When Teams Work Best : 6,000 Team Members and Leaders Tell What It Takes to Succeed

Contents: Preface. How to use this book. Prologue: a brief perspective on teamwork and collaboration. 1. What makes a good team member? The abilities and behaviors that matter. 2. Team relationships: simple and easy versus complicated and hard. 3. Team problem solving: raising and resolving the real issues. 4. The team leader: what works/what gets in the way. 5. The organization environment: promoting clarity, confidence, and commitment. A final word. Notes. Appendix: reliability of the collaborative team leader instrument. Name index. Subject index.

"When Teams Work Best shares the five critical factors that ensure team success and outlines specific strategies and techniques you can use as a member or leader of a team.

Do members of your team demonstrate the abilities and behaviors necessary to maximize team results?
Discover the specific characteristics of team members who are good at what they do and make it easy for others to work with them. Learn to be an effective team member yourself and encourage others to be the same.

What relationship behaviors build and sustain strong teams?
Learn the fundamentals of fostering healthy collaborative relationships. Overcome your biggest team challenge by making relationships on your team self-corrective.

Does your team have an effective process for solving difficult problems?
Apply a simple, but powerful process for staying focused on your team’s goal while openly discussing tough issues.

As a team leader, do you demonstrate the six strengths of highly effective leaders?
Use a well-researched team leader assessment tool to discover what you can do to improve your leadership effectiveness.

Does your organizational environment foster teamwork or get in its way?
Determine the extent to which your organization encourages collaboration and teamwork and what to do if it doesn’t.

These five factors, bundled properly are … When Teams Work Best!"