High Performance Team Books

Unless you are armed with enough of the right knowledge and information, building High Performance Teams can be a tricky business. This reading list will give you the rest of the information you will need to optimize teams at every level in the organization. Together this collection will insure that you avoid the usual traps and pitfalls, provide clarity of team purpose, foster the right environment for teams to properly develop, and reach outstanding levels of team accomplishments and results. I've provided the reasons each is on my "must read" list. Click on the Amazon link to the left to learn more about a given book, or to make a purchase. Donald J. Bodwell

	Alessandra, Tony, and O'Connor, Michael, The Platinum Rule, Warner Books; New York, NY, 1996. A highly effective and complete guide to determining communication and relationship styles. Like many of you I have used Myers-Briggs, DISC, and a host of other 4 dimenisonal behavioral style inventories. The Platinum Rule is one of the best. I've adapted the material from this book into a three hours Communication Styles presentation that is quite effective and easy to understand. Anyone leading or building High Performance Teams should add this one to your reading list. Team members need to know why some naturally zig, while others need to zag.
	Katzenbach, Jon R., and Smith, Douglas K., The Wisdom of Teams , Harvard Business School Press, 1993. (My summary of the book) . A great book on team building by a couple of folks who have been in the trenches. The book explores the range of teams from working group to High Performance Team. Dated, but still 98 percent valid. After all how quickly does human nature change?
	Katzenbach, Jon R., and Smith, Douglas K.Teams at the Top Harvard Business Press, 1997. From my personal experience, building teams at the top is the most challenging assignment. It's simple human nature to want to compete for better positions. Competitive zeal is always strongest near the top of the organization. Katzenback and Smith take on these issues and provide a hopeful path to sucess.
	Kelly, Kevin.Out of Control Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1994 What has this one got to do with high performance teams? Quite a bit if you think about the rules nature imposes. I found many of his insights particularly useful: how swarming bees communicate about where to place the hive; almost all innovation in nature occurs at the margins e.g. forest and plain; and the impecible "9 Laws of God": Distribute being; Control from the bottom up; Cultivate increasing returns; Grow by chunking; Maximize the fringes; Honor your errors; Pursue no optima; seek persistent disequilibium; and Change changes itself. Very deep thoughts herein!
	Lencioni, Patrick M.The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Jossey-Bass, 2002. Two years plus on the Best Sellers list makes this a must read. Lencioni's "five dysfunctions" include: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. I've spent most of my career trying to ignore dysfunctional team behavior by leading them away from the dark side to the light of High Performance. I wish this book had been published years ago. There's even a questionnaire at the back to help you assess your own team's shortcomings.
	McAdams, Jerry.The Reward Plan Advantage: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1996. No one does anything on this earth without a motivation to do so. Teams need to be motivated as well. If you are not going to use the stick...and that would be my recommendation...then use the carrot. McAdams explores the ways teams can be incented to achieve extraordinary obectives. Some are rather unique and tantalizing. To beak top management's mental models about recognition and reward, you need some new approaches. McAdams provides these for you.
	Phillips, Jack J. and Jones, Steven D. In Action: Developing High Performance Work Teams American Society for Training and Development, 1998. 14 case studies of teams that have become, or are becoming, high performance teams. Get inside the teams and see for yourself the critical factors that determine team success. Several cases from manufacturing for those who are interested in creating industrial work teams.
	Shaw, Robert Bruce. Trust in the Balance Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1997. With "trust" all things are possible. Without it...nothing of value is. Shaw looks at examples from Hewlett-Packard, AlliedSignal, Motorola, GE and others as he explores and defines the factors that promote trust or distrust and how organizations can regain trust once it's lost.
	Johansen, Robert, et. alia.Leading Business Teams Addison Wesley, 1991 Communication between team members is a critical factor for team success. Johansen looks at groupware as an enabler. While rapid improvements in technolgy somewhat date the technology discussed in this book, the principles espoused make it a productive read.
	Streibel, Barbara J, et. alia.The Team Handbook Third Edition Oriel, Inc 2003. From improving productivity and quality to six sigma, The Team Handbook covers everything a team will need to know. The Third Edition even has links where you can download the forms and tools described inthe book. Doesn't get much clearer than this!