Patrick Lencioni > Quotes

“Trust is knowing that when a team member does push you, they're doing it because they care about the team.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

“Remember teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

“Great teams do not hold back with one another. They are unafraid to air their dirty laundry. They admit their mistakes, their weaknesses, and their concerns without fear of reprisal.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

“It's as simple as this. When people don't unload their opinions and feel like they've been listened to, they won't really get on board.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

“If everything is important, then nothing is.”
― Patrick M. Lencioni

“Politics is when people choose their words and actions based on how they want others to react rather than based on what they really think.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

“Not finance. Not strategy. Not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

“If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

“Some people are hard to hold accountable because they are so helpful. Others because they get defensive. Others because they are intimidating. I don’t think it’s easy to hold anyone accountable, not even your own kids”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

“When there is trust, conflict becomes nothing but the pursuit of truth, an attempt to find the best possible answer.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business

“If people don’t weigh in, they can’t buy in.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business

“A fractured team is just like a broken arm or leg; fixing it is always painful, and sometimes you have to rebreak it to make it heal correctly. And the rebreak hurts a lot more than the initial break, because you have to do it on purpose P.37”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

“If we don’t trust one another, then we aren’t going to engage in open, constructive, ideological conflict.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

“So many people there are so concerned about being socially conscious and environmentally aware, but they don't give a second thought to how they treat the guy washing their car or cutting their grass.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues

“The only way for the leader of a team to create a safe environment for his team members to be vulnerable is by stepping up and doing something that feels unsafe and uncomfortable first. By getting naked before anyone else, by taking the risk of making himself vulnerable with no guarantee that other members of the team will respond in kind, a leader demonstrates an extraordinary level of selflessness and dedication to the team. And that gives him the right, and the confidence, to ask others to do the same.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business

“A team that is not focused on results ... • Stagnates/fails to grow • Rarely defeats competitors • Loses achievement-oriented employees”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

“I don’t think anyone ever gets completely used to conflict. If it’s not a little uncomfortable, then it’s not real. The key is to keep doing it anyway”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

“No one on a cohesive team can say, Well, I did my job. Our failure isn’t my fault.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business

“Ego is the ultimate killer on a team”
― Patrick Lencioni, Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Managers, and Facilitators

“the fear of conflict is almost always a sign of problems.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business

“. . . his biggest problem was his need for a problem.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable For Managers

“the fundamental attribution error is the tendency of human beings to attribute the negative or frustrating behaviors of their colleagues to their intentions and personalities, while attributing their own negative or frustrating behaviors to environmental factors.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business

“The enemy of accountability is ambiguity”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

“there is no such thing as too much communication.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business

“teamwork is not a virtue. It is a choice—and a strategic one.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business

“executives must put the needs of the higher team ahead of the needs of their departments.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business

“What clients want more than anything is to know that we’re more interested in helping them than we are in maintaining our revenue source.”
― Patrick Lencioni, Getting Naked: A Business Fable about Shedding the Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty

“Members of teams that tend to avoid conflict must occasionally assume the role of a “miner of conflict”—someone who extracts buried disagreements within the team and sheds the light of day on them. They must have the courage and confidence to call out sensitive issues and force team members to work through them. This requires a degree of objectivity during meetings and a commitment to staying with the conflict until it is resolved. Some”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

“When team members trust one another, when they know that everyone on the team is capable of admitting when they don’t have the right answer, and when they’re willing to acknowledge when someone else’s idea is better than theirs, the fear of conflict and the discomfort it entails is greatly diminished. When there is trust, conflict becomes nothing but the pursuit of truth, an attempt to find the best possible answer. It is not only okay but desirable.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business

“Healthy organizations believe that performance management is almost exclusively about eliminating confusion. They realize that most of their employees want to succeed, and that the best way to allow them to do that is to give them clear direction, regular information about how they’re doing, and access to the coaching they need.”
― Patrick Lencioni, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business