Be cautious of the hype... | Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances

Identifies common mistakes in teams and leaders | Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances | J. Richard Hackman

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	• Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances J. Richard Hackman Harvard Business School Press, 2002 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A "MUST READ" book for everyone!

This was my first book on the "science" of teams. I had originally asked a friend who is a professor of Strategy for a book on "leadership" and he suggested this instead. Reading it was a very enjoyable experience. Relating it to teams that I have worked in, had to build relationships with, get work out of, and build myself, was an amazing exercise. In the end I realised that the best "self-managing team" I have is at home! I would strongly recommend this book to everyone, whether you work in a large organization or are a housewife! It's got beautiful insights for everyone.

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Be cautious of the hype...

There are some valuable lessons in this book, but combing through the wordiness and fluff is very time consuming. Of course one could argue that you need all of the anecdotal evidence to prove what he is saying and make his observations relevant. But with most of his observations being common sense to a natural leader, you wouldn't need all of the evidence.

In the end, as the author agrees, there is no perfect leader for all situations. The right balance of traits and actions will tell how good a leader was only in hindsight. There is no silver bullet that will MAKE a successful team leader.

I would have prefered a a distilled version of this book taking up about 50 pages rather than 300. The author is very intelligent and wise, but he is no Peter Drucker. I don't understand the glowing reviews of this book. It is worth a look if you have the time, but there are much better and more concise guides to effective leadership out there.

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Identifies common mistakes in teams and leaders

Even generally productive teams need to improve their productivity. I'm quite impressed by the framework provided in this book for diagnosing the quality of the direction you're providing, the way you structure your teams, and the way that people are identified with the teams and how all of these impact the team. It's interesting how much is delivered in this book without prescribing precisely how leaders should behave. As a person with a productive team whose concerns are primarily around keeping the team focused and getting more and more effective, this book was great.

The only thing I didn't like is that it sometimes felt like there was a page target they were trying to hit. The same airplane and manufacturing plant examples are repeated over and over, making it seem like there's very little data backing up this research. The same topics are also hit over and over in nearly the same way (the three areas mentioned before). However, that only hurts the presentation; the fundamental topics are quite solid.

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great book, good quality product, delivered quickly

i needed the book really soon for a class, and it arrived just in time, in good condition.

Best book on teams so far

Leading teams is the best book on the topic of teams that I've read so far. It's very well structured, well researched, well written and full of useful information that can be used in real life to improve teams.

The book consists of three parts of which part II is the main content of the book. Part I is called "challenge" and starts with an comparison of two different airline companies who have different strategies of improving service quality. One using self-directed team and one using more strict processes and procedures. It explains the advantages and disadvantages of the team approach and puts the challenge to how we can create an environment in which a productive team can work. Hackman then proposes five enabling conditions for getting team to work:

1. A real team
2. Compelling direction
3. Enabling structure
4. Supportive context
5. Expert coaching

Each of these are clarified in the five main chapters.

A real team is defined at having four features: a team task, clear boundaries, defined authority and some stability in members. Each of these is clarified and backed up with very interesting research data.

A compelling direction, a clear goal needs to be set for the team. This energizes the team. The chapter on compelling team has some very interesting material on fixing the process or fixing the goal.

Enabling structure builds also on earlier work done by Richard Hackman and talks about structuring the team and structuring the task that the team needs to do. When both of these are structured then they will enable the team and create a possibility of a really well working, highly productive team.

In supportive context, the rest of the organizational context is discussed. This includes the rewarding system (something I didn't always agreed with the author, though he makes very valid points!), the learning system and the technical supporting system.

In the last of the five points, he more or less focuses on the team leader role. The team leaders role as a coach of the team. He earlier states that the team leader role is certainly overrated, though it still is important. He describes how a team leader can coach the team.

Part III is the closing part of the book. It summarizes some of the earlier conclusions. It consists of one chapter that makes recommendations for moving forward with team in the organization. Then the last chapter the author the author discusses common obstacles and speculates about the future of teams.

Overall, the book was an excellent read. Funny at times, well structured and excellent references. Of all the team-related books, this one stands out. One of the reasons for standing out is that its more based on research than about speculation (like many team books). A must read when you are working in or with teams.

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Teams have more talent and experience, more diverse resources, and greater operating flexibility than individual performers. So why do so many teams either struggle unpleasantly toward an unsatisfactory conclusion - or, worse, crash and burn shortly after launch? J. Richard Hackman, one of the world's leading experts on group and organizational behavior, argues that the answer to this puzzle is rooted in flawed thinking about team leadership. It is not a leader's management style that determines how well a team performs, but how well a leader designs and supports a team so that members can manage themselves. According to Hackman, cookie-cutter formulas and prescribed leadership styles often backfire because they place far too much emphasis on the leader as the primary cause of team behavior. In "Leading Teams", he identifies the key conditions that any leader can put in place to increase the likelihood of team success - regardless of his or her personality or preferred style of operating. Through extensive research and compelling examples ranging from orchestras to economic analysts to airline cockpit crews, Hackman identifies five conditions that set the stage for great performances: a real team, a compelling direction, an enabling team structure, a supportive organizational context, and the availability of competent coaching. "Leading Teams" outlines what leaders can do to structure, support, and guide teams in a way that enhances the social processes essential to collective work; builds shared commitment, skills, and task - appropriate coordination strategies; helps members troubleshoot problems and spot emerging opportunities; and captures experiences and translates them into shared knowledge. Out of these conditions, Hackman argues, the very best teams emerge - teams that exceed client expectations, grow in capability over time, and contribute to the learning and personal fulfillment of individual members. Authoritative, practical, and astutely realistic, "Leading Teams" offers a new and provocative way of thinking about and leading work teams in any organizational setting. J. Richard Hackman is the Cahners-Rabb Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology at Harvard University. He resides in Bethany, Connecticut, and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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