When Bad Teams Happen to Good People

The teamwork troubleshooter we all need! Turn your team into a cohesive unit. “This timely book provides readers with a new way of thinking about work and survival strategies for those who find themselves on bad teams. Readers who are looking for a playbook that can help them to understand and develop soft skills needed for teamwork will be eager to have a copy nearby.”—Booklist Why do some team members not get along? What is the best way to get new teams and ad-hoc teams to maximize their performance in the least amount of time? How can meetings be designed to achieve useful outcomes? Teams are the source of problem-solving and innovation that today’s organizations need to survive and thrive in an increasingly complex and challenging marketplace. Teamwork is hard because there is no magic formula or step-by-step procedure to ensure results. Think of a programmer asked to develop new features for a cell phone: they write new code, test the code, troubleshoot problems encountered, revise the code, and repeat the testing process until the new features work without problems. Similarly, a team leader asked to deliver specified outcomes develops a plan, runs team meetings, troubleshoots problems encountered, revises the plan, and repeats until the team outcomes are achieved. The difference is that a programmer has tools to help streamline troubleshooting, while team leaders do not—until now. Valerie Patrick applies a troubleshooting mindset that includes: Proven tactics for team members and leaders to address leadership problems Guidelines for recruiting and changing teams for optimum performance Techniques to identify and address aspects of team climate that are limiting the productivity of one or more team members Examples of effective ways to operate teams and of meeting designs that produce transformative outcomes