HBR's 10 Must Reads on Teams (with featured article "The Discipline of Teams," by Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith)

HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Teams gives the team leader a quick place to find down-to-earth articles containing much needed research into how teams operate, should be constructed and how they can be made more efficient. While I enjoyed reading the articles in the book, I was deeply interested in the first one, which I believe should catch the imagination of any technical-minded leader, “The New Science of Building Great Teams”. Starting the book of with such a well-written and researched article is certainly powerful.Until I read this article, I wondered if there was a way to follow and track the social interactions of team members to see what skills were most important to building a good team. Pentland was able to build such a device: a wearable badge that collects data on “what tone of voice they use; whether they face one another; how much they gesture; how much they talk, listen, and interrupt; and even their levels of extroversion and empathy. By comparing data gathered from all the individuals on a team with performance data, we can identify the communication patterns that make for successful teamwork” (Pentland as cited in HBR's 10 Must Reads On teams, p.5, 2013). This research shows that face-to-face interactions are more important than emails, phone calls, voicemails or texts. While I like emails for data-trails, I would rather discuss issues and ideas in person, so I am pleased to learn how teams can be at least 8% more effective by adding more face time (2013).Pentland’s research shows that successful teams share several defining characteristics: team members talk and listen equally, members face one another with energetic conversations and gestures, members interconnect, members carry-on side conversations, and members get information from outside the team periodically (2013). These characteristics are boiled down into three elements of communication: energy, engagement and exploration. Energy comes from the number and nature of interactions between team members with the most valuable being face-to-face exchanges (2013). Video or voice calls are next in line of importance, but the value decreases from face time. The research shows that even in our technological world, sitting down to have a conversation with the person across from you is the best interaction you can have. The engagement element comes from the “distribution of energy among the team members” (p. 7, 2013) which means that all the team members have equal and high energy as they interact. The exploration element stems from the amount of interactions team members have with individuals and teams outside of their own team (2013). I believe these three elements are easily remembered and applicable.Pentland is able to show through data collection how a company can be very inefficient in its communication until a problem arises and then it will switch to face-to-face communication to solve the problem (2013). This shows that the problem may have been avoided if the teams would have communicated in this fashion from the start. The issue with this type of communication over email, text, social media or voicemail, is that it needs more investment. Time to schedule, plan and have such interactions are hard to accomplish at times in our fast-paced business world. However, when crucial issues arise or are expected to arise, we need to make the time to plan these meetings.I enjoyed the diagrams of social interactions the article contained, especially the ones showing the progression of the project and the problems it caused. Knowing that the different departments of a company did not speak directly, but instead relied on electronic media, failed in their product roll-out but had to fix it with direct verbal communication is extremely powerful and important for team leaders and executives. It should be enough to make leaders change how teams are constructed and how they communicate.

My favorite article from the collection represented in HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Teams is Katzenbach and Smith’s “The Discipline of Teams.” Despite being published eleven years ago this month, this groundbreaking article not only defines what makes teams operate cohesively for maximum effectiveness but defines what a team actually is in the first place—clearing up often undiagnosed confusion that common organizational vernacular has created around what it means for a group of people to truly collaborate.To begin with, Katzenbach and Smith offer the fairly provocative statement that “…teams and good performance are inseparable: You cannot have one without the other.” (Katzenbach & Smith, 2013) This statement is doubly startling when coupled with the acceptance of the authors’ position that many organizations use the term “team” inaccurately. Thus, few organizations truly have teams—as Katzenbach and Smith define them—to begin with and the remaining organizations who fail to embrace a true teams philosophy are, by definition, unable to experience high levels of performance. “People use the word ‘team’ so loosely that it gets in the way of learning and applying the discipline that leads to good performance.” (Katzenbach & Smith, 2013)So, what is a team? Katzenbach and Smith define team, in part, by what it is not—and what a team is not, by name, is a working group. Anecdotally, all of the “teams” I reflected on having been a part of in my career were, in fact, actually working groups by Katzenbach and Smith’s definition. “The best working groups come together to share information, perspectives, and insights; to make decisions that help each person do his or her job better; and to reinforce individual performance standards. But the focus is always on individual goals and accountabilities.” (Katzenbach & Smith, 2013) It is important to note that the authors do not diminish the value of working groups. However, they do espouse the need for clarity surrounding the terms applied to these groups as well as an awareness that the absence of true teams in any organization is a void which must be remedied if the highest levels of performance are going to be reached. In my personal experience, working groups are the norm—having a lower threshold for management than the more intensive nature of a team, as defined by Katzenbach and Smith.In contrast to a working group, “A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.” (Katzenbach & Smith, 2013) The second of these three components seems to be the most critical to the nature and success of the team. Ambiguity in terms of the metrics used to identify success or failure breeds malaise in the working unit and, if unchecked, will result in the erosion of the effort altogether. “The combination of purpose and specific goals is essential to performance. Each depends on the other to remain relevant and vital. Clear performance goals help a team keep track of progress and hold itself accountable; the broader, even nobler, aspirations in a team's purpose supply both meaning and emotional energy.” (Katzenbach & Smith, 2013)So, in what scenarios are Katzenbach and Smith’s teams most necessary or effective? Essentially, “anywhere hierarchy or organizational boundaries inhibit the skills and perspectives needed for optimal results.” (Katzenbach & Smith, 2013) As a result, determination of where these inhibiting “boundaries” exist within the organization is a task for upper management as they seek to deploy teams at locations and amidst circumstances where they can have the most profound impact on the overall productivity of the organization.Katzenbach and Smith contend that the use of a true teams-model is not only beneficial but necessary for organizational success. “We are convinced that every company faces specific performance challenges for which teams are the most practical and powerful vehicle at top management's disposal.” (Katzenbach & Smith, 2013) For the organizational leader looking to form and leverage teams in order to accomplish high-level production, Katzenbach & Smith’s seminal work on the topic will undoubtedly prove to be both challenging and useful.

I would like to say a lot of info on team functioning

es un compendio de artículos que te permiten conocer y administrar a tu equipo de trabajo sobre todo para obtener los mayores resultados.

Its really a good book, but the quality of the paper is not worth the price which we never expected from HBR

very informative and real life case studies

Good one.