This is a great book for any business that requires a group of people (team) to be successful.  It is a quick easy read that uses a story to teach important lessons (See 5 Dysfunctions Model Below .)

Everything in the book revolves around this model.

The author gives several exercises to help overcome each of the five dysfunctions.

Here is a sample exercise for concurring the “Absence of Trust”

Personal Histories Exercise: In less than an hour, a team can take the first steps toward developing trust. This low risk exercise requires nothing more than going around the table during a meeting and having team members answer a short list of questions about themselves. Questions need not be overly sensitive in nature and might include the following: number of siblings, Hometown, unique challenges of childhood, favorite hobbies, first job, and worst job.  Simply by describing these relatively innocuous attributes or experiences, team members begin to relate to one another on a more personal basis, and see one another as human beings with life stories and interesting backgrounds. It is amazing how little some team members know about one another, and how just a small amount of information begins to break down barriers.

I think this model will help more than businesses it will work for  relationships too!

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

By Patrick Lencioni