What makes a team? What determines its success? Why do some teams succeed while others struggle? How can we make collaboration more effective?
Books on teams offer different answers. Some provide practical tools and an action plan; others emphasise humanity and empathy. All can help us discover new possibilities. These three books have significantly influenced our approach to working with teams.
Committed Teams
The book by Mario Moussa and his co-authors is built around the 3×3 Framework associated with the Wharton School. It proposes three steps for working with a team.
1. Commit
Agree on goals, roles and norms for working together.
- Goals: why are we working together? What matters to each of us?
- Roles: do we have the expertise and skills we need? Which informal roles would help? What do our roles mean to us, and how do they complement one another?
- Norms: how do we communicate, make decisions and work through conflict?
2. Check
Compare how the team actually works with the agreed goals, roles and norms. Notice gaps and look for new ideas.
3. Close
Agree on and embed changes in collaboration that will help the team work more effectively.
What the book offers
- An explanation of the framework’s principles.
- Guidance for different types of teams.
- Tools for each stage of the work.
Harvard Business Review: On Teams
This collection brings together articles and different perspectives on team effectiveness. Research and examples help readers examine collaboration from several angles and find tools for their own practice.
One example is the three dimensions of team communication described in research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
- Energy — the activity people bring to an interaction: comments, acknowledgements, eye contact and other signals. What matters is not only the message but also how the exchange takes place.
- Engagement — people’s participation in shared work and problem-solving. The research highlights how evenly that participation is distributed across the team.
- Exploration — connections with the outside world: seeking information and fresh perspectives beyond the team. This is especially valuable for creative work, but needs to be balanced with engagement within the team.
What the book offers
- An opportunity to compare different approaches to team management.
- Examples and practical advice on collaboration.
- Approaches to building teams and improving their effectiveness.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Patrick Lencioni presents his model as a leadership fable. The story of one team reveals five interconnected problems that get in the way of working together.
- Absence of trust.
- Fear of conflict.
- Lack of commitment.
- Avoidance of accountability.
- Inattention to results.
In the model, each dysfunction builds on the one before it. Even one can weaken a team, so it is important to recognise the difficulty and work consistently on its causes.
What the book offers
- A practical approach to the five dysfunctions model.
- Tools for identifying and addressing the problems.
- An accessible story that makes the model easier to understand and remember.
The model and book on The Table Group website
“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.”