Superior Teams; What They Are and How to Develop Them

Citation

Hale, R. (1999), "Superior Teams; What They Are and How to Develop Them", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 31 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.1999.03731aad.002

Superior Teams; What They Are and How to Develop Them

Superior Teams ­ What They Are and How to Develop Them

Dennis KinlawGower1998

Keywords Model, Performance, Team building, Teamwork

On the face of it, this publication claims to fill a surprisingly unfilled gap in the literature on teams by providing a pragmatic, empirically-based model of "superior teams". Kinlaw's book is based on his own survey data and workshops and this grounding in the real world of working with teams, through his own consultancy, is a strength.

In the early part of the book, much reference is made to the uniqueness of the model and there is much evangelizing regarding the need for teams and team working ­ "there is no ceiling to the potential of a team", "now teams are the initiative". Equally, there are perennial references to the concept of continuous improvement and customer service.

Kinlaw's enthusiasm is admirable and to some extent infectious. However, the "hard sell" and truisms might be better given over to more detailed case studies and examples.

Reference is made to a number of critical issues that indeed have not been covered sufficiently elsewhere. There are matters we would really like more guidance on in working through teams: global teams, leaderless teams, self-directed teams, driving change through teamwork, exploiting technology, etc. Some of these subjects are discussed but somewhat superficially.

There are many useful checklists, definitions, steps and procedures, based on the author's experience and the "hand-holding" style leads one to conclude that this would be a good starting point for someone wondering where to begin in considering how their organization measures up.

The anecdotes from the author's experience are interesting and one feels there should have been more of these, or the existing ones should have been worked up into more substantial case studies, showing how Kinlaw's model has been used in practice.

Surprisingly, given the frequent claims of the strength of the "Model for superior team development and performance", it is not actually covered until chapter 5. It may have been better to cover this at the start of the book.

The model consists of four areas ­ results, leadership, processes and feelings ­ and it is this final concept of the feelings generated by superior teams that actually does seem to offer an unusual angle and is something which could have been given more coverage.

Subsequent chapters unpack the model and the appendix includes the "Superior team development inventory". The idea of the inventory as a diagnostic questionnaire is good, as readers can profile teams against the model and good practice. It is lengthy, however, and it is more likely the reader will use it to generate thought-provoking questions rather than use it in its entirety.

Overall, one might challenge Kinlaw's suggestions that this book really does add substantially to the body of knowledge on teams and previous work on, for instance, the wisdom of teams, super teams and team roles. Maybe he tries to cover too much and therefore does not do justice to key aspects of team working. Nonetheless, an enthusiastic and pragmatic contribution.

Richard HaleIMC Consulting