The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization
Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith
McKinsey & Company, 1993
ISBN 0-87584-367-0

(p. 109)

    "What do potential teams need to do to move up the team performance
curve?  There is not best answer to this question.  Each of the scores
of teams we have researched, read about, or been a part of has applied a
unique blend of actions, events, and decisions to achieve higher
performance.  Among them all, however, we have observed an underlying
pattern:  real teams do not emerge unless the individuals on them take
risks involving conflict, trust, interdependence, and hard work."
    "Of the risks required, the most formidable involve building the
trust and interdependence necessary to move from individual
accountability to mutual accountability. ..."

    "Conflict, like trust and interdependence, is also a necessary part
of becoming a real team. Seldom do we see a group of individuals forge
their unique experiences, perspectives, values, and expectations into a
_common_ purpose, set of performance goals, and approach without
encountering significant conflict.  And the most challenging risks
associated with conflict relate to making it constructive for the team
instead of simply enduring it."
    Some of the sources of conflict:
    1. functional differences
    2. individual personalities, attitudes, and expectations
    3. Why will it be different this time?
    4. What are the real agendas here?
    5. What is this going to mean for me?
    6. How can I make this person realize that he really does need to do
things differently?
    7. How long is this going to last?
    "Real teams learn how to deal with such concerns through frank and
open communication.  That, however, is easier said than done. ... Yet
only when somone opens up a conflict--and one or more people respond
constructively--can individual differences and concerns be discussed and
molded into common goals.  Only then does the potential team give itself
the chance to move ahead.  But such conflicts are risky--they can
produce crippling animosities, hurt feelings, misunderstanding, and
disappointments."
    "Dealing with the issues of trust, interdependence, and conflict
requires hard work that, because it might not bear fruit, poses yet
another risk.  Not all potential teams become real teams.  Individual
differences, threats of being personally disadvantaged, actions that
destroy instead of build mutual trust and interdependence,
unconstructive conflict, the inertia of business as usual--these and
otehr forces can block team performance and can even produce
pseudo-teams with worsening performance.  When this happens, anyone who
has worked hard to invest in the team suffers lost time and
disappointment." (p. 111)

(p. 119) Common Approaches to Building Team Performance

1.  Establish urgency and direction.  All team members need to believe
the team has urgent and worthwhile purposes, and they want to know what
the expectations are.  Indeed, the more urgent and meaningful the
rationale, the more likely it is that a real team will emerge.

2.  Select members based on skills and skill potential, not
personalities. ... The key issue for potential teams is striking the
right balance between members who already possess the needed skill
levels versus developing the skill levels after the team gets started.

3.  Pay particular attention to first meetings and actions.

4.  Set some clear rules of behavior.  All real teams develop rules of
conduct to help them achieve their purpose and performance goals.  The
most critical early rules pertain to:
    4.1  Attendance (e.g. no interruptions to take phone calls)
    4.2  Discussion (e.g. no sacred cows)
    4.3  Confidentiality (e.g. the only things that leave this room are
what we agree will leave)
    4.4  Analytic approach (e.g. measured facts, not opinions)
    4.5  End-product orientation (e.g. everyone gets assignments and
does them)
    4.6  Constructive confrontation (e.g. no finger pointing; no
history; focus on the process, not the people; and, you must provide a
constructive alternative when criticizing)
    4.7  Contributions (e.g. everyone does real work)

5.  Set and seize upon a few immediate performance-oriented tasks and
goals.

6.  Challenge the group regularly with fresh facts and information.  New
information causes a potential team to redefine and enrich its
understanding of the performance challenge, thereby helping the team
shape a common purpose, set clearer goals, and improve on its common
approach. ... potential teams err when they assume that all the
information needed exists in the collective experience and knowledge of
the members.

7.  Spend lots of time together.  Common sense tells us that teams must
spend a lot of time together, especially at the beginning.  Yet
potential teams often fail to do so.  The time spent together must be
both scheduled and unscheduled.  Indeed, creative insights as well as
personal bonding require impromptu and casual interactions.

8.  Exploit the power of positive feedback, recognition, and reward. 
Positive reinforcement works as well in a team context as elsewhere. 
'Giving out gold stars' helps to shape new behaviors critical to team
performance.

(p. 128)  The eight 'best practices' summarized in this chapter can
facilitate the risks teams need to take.  But each of the eight--like
any team-building approach you or others might try--will only add value
if it is employed in pursuit of performance. ... cookie
cutter-approaches miss the principal point of teams, namely performance
and the specificity with which teams deliver it.  _Each team must find
its own path to its own unique performance challenge_ ...Joining a team
is a career risk, giving up individual control is a performance risk,
acknowledging personal responsibility for needed change is a self-esteem
risk, allowing others to lead is an institutional risk, and abandoning
hierarchical command and control is a stability risk.  Taking such risks
makes sense only if it unleashes a team's capabilities in pursuit of
performance.  Only than can people avail themselves of the wisdom of
teams.