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

"A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are
committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which
they hold themselves mutually accountable." (p. 45)

1.  Meaningful shared purpose
2.  Specific shared performance goals
3.  Common approach
4.  Complementary skills
5.  Mutual accountability

p. 47 Complementary skills in all three categories
    1. technical or functional expertise
    2. problem-solving and decision-making skills, e.g.:
        2.1 identify problems and opportunities
        2.2 evaluate options
        2.3 make tradeoffs and decisions
        2.4 follow through
        2.5 reflect on and learn from experience
    3. Interpersonal skills, e.g.:
        3.1 effective communication
        3.2 constructive conflicts, dialogues, and discussions
        3.3 risk-taking and recovery from failures
        3.4 helpful criticism
        3.5 objectivity
        3.6 active listening
        3.7 giving the benefit of the doubt
        3.8 mutual support
        3.9 recognizing and acknowledging the interests and achievements
            of others

    "Interestingly, however, an equally common error is to
_overemphasize_ skills in team selection. ... Yet, in our research, we
did not meat a single team that had all the needed skills at the outset.
We did discover, however, the power of teams as vehicles for personal
learning and development.  Their performance focus helps teams quickly
identify skill gaps and the specific development needs of team members
to fill them. The shared commitment in teams encourages a healthy fear
of failure as opposed to debilitating insecurity among those challenged
to learn.  Finally, each team member's sense of individual
accountability to the team promotes learning.  Once harnessed to a
common purpose and set of goals, natural individualism motivates
learning in teams.  Except for certain technical and functional skills,
most of us have the potential to learn the skills needed in teams.  And
individualism drives the majority of us to find some way to make our own
distinctive and individual contribution to the team.  Accordingly, as
long as the skill _potential_ exists, the dynamics of a team cause that
skill to develop." (p. 48)

Committed to a common meaningful purpose and performance goals

1.  A common, meaningful purpose sets the tone and aspiration
    "Teams develop direction, momentum, and commitment by working to
shape a meaningful purpose." (p. 49)
    "the best teams invest a tremendous amount of time and effort
exploring, shaping, and agreeing on a purpose that belongs to them both
collectively and individually.  In fact, real teams never stop this
'purposing' activity because of its value in clarifying implications for
members.  With enough time and sincere attention, one or more borad,
meaningful aspirations invariably arise that motive teams and provide a
fundamental reason for their extra effort." (p. 50)
    "Most important, team purposes give teams an identity that reaches
beyond the sum of the individuals involved.  This team identity keeps
conflict--something both necessary and threatening to
teams--constructive by providing a meaningful standard against which to
resolve clashes between the interests of the individual and the
interests of the team.  Armed with team purpose, everyone on the team
knows when an individual may be getting out of line and must put the
team first or else risk breaking it apart." (p. 53)

2.  Specific performance goals are an integral part of the purpose
    "Transforming broad directives into specific and measurable
performance goals is the surest first step for a team trying to shape a
common purpose meaningful to its members." (p. 53)
    2.1 They define a team work-product
    2.2 they facilitate clear communications and constructive conflict
    2.3 they help teams maintain focus on getting results
    2.4 they have a leveling effect--status and personality don't count,
        only what and how each individual contributes to achieving the
        team's goals
    2.5 they allow the team to achieve small wins on the way to
        achieving a meaningful long-term purpose.
    2.6 "Last, performance goals are compelling.  They challenge people
on the team to commit themselves, as a team, to make a difference. 
Drama, urgency, and a healthy fear of failure combine to drive teams who
have their collective eye on an attainable goal. ... Nobody beyond the
team could make it happen.  It was _their_ challenge." (p. 55)

3.  The combination is essential to performance.
"A team's purpose and specific performance goals have a symbiotic
relationship; each depends on the other to stay relevant and vital." (p. 55) 

Committed to a common approach
    "Teams also need to develop a common approach--that is, how they
will work together to accomplish their purpose.  Indeed, they should
invest just as much time and effort crafting their working approach as
shaping their purpose..." (p. 56)
    1. Who will do particular jobs
    2. How schedules will be set and adhered to
    3. What skills need to be developed
    4. How continuing membership is to be earned
    5. How the group will make and modify decisions
    6. When and how to modify the approach to getting the job done
    "Agreeing on the specifics of work and how it fits together to
integrate individual skills and advance team performance lies at the
heart of shaping a common approach." (p. 56)
    "...effective teams always have team members who, over time, assume
important social as well as leadership roles such as challenging,
interpreting, supporting, integrating, remembering, and summarizing...We
emphasize, however, that such roles evolve over time to meet performance
needs." (p. 56)

Mutual Accountability
    "No group ever becomes a team until it can hold itself accountable
as a team.  Like common purpose and approach, this is a stiff test. 
Think, for example, about the subtle but critical difference between
'the boss holds me accountable' and 'we hold ourselves accountable.' 
The first case can lead to the second; but, without the second, there
can be no team.
    "At its core, team accountability is about the sincere promises we
make to ourselves and others, promises that underpin two critical
aspects of teams: commitment and trust. ..." (p. 60)