X-Teams: How to Build Teams That Lead, Innovate, and Succeed

by Henrik Bresman and Deborah G. Ancona

Book Overview

Why do good teams fail? Very often, argue Deborah Ancona and Henrik Bresman, it is because they are looking inward instead of outward. Based on years of research examining teams across many... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591396921
• ISBN13: 9781591396925
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

A methodology for managing teams and projects.

Years of research show that a team that focuses solely on internal team building is likely to fail. The "X-team" emphasizes external activity, and a flexible membership and leadership structure. Deborah Ancona and Henrik Bresman write that such a team is not only more likely to succeed, but will often exceed managerial expectations. This book, divided into three sections, tells you why some teams fail, how to create one that works and how to manage it through every phase of a project. The authors make liberal use of examples from major corporations, such as BP and Microsoft, to illustrate all their principles. The terminology is somewhat proprietary, but the approach makes a great deal of sense. We recommend this book to managers and team members alike.

Looking outward instead of being insular...

Much of the literature you read on building teams in the workplace deal with the internal interactions of the group... how they get along, building morale, etc. Deborah Ancona and Henrik Bresman offer up a different take on team success in the book X-teams: How to Build Teams That Lead, Innovate and Succeed. Given my experience over the years, their methodology is likely to be more successful than the conventional approach. Contents: Part 1 - Why Good Teams Fail: Into a Downward Spiral; A Changing World Part 2 - What Works: X-Team Principle 1 - External Activity; X-Team Principle 2 - Extreme Execution; X-Team Principle 3 - Flexible Phases; X-Factors - The X-Team Support Structure Part 3 - How To Build Effective X-Teams: Tools for X-Teams - From Theory to Action; Crafting an Infrastructure for Innovation - The X-Team Program; X-Teams - Distributed Leadership in Action Notes; Index; About the Authors The most noticeable difference between the conventional team and the X-Team is the focus of their activity... external. Instead of spending time waiting for the team to gel and feel secure, waiting for the rules and directions to be established, Ancona and Bresman advocate for an external focus. Get out in the field immediately and start talking to the potential customers and clients. This tilt towards immediate action may well lead to a moderate level of confusion and frustration on the team in the early days, but the net result is a quick start and insights that can't be gleaned from existing knowledge. Couple this with active "ambassadorship" and flexible membership and team roles, and things get done rather than just being talked about. The authors have done a lot of study and research in this field, and many of the examples (both good and bad) are real companies with actual teams that created successful products. This emphasis on real world results is good, as otherwise this could come across as a nice academic exercise with no track record to back it up. This would make a good read for team leaders and management who are dissatisfied with how their teams are currently functioning (or not, as the case may be). There's no promise that following these steps will make your next project smooth and successful, but it could significantly increase the odds of showing results.

Excellent book!

X-Teams is great book for those who participate on or manage any type of team within the corporate environment. The theme is that successful teams spend more time externally focused rather than internally focused on their team itself. The last 1/3 of the book are very practical tools and tips for establishing and managing successful teams. These are concepts learned from countless interviews and intensive research over the years by the leadership team at MIT. I highly recommend this book.

Xtreme Teams

Great book, really puts in perspective what we've all been taught about teamwork about focusing within the team members and not looking to the outside. It's a very concise and easy read for anyone.

A new teamwork model that combines an internal focus with an external approach

Years ago, I read Organizing Genius in which co-authors Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman examine a number of what they call "great groups" that reveal "the secrets of creative collaboration." One of their most important points is introduced in the first chapter: "None of us is as smart as all of us." That is to say, the "Great Man" theory is invalidated by the achievements of truly creative teams such as those at the Disney studios which produced so many animation classics; at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) which developed the first personal computer; at Apple Computer which then took it to market; in the so-called "War Room" which helped to elect Bill Clinton President in 1992; at the so-called "Skunk Works" where so many of Lockheed's greatest designs were formulated; at Black Mountain College which "wasn't simply a place where creative collaboration took place. It was about creative collaboration"; and at Los Alamos (NM) and the University of Chicago where the Manhattan Project eventually produced a new weapon called "the Gadget." I mention all this by way of introducing my reactions to X-Teams in which Deborah Ancona and Henrik Bresman assert that in recent years, the world has changed and the old model (i.e. one with an internal focus but lacking an external approach) "doesn't work so well anymore." The title of this book refers to teams that lead, innovate, and succeed in a rapidly changing environment. According to Ancona and Bresman, an X-team differs from a traditional team in three main ways. "First, to create effective goals, plans, and designs, members must go outside the team; they must have high levels of external activity...Second, X-teams combine all of that productive activity with extreme execution inside the team. X-teams develop internal processes that enable members to coordinate their work and execute effectively while simultaneously carrying out activity...Third, X-teams incorporate flexible phases, shifting their activities over the team's lifetime." Note the emphasis on extensive ties to those outside the given organization who enable teams to venture beyond traditional boundaries, coordinate their activities, and adapt over time. Also, what Ancona and Bresman characterize as "expandable ties" that allow X-teams to structure themselves. Moreover, exchangeable membership maximizes options to include members who join and leave the team as well as to rotate leadership. Ancona and Bresman carefully organize their material within three Parts. First, they examine the dominant "internal view" and explain how the business world has changed in fundamental ways (e.g. rapid and extensive expansion of the space of critical knowledge) and thereby rendering the old paradigm obsolete. Next, they build a framework to overcome the challenges. They outline the building blocks needed for teams to engage in "a complex web of complementary internal and external activities." Finally, in Part 3, Ancona and Bresman "pull it