked
by Jeff's removal. While most of them seemed to like him
well enough personally, they couldn't deny that under his
leadership the atmosphere within the company had become
increasingly troubling. Backstabbing among the executives
had become an art. There was no sense of unity or camaraderie
on the team, which translated into a muted level of
commitment. Everything seemed to take too long to get
done, and even then it never felt right.
Some boards might have been more patient with a
stumbling executive team. DecisionTech's was not. There
was just too much at stake-and too high a profile-to
watch the company waste away because of politics. DecisionTech
had already developed a reputation within the
Valley for being one of the most political and unpleasant
places to work, and the board couldn't tolerate that kind
of press, especially when the future had looked so promising
just a couple of years earlier.
Someone had to be accountable for the mess, and Jeff
was the man at the top. Everyone seemed relieved when
the board announced the decision to remove him.
Until three weeks later, when Kathryn was hired.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
by Patrick M. Lencioni Excerpted by permission.
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