'The Myths and Realities of Teamwork' by David Wright.
This is a very interesting take on something I thought I knew too well. In the beginning itself, the myths are introduced - that teams are made of harmonious people, team conflict is to be avoided, most people like to work in teams, it is an essential need of success, and that the management encourage teams. Thereafter, each of these myths are explored critically, telling us how all these in fact have many other facets, some of which, not known to me. And how we can put those to our benefit. Like how, 'the passion for a common goal can be allow conflict, if it helps in achieving goals'. Or how to go forward, when one third of every team likes team work, another one third remain neutral to it, and the remaining one third oppose teamwork.
Next chapter deals with the basic skills for teamwork including meeting skills, which play a significant part in a team’s success. This is then is followed by a discussion about the skills that should be nurtured to achieve high results. Skills like idea formation, good feedback, effective critique, assertiveness, etc are analyzed here. Next chapter discusses various techniques with practical suggestions for bringing creativity in to teamwork. How to have an effective mechanism of feedback is described here. A formal method of feedback, titled BIF feedback, is introduced in this book. Lastly the book examines the question of ledadership, offering a new thought in the direction of 'leadership to all'.
This is a novel approach to a much discussed topic. Both the myths, some of which I thought were facts, and the realities, most of which were outside my view, added immensely to my ideas about teamwork. I never knew some of the angles, the author has chosen to observe the vast area of productivity, ever existed.
This is a very interesting take on something I thought I knew too well. In the beginning itself, the myths are introduced - that teams are made of harmonious people, team conflict is to be avoided, most people like to work in teams, it is an essential need of success, and that the management encourage teams. Thereafter, each of these myths are explored critically, telling us how all these in fact have many other facets, some of which, not known to me. And how we can put those to our benefit. Like how, 'the passion for a common goal can be allow conflict, if it helps in achieving goals'. Or how to go forward, when one third of every team likes team work, another one third remain neutral to it, and the remaining one third oppose teamwork.
Next chapter deals with the basic skills for teamwork including meeting skills, which play a significant part in a team’s success. This is then is followed by a discussion about the skills that should be nurtured to achieve high results. Skills like idea formation, good feedback, effective critique, assertiveness, etc are analyzed here. Next chapter discusses various techniques with practical suggestions for bringing creativity in to teamwork. How to have an effective mechanism of feedback is described here. A formal method of feedback, titled BIF feedback, is introduced in this book. Lastly the book examines the question of ledadership, offering a new thought in the direction of 'leadership to all'.
This is a novel approach to a much discussed topic. Both the myths, some of which I thought were facts, and the realities, most of which were outside my view, added immensely to my ideas about teamwork. I never knew some of the angles, the author has chosen to observe the vast area of productivity, ever existed.
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