Committed Teams

Build high-performing teams with an evidence-based framework that delivers results

Committed is a practical handbook for building great teams. Based on research from Wharton’s Executive Development Program (EDP), this concise guide identifies the common challenges that arise when people work together as a group and provides key guidance on breaking through the barriers to peak performance. Committed draws its insights from the EDP’s living lab: an intensive two-week simulation during which executive-level participants run complex global businesses. The authors have observed over 100 teams collaborating and competing for over 100 combined years in this intense environment. It has yielded fundamental insights about teamwork: what usually goes wrong, what frequently goes right, and the methods and techniques that will help you access your team’s full potential. These insights have been distilled into a simple, repeatable process that you can start applying today.

Getting teams engaged and aligned is hard. Committed will give you the tools you need to deal with all of the familiar teamwork challenges that get in the way: organizational politics, delegation, coordination, and aligning skills and motivation. Using vivid stories and examples from the worlds of business, sports, and non-profits, it will teach you how to:

• Understand the dynamics of successful teams
• Achieve peak performance using a research-backed methodology
• Gain expert insight into why most teams underperform
• Learn the critical points common to all great teams

Committed gives you the perspective you need to combine the right people with the right way of collaborating to achieve extraordinary results.

Preface ix

Introduction: “Can I Make My Team Work?” xi

Part One 1

1 Commit: To Know the Rules, You Have to Make Them 3

2 Check: What You Don’t Know Is Probably Hurting You 23

3 Close: To Bridge the Saying-Doing Gap, Act Like a STAR 49

4 Pay Attention:The Seven Common Mistakes You Are Probably Making 69

Part Two 89

5 Can You Hear Me Now? Making Virtual Teams Work 91

6 No Time for Teamwork? Lessons from Startups 107

7 Who Has a Good Idea? Insights on Innovation 123

8 Lead or Follow? Guidelines for Leadership Groups 139

9 Why Are We Here? Engaging Committees 157

Conclusion: The Future Is Teams 173

Acknowledgments 189

Notes 191

Resources 207

Bibliography 213

The Authors 217

Index 219

"The future for most organisations is now and this book offers invaluable help."??(IEDP, September 2016)

MARIO MOUSSA teaches in the Executive Education programs at The Wharton School of Business. MADELINE BOYER and DEREK NEWBERRY are lecturers in the Wharton undergraduate program. All three authors advise senior leaders at the world's top companies and organizations.

Several times a year, dozens of senior leaders from around the globe form competing teams in the Executive Development Program at The Wharton School of Business. Observing over 100 groups working together in this intense living laboratory, the authors created a groundbreaking teamwork process and are now making it available to you. Committed Teams distills their insights down to a simple, repeatable framework that generates exceptional results.

A practical how-to guide, Committed Teams is divided into two parts. Part One describes the three essential steps that produce high-performing teams: establishing commitments, building productive relationships, and closing the gap between stated goals and day-to-day behaviors. It also addresses the inevitable challenges that teams encounter in accessing their full potential. Part Two applies the three-step process to the five most common types of teaming: virtual teams, start-ups, innovation projects, leadership groups, and committees. The result is an engaging mix of stories and real-world wisdom presented through:

• Vivid examples illustrating principles that drive successful teamwork in every industry and every part of the world
• Strategies and tips for overcoming the typical problems you face in collaborating with others
• Worksheets, checklists, and other tools for applying the three-step framework and engaging your teammates

Today's complex, high-speed, global workplace requires that you build high-performing teams. Committed Teams shows how to get the job done.

Praise for COMMITTED TEAMS

"Committed Teams starts with a simple insight—that the fundamentals of good teamwork are easy to understand but tough to put into practice. It's full of engaging stories and practical advice for closing the knowing-doing gap."
—Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take and Originals

"As an NFL executive and former 15-year professional player, I know the power of a team. The authors have broken down teamwork to an understandable science that will inform all who seek to master the art of working together for a common goal."
—Troy Vincent, Sr., Executive Vice President of NFL Football Operations

BUILD HIGH-PERFORMING TEAMS WITH A PROVEN FORMULA FOR SUCCESS

Committed Teams: Three Steps to Inspiring Passion and Performance is based on a deceptively simple philosophy: set a direction, try to stay on track, and make adjustments when necessary. Easy to do? Hardly—especially when the typical workday is time-crunched, stressful, and deadline-driven. Drawing on research done at the Wharton School of Business, the authors reveal how to deliver results under these tough conditions.

Tested and refined in Wharton's Executive Development Program, Committed Teams will help you gain buy-in for shared objectives, assign roles to the right people, and establish norms for effective collaboration. Whether your team aims to execute a strategy, produce breakthrough innovations, collaborate across global boundaries, or launch a new venture, this how-to guide offers the pragmatic advice you need. Engaging stories and illustrative examples from business, entertainment, sports, and the arts bring the three-step process to life.

This game-changing book provides the tools for:

• Aligning every member of your team behind a motivating vision
• Making team meetings efficient and productive
• Closing the gap between stated goals and actual behaviors

If you want to be competitive in a demanding, fast-paced work environment, you need to rely on a high-performing team. Committed Teams is the indispensable resource for creating one.