General Resources

This classic book on the power of teams emphasizes a results-oriented approach to team leadership. According to the authors, teams respond more effectively to specific performance expectations than to general exhortations or soft skills. Great team leaders, they suggest, are accountable for organizational goals, build trust and confidence in the team’s ability to accomplish its mission, and help their team members get past individual hurdles.

The author of this book writes a fictional account of a troubled Silicon Valley firm in order to illustrate the five behaviors that he believes limit team success: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. As an additional tool, the author includes a questionnaire for readers to use in evaluating their own teams, and specific strategies to help them understand and overcome these common shortcomings.

This Harvard Business Review article by the authors of The Wisdom of Teams defines a team, noting that not every group is a team, and the three types of teams. The authors discuss how to build team performance and cover the four elements that make teams function.

This leadership book provides techniques on understanding what type of help is needed and how to offer it in professional relationships, which can be applied to teaching, teamwork, and organizational leadership.

A collection of articles from Harvard Business Review, these resources address how team leaders can create high-performing teams. Topics include eight ways to build collaborative teams, the tough work of turning around a team, building the emotional intelligence of groups, and what to do when teams cannot decide.