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The NEW Why Teams Don't Work

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The NEW Why Teams Don't Work

What Goes Wrong, And How To Make It Right

Berrett-Koehler,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Team management: Dealing with dysfunction.

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Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • For Beginners

Recommendation

Of teams and families it might be said, "Each is dysfunctional in its own special way." Today’s corporate litany states that to succeed we must learn to cooperate more closely. The testing ground for this idea becomes trendy "cross-functional teams" or task forces. Here, antisocial tendencies and hidden agendas are sprinkled across meeting-room tables like dragon’s teeth, springing up to mortally wound the best interests of your organization. The good news is that you can do something to help your organization’s teams operate more effectively. Robbins and Finley are a couple of skilled veterans who say that "trust is the blood of teams." If you believe better teamwork is critical to your company’s future, getabstract.com thinks you will find the lessons in this book absolutely essential - whether you’re a member of a team or the leader who serves them.

Summary

Teeming Teams

Just a short time ago, teams weren’t very important to American business. Teams were thought of as groups of people with common interests operating in vertical "silos" within the table of organization. There were finance teams, technology teams, sales teams, marketing teams and so forth. Today, teams are teeming and teams are changing. Teams are now indispensable to American business, and these are cross-functional or interdisciplinary teams. They call on different interest groups within the organization to interact with each other productively for the benefit of the whole. Why are interdisciplinary teams all the rage? Simple. Teams can boldly go where no single individual could effectively go before. Examples of the benefits of teams:

  • Money. Teams save it. If it’s popular in corporate American there must be a cost-cutting angle in there somewhere! By employing teams to make improvements, companies can trim the ranks of middle management.
  • Productivity. Teams enhance it. Not only can teams replace the intermediary supervisor...often they will do a better job of eliminating bottlenecks and addressing customer complaints.
  • Communication...

About the Authors

Harvey Robbins  has served as a team trainer for some 20 years with companies such as Honeywell, 3M, IDS and Southern Companies. Mike Finley  is a long-time collaborator with The Masters Forum, the executive education program based in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota.

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