“A team is more than just the sum of a bunch of individual contributors’ thinking together. A team’s primary work is learning together and making decisions.”

What makes a team? How do you become an effective member of a team? And how does your team become effective together?

Highlights

00:03:15
What makes a team a team? Who and what is the team?
00:04:45
“Cross-functional” means every skill needed to accomplish the team goal is embedded in the team.
00:09:50
Lean guides us to ask those closest to the work to make the decisions about that work.
00:11:10
Sharon has heard this idea of decision-making since the late 70s – and she believes good managers have always known this. Not a new idea!
00:15:45
The worst and most avoidable mistake managers can make is, after asking a team for their perspective, to weigh in with their opinion before listening to what the team thinks. Ask your question and then be quiet.
00:22:30
Decades after knowing better as a business culture, managers still seem to struggle with this issue – complaining they can’t get their team’s feedback while jumping in and giving their opinions before they’ve listened to the team.

Links from this episode