X-teams: How to Build Teams That Lead, Innovate and Succeed [Hardcover]

Deborah Ancona (Author), Henrik Bresman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1591396921 | ISBN-13: 978-1591396925 | Publication Date: June 26, 2007 | Edition: 1

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 industries, Ancona and Bresman show that traditional team models are falling short, and that what's needed - and what works - is a new brand of team that emphasizes external outreach to stakeholders, extensive ties, expandable tiers, and flexible membership. The authors highlight that X-teams not only are able to adapt in ways that traditional teams aren't, but that they actually improve an organization's ability to produce creative ideas and execute them - increasing the entrepreneurial and innovative capacity within the firm. What's more, the new environment demands what the authors call "distributed leadership," and the book highlights how X-teams powerfully embody this idea.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The authors succeed in conveying the importance of wide-ranging exploration and teamwork as essential for innovation.... --The Financial Times, June 21, 2007

The book expands our thinking about teams...comfortable reading, broken down into clear sections... --The Globe & Mail, September 26, 2007

The authors dive into the nitty-gritty details of engineering a better team... --TIME.com, August 23, 2007

About the Author

Deborah Ancona is the Seley Distinguished Professor of Management at MIT s Sloan School of Management, and faculty director of the MIT Leadership Center. Henrik Bresman is Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at INSEAD. He received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also holds a degree in Economics (MSc) from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 260 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business School Press; 1 edition (June 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591396921
• ISBN-13: 978-1591396925
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #112,576 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new teamwork model that combines an internal focus with an external approach, June 5, 2007

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: X-teams: How to Build Teams That Lead, Innovate and Succeed (Hardcover)

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 all together" as they explain how managers can make the X-team model work for them. In my opinion, the most important material is provided in Part 3 but its value can only be used to maximum advantage if absorbed, digested, and applied within the context created by Parts 1 and 2.

Ancona and Bresman duly note that the traditional model (i.e. one that is internally focused and self-reflective) "works well for groups that do not need to rely on the external environment in which they function." The number of such groups seems to be decreasing, however. All of the changes and consequent challenges that Ancona and Bresman examine in this book suggest the need for a new kind of leadership, "distributed leadership," one that functions at all levels and in all areas of operations. There is also a need for more effective communication, cooperation, and collaboration between senior management and all operational levels.

Although all of the exemplary organizations that Ancona and Bresman examine are large (e.g. BP, Merrill Lynch, Microsoft, Motorola, Oxfam, Pharmaco, Southwest Airlines), I think that much of what Ancona and Bresman recommend - after appropriate modification, of course - can be of substantial benefit to much smaller organizations. For example, they can also engage in relatively high levels of external activity such as forging and then sustaining mutually-beneficial strategic alliances. However, as with much larger organizations, these smaller ones must remain committed to "extreme execution" within the given enterprise each day, even as these organizations proceed through Ancona and Bresman characterize as "flexible phases" (i.e. exploration, exploitation, and exportation) that may require them to change what they do and/or how they do it.

Not all organizations need an X-team. However, decision-makers in all organizations (regardless of size or nature) need to understand the X-team mindset which recognizes and appreciates the importance of "reaching out to far-flung islands of expertise" and of creating new synergies between and among all areas of operation by connecting and aligning "multiple people inside and outside the organization."

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to read Henry Chesbrough's Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape in which he explains that an open business model uses a division of innovation labor "both in the creation of value and in the capture of a portion of that value. Open models create value by leveraging many more ideas, due to their inclusion of a variety of external concepts. Open models can also enable greater value capture, by using a key asset, resource, or position not only in the company's own business model but also in other companies' businesses."

Also Enterprise Architecture As Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution co-authored by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson as well as Richard Ogle's Smart World: Breakthrough Creativity and the New Science of Ideas.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Looking outward instead of being insular..., September 22, 2007

By 

Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: X-teams: How to Build Teams That Lead, Innovate and Succeed (Hardcover)

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.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book!, July 22, 2007

By 

D. M. Loomis (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: X-teams: How to Build Teams That Lead, Innovate and Succeed (Hardcover)

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.