Key Takeaways
1. Teamwork is a Skill That Can Be Learned and Improved
"Teamwork and collaboration are hard."
Foundational Team Dynamics. Teamwork is not an innate talent but a skill that can be systematically developed. The research shows that teams can significantly improve their effectiveness by understanding and implementing specific evidence-based practices. Just like any other skill, teamwork requires intentional learning, practice, and continuous improvement.
Key Components of Effective Teamwork:
- Mutual understanding of team goals
- Clear communication
- Willingness to support teammates
- Ability to adapt to changing circumstances
- Shared commitment to team success
Transformative Potential. By approaching teamwork as a learnable skill, organizations and individuals can unlock tremendous potential. Teams that invest in understanding team dynamics and deliberately developing their collaborative capabilities can achieve substantially higher performance levels across various contexts.
2. Not All Teams Are Created Equal
"Teams are not all the same."
Team Diversity. Teams vary significantly across multiple dimensions, including interdependence, membership stability, task consistency, proximity, and expertise similarity. Understanding these variations is crucial for designing appropriate team strategies and interventions.
Continuum of Team Characteristics:
- Reliance: From independent to highly interdependent work
- Membership: From stable to frequently changing teams
- Task Requirements: From consistent to highly dynamic environments
- Location: From fully co-located to geographically dispersed
- Expertise: From highly homogeneous to diverse skill sets
Contextual Intelligence. Successful team leadership requires recognizing and adapting to these different team characteristics. A one-size-fits-all approach to teamwork is unlikely to be effective across varied team contexts.
3. Capability is About More Than Just Technical Skills
"Teamwork can rarely overcome a significant lack of talent."
Holistic Team Capabilities. Effective teams require both technical expertise and robust teamwork skills. While individual technical competence is essential, team members must also possess transportable skills like communication, conflict resolution, and interpersonal understanding.
Critical Team Capabilities:
- Fundamental communication skills
- Ability to provide and receive feedback
- Conflict management
- Collective orientation
- Adaptability
Talent Selection. Organizations should assess potential team members not just on technical skills but on their capacity to collaborate, learn, and contribute to team dynamics. Avoiding toxic personality traits is as important as recruiting technical expertise.
4. Trust and Psychological Safety Are Critical for Team Performance
"Psychological safety is what enables team members to believe they can speak up, admit mistakes, ask questions, offer a dissenting opinion, seek feedback and be themselves."
Foundational Team Attitudes. Trust and psychological safety are fundamental to high-performing teams. They enable open communication, risk-taking, learning, and genuine collaboration by creating an environment where team members feel secure in expressing themselves.
Key Elements of Psychological Safety:
- Permission to speak up without fear
- Willingness to admit mistakes
- Openness to different perspectives
- Mutual respect
- Belief in collective team potential
Cultural Transformation. Creating psychological safety requires deliberate leadership actions that consistently demonstrate openness, vulnerability, and genuine respect for team members' perspectives.
5. Effective Coordination Requires Consistent Teamwork Behaviors
"Coordination is about behaviors, teammates demonstrating the right teamwork behaviors."
Behavioral Foundations. Successful teams are characterized by specific coordination behaviors that go beyond individual technical skills. These include monitoring team dynamics, providing mutual support, adapting to challenges, and managing team emotions.
Core Coordination Behaviors:
- Maintaining situational awareness
- Providing backup and support
- Adapting to changing circumstances
- Constructively managing conflicts
- Proactive communication
Continuous Learning. Effective coordination is not a static state but a dynamic process requiring ongoing attention, practice, and mutual commitment from all team members.
6. Quality Communication Matters More Than Quantity
"More communication is not always better; better is better."
Communication Excellence. Effective team communication is not about generating more messages but ensuring high-quality, meaningful information exchange. Teams should focus on sharing unique, timely, and relevant information.
Communication Best Practices:
- Share unique, contextually relevant information
- Use closed-loop communication techniques
- Confirm understanding
- Minimize redundant communication
- Maintain clarity and precision
Strategic Information Management. Teams must develop sophisticated communication strategies that prioritize meaningful exchange over volume of communication.
7. Shared Understanding Drives Team Success
"Do team members possess a shared understanding about priorities, roles, vision, if–then, etc.?"
Cognitive Alignment. Successful teams develop shared mental models that create a common understanding of goals, priorities, roles, and potential scenarios. This alignment enables smoother coordination and more effective decision-making.
Elements of Shared Cognition:
- Common vision and goals
- Clear role definitions
- Consistent understanding of priorities
- Shared situational awareness
- Collective expertise mapping
Continuous Calibration. Shared understanding is not a one-time achievement but requires ongoing communication, reflection, and adjustment.
8. Organizational Conditions Significantly Impact Team Performance
"You get what you encourage . . . and tolerate."
Systemic Influences. Organizational policies, practices, and leadership behaviors create powerful signals that either support or inhibit effective teamwork. These conditions can either facilitate or constrain team potential.
Key Organizational Conditions:
- Hiring practices
- Performance management systems
- Reward structures
- Leadership behaviors
- Communication norms
Cultural Engineering. Senior leaders must intentionally design organizational conditions that encourage collaboration, psychological safety, and team-oriented behaviors.
9. Leadership Is Not Just for Designated Leaders
"Leadership isn't just for leaders."
Distributed Leadership. Effective teams require leadership behaviors from multiple team members, not just formal leaders. This involves shared responsibility for team success, mutual support, and proactive problem-solving.
Leadership Functions:
- Ensuring team clarity
- Holding teammates accountable
- Removing obstacles
- Managing team emotions
- Promoting continuous learning
Empowerment Approach. Organizations should cultivate a culture where leadership is seen as a collaborative responsibility rather than a top-down directive.
10. Great Teams Adapt and Learn Continuously
"The best teams become great by continually learning and adjusting."
Dynamic Team Development. High-performing teams are characterized by their ability to reflect, learn, and adapt. They view challenges as opportunities for growth and improvement.
Adaptation Strategies:
- Regular team debriefs
- Open feedback culture
- Willingness to experiment
- Systematic learning processes
- Celebrating both successes and learning from failures
Growth Mindset. Successful teams cultivate a collective learning orientation that views challenges as opportunities for development and improvement.
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FAQ
What’s Teams That Work: The Seven Drivers of Team Effectiveness by Scott Tannenbaum about?
- Science of Team Effectiveness: The book explores the science behind what makes teams effective, focusing on sustained performance, resilience, and vitality.
- Seven Key Drivers: It introduces seven drivers—capability, cooperation, coordination, communication, cognition, coaching, and conditions—that consistently influence team success.
- Practical and Evidence-Based: Drawing on 30 years of research and consulting, Tannenbaum provides actionable, research-backed advice for leaders, members, and consultants.
- Broad Applicability: The book is designed for anyone involved in teams, from business to healthcare to sports, offering tools to improve teamwork in diverse settings.
Why should I read Teams That Work by Scott Tannenbaum?
- Teamwork is Essential: Over 90% of employees see teams as critical, but less than 25% rate their teams as very effective, highlighting a widespread need for improvement.
- Debunks Teamwork Myths: The book dispels common misconceptions, such as the idea that teamwork is a distraction or that liking teammates guarantees success.
- Actionable Insights: Readers gain practical, evidence-based strategies for building and sustaining effective teams, with real-world examples from organizations like NASA and healthcare.
- Tailored for Multiple Roles: Advice is relevant for team leaders, members, consultants, and senior leaders, making it broadly useful.
What are the seven drivers of team effectiveness in Teams That Work by Scott Tannenbaum?
- Capability: The right mix of knowledge, skills, and attributes, including both task and teamwork abilities.
- Cooperation: Attitudes and beliefs like trust, psychological safety, and cohesion that enable collaboration.
- Coordination: Teamwork behaviors such as monitoring, backing up, adapting, and managing emotions.
- Communication: Sharing clear, timely, and unique information, with an emphasis on quality and closed-loop communication.
- Cognition: Shared mental models and understanding of goals, roles, expertise, and contingencies.
- Coaching: Leadership behaviors, both formal and shared, that guide and support the team.
- Conditions: Organizational and environmental factors, such as resources, culture, and policies, that support or hinder teamwork.
What are the key takeaways from Teams That Work by Scott Tannenbaum?
- Team Effectiveness is Multifaceted: Success depends on a combination of individual capabilities, team dynamics, leadership, and organizational context.
- Shared Understanding is Crucial: Teams with strong shared cognitions perform better, adapt faster, and coordinate more smoothly.
- Leadership is Distributed: Effective teams benefit from both formal and shared leadership, with members stepping up as needed.
- Organizational Support Matters: Policies, resources, and culture at both the organizational and team level significantly impact team effectiveness.
What are the most important myths about teamwork debunked in Teams That Work by Scott Tannenbaum?
- Teamwork is Not a Distraction: Research shows teamwork boosts performance by 20-25%, contrary to the belief that it wastes time.
- Liking Teammates Isn’t Essential: Success depends more on clear roles and agreements than on personal harmony.
- Teamwork Can’t Replace Talent: Competence is necessary; teamwork cannot compensate for significant skill gaps.
- Teams Aren’t Always the Answer: Not all work requires teams; inappropriate use can lead to inefficiency and frustration.
- Individual Excellence and Teamwork Coexist: Being a strong individual contributor and a great team player are both valuable.
How does Teams That Work by Scott Tannenbaum define a highly effective team?
- Sustained Performance: Consistently delivers positive results over time, not just in the short term.
- Resilience and Vitality: Can overcome challenges and maintain energy and resources, avoiding burnout.
- Unit Identity: Recognized as a cohesive unit with shared goals and interdependence among members.
- Adaptability: Able to bounce back from adversity and adjust to changing conditions.
What does Teams That Work by Scott Tannenbaum say about team capabilities and talent?
- Task and Teamwork Skills: Both technical expertise and teamwork skills like communication and conflict resolution are essential.
- Balance of Talent: Too many “stars” can harm performance in highly interdependent teams; balance is key.
- Personal Attributes Matter: Traits like collective orientation, adaptability, and agreeableness enhance teamwork, while toxic traits disrupt it.
- Team Composition: Leaders should consider the collective mix of skills and gaps before adding or replacing members.
How does Teams That Work by Scott Tannenbaum describe cooperation and its importance?
- Emergent Attitudes: Cooperation includes trust, psychological safety, collective efficacy, and cohesion, all of which develop over time.
- Trust and Safety: Trust is built on ability, benevolence, and integrity, while psychological safety allows for open communication and risk-taking.
- Collective Efficacy: Shared belief in the team’s ability boosts motivation and resilience.
- Cohesion and Fault Lines: Cohesion unites teams, but leaders must watch for subgroups that can divide the team.
What are the key coordination behaviors in Teams That Work by Scott Tannenbaum?
- Monitoring and Awareness: Teams must stay aware of each other’s status, performance, and the environment.
- Providing Backup: Members proactively offer help and support, enabled by shared skills and expectations.
- Adapting to Change: Teams adjust in real time and reflectively to improve performance and respond to new challenges.
- Managing Emotions and Conflict: Constructive handling of disagreements fosters innovation and morale, while minimizing harmful conflict.
What communication principles does Teams That Work by Scott Tannenbaum emphasize for effective teamwork?
- Quality Over Quantity: Effective teams prioritize clear, timely, and unique information sharing.
- Closed-Loop Communication: Ensures messages are understood and confirmed, reducing errors.
- Boundary Spanning: Teams must communicate effectively with external stakeholders, not just internally.
- Overcoming Barriers: Teams should address biases, hierarchy, and challenges from dynamic or dispersed membership.
How do shared cognitions improve team performance according to Teams That Work by Scott Tannenbaum?
- Shared Mental Models: Teams with common understanding of goals, roles, and contingencies coordinate more smoothly.
- Motivation and Adaptation: Shared cognitions boost motivation, enable implicit coordination, and allow for rapid adaptation.
- Eight Types of Shared Understanding: Includes vision, priorities, roles, tasks, rationale, expertise, contingencies, and situational cues.
- Assessment and Alignment: Leaders should regularly check for alignment in these areas to ensure team readiness.
What leadership approaches and practical advice does Teams That Work by Scott Tannenbaum recommend for team leaders and members?
- Transformational and Shared Leadership: Leaders should inspire, challenge, and empower, while encouraging members to share leadership roles.
- Servant and Civil Leadership: Focus on serving team needs, removing obstacles, and maintaining civility to foster psychological safety.
- Build Capabilities and Safety: Ensure the right talent, promote psychological safety, and maintain shared understanding and quality communication.
- Debriefs and Advocacy: Use team debriefs for learning and advocate for resources and supportive organizational conditions. Members should proactively support teammates, communicate effectively, and avoid toxic behaviors.
Review Summary
Teams That Work receives mostly positive reviews, with an average rating of 4.17/5. Readers appreciate its evidence-based approach, practical tips, and comprehensive coverage of teamwork principles. The book is praised for its research-backed recommendations and actionable advice. Some find it academic and occasionally dry, while others consider it outdated. Many readers value its insights on team dynamics, leadership, and performance improvement. Overall, it's viewed as a valuable resource for leaders and team members seeking to enhance collaboration and effectiveness.
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