Customer Reviews

Extraordinary Groups: How Ordinary Teams Achieve Amazing Results

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book provides an in depth and detailed analysis of teams and groups. After reading it I realized just how much about teams I don't really know. This book will remain with me for a long time and I will use it as a resource in my future consulting around team development. I encourage everyone from all walks of life to use this book as a tool for engaging people in the 21st century.

This is clearly one of the best books on teams ever written. The concepts are fresh, the insights provocative, and the take-aways practical. I have recommended it to lots of my clients seeking to improve the work of groups--a setting we spend a huge part of our lives.

Chip Bell, Author
Take Their Breath Away

As a team leader and a member of several collaborative groups, I found this book to be as extraordinary as its title. I have read dozens of books about leadership and group dynamics, but this is the first book that breaks the process down into an easy to follow model (including six needs, eight indicators, and four feelings). It has twenty-six very simple and easily applied suggestions to, as the authors suggest, live the promise of extraordinary groups, and is full of stories from the authors' field study that help demonstrate the principles. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to help create and participate in an extraordinary group.

I'm currently using this book as a way to refocus our English Language Arts Dept. I feel empowered to create more cohesion in our group of, shall we say, "big personalities." Just reading this book has lit a fire in me that has already influenced the other group members in a positive way. I'm using the practical exercises & questions in the book to get the team focused and enthusiastic. I highly recommend this for any workplace, and am even bringing some of its messages to my informal book club. Thanks!

Geoff and Kathy have done a GREAT piece of writing, creating an elegant model that adds important insight into groups. They are explicit in their definitions which are easy to understand. Their research is well presented and the case studies are informative and easy to follow. Most of all, the reflection questions they have created allow you to assess your own experience with and contributions to a group. As an organization consultant for more than 20 years, I highly recommend it.

I found Extraordinary Groups to be a very down to earth, practical yet sophisticated book about what is possible when a group of people work together to create something special. I have worked in exceptional teams before, and I learned a lot about the attributes of what makes a group exceptional or not. This will be an excellent resource for anyone to use as they work with teams, allowing them to see what is possible. I especially like the model that Bellman and Ryan put together which shows the relationship between self awareness and group transformation.

This book advances a simple yet elegant model of group needs in service of desired organizational transformation. This model is immediately memorable and, as such, is a useful map of the prerequisite conditions for transformative change with accessible and useful guides for fostering these conditions. The language is plain, practical and clearly intended to be applied to real world contexts. At the same time, one also appreciates the heart, and evident concern for the human condition, present throughout this exceptional book.

Extraordinary Groups extends Katenback & Smith (The Wisdom of Teams) Model of a High Performance Team from an understanding of team or group dynamics toward an awareness of ourselves and the external world. Bellman and Ryan offer sets of questions and actions that are helpful to folks who want to help teams develop. I found the appendices to be equally useful. There are team exercises, a concise summary of their model with a robust set of additional resources. Their personal insights into the co-authoring process are uniquely revealing as well.

Bellman and Ryan provide a useful model for understanding the elements of extraordinary teams. They also provide thought-provoking questions for teams to consider in achieving extraordinary status. Reading their work is inspirational and will hopefully help leaders create stellar experiences for team members in a range of settings: corporations, public organizations, non profit agencies, churches, schools, etc. This is an important addition to leadership literature.

Geoff and Kathy's book is full of dynamic insights and principles that I wish everyone in my life was exposed to. All of us are part of group life--as leaders or members, at work or in our communities. As an Organization Development professional, I work with groups all the time, and one thing I notice is that we often have high expectations of groups without recognizing how intentional we need to be if we want these expectations to be met! Geoff and Kathy, often through use of captivating stories, help us understand what exactly it is that makes a group extraordinary. It's not just luck or chemistry--we can create the kind of groups we want. I haven't been able to put this book down.