Teams at the Top : Unleashing the Potential of Both Teams and Individual Leaders

It is common knowledge that CEOs declare their direct reports as a team at the top. Yet with a culture of individual accountability and self-reliance pervading executive suites, few management groups ever function as real teams. Now, in a natural follow-up to his bestselling "The Wisdom of Teams", Jon Katzenbach offers practical guidelines for increasing leadership capacity at the highest executive levels. He shows how even the strongest and most successful CEO can improve a company's performance by turning the senior executive group into a real team - without sacrificing each member's individual leadership capabilities. "Teams at the Top" explains how to recognize when a team effort at the management level is preferable and when a work group under single leadership will do. Then, the book shows how to develop the capability to shift into whichever mode is appropriate. With stories and examples from well-known companies including Avon, Ben & Jerry's, Citicorp, and Clorox, "Teams at the Top" will help companies of all sizes and in all industries maximize the full potential of their leadership. Teams at the Top shows how even the strongest and most successful CEO can improve the performance of various leadership groupings by enabling senior executives and next-level leaders to function as real teams as well as single-leader units - all without sacrificing each member's individual leadership capabilities and results. Teams at the Top explains how to recognize when a team effort at the upper management level is preferable and when a working group under single leadership fits best. Then, the book demonstrates how to develop the capability to shift into whichever mode is appropriate to the task at hand, integrating the discipline required for real teams with the discipline needed for executive leadership without compromising one in favor of the other. With stories and examples from well-known companies - including Enron, Ben & Jerry's, Champion, Citicorp, and Mobil - and lessons that are applicable for management groups throughout the organization, this book will help companies of all sizes and in all industries maximize the full potential of their leadership. Why is it that we often see less team performance at the top of organizations than we see elsewhere? Despite the label "teams," top leaders tend to avoid teaming and the real progress is made behind closed doors, not at the team meetings. After writing The Wisdom of Teams , Katzenbach discovered there are special dynamics that characterize leadership groups at the top. Many times so-called teams are really working groups with a single leader--and often, these non-team groups at the top work pretty well. He explains that the solution doesn't lie in mandating teams or in changing top leaders' styles, or even in designing a better top team structure; rather, the key is in clearly differentiating between team and non-team opportunities and developing the capability to shift into different leadership modes, different leadership roles, and appropriate team membership composition depending upon the desired results. High-performing organizations require a balanced leadership effort that fully exploits non-team as well as team approaches.

This follow-up to the bestselling The Wisdom of Teams offers practical guidelines for increasing leadership capacity at the highest executive levels.

European Quality

While this rich and rewarding work focuses on senior management, its message is equally applicable to all 'teams who run things.

Offers advice on improving performance, and covers leadership, goal setting, skill development, and discipline