Why Teams Don't Work: What Went Wrong and How to Make It Right

The first books about teams told you how great teaming would be. But the truth is, reality is falling short of its promise. Why Teams Don't Work tells you how it really is. According to Robbins and Finley: "A team is a surprising, perplexing, up-and-down, value-creating thing. A human thing that needs a ton of attention. That has to be pampered, fed, stroked, and have its pen hosed out from time to time."
They concede that teams are messy - and prone to as many problems as human nature allows: teams become confused about their goals, individual team members don't accept their roles, teams have a hard time making decisions, team members often aren't rewarded appropriately, and team leaders don't always act like one.
In fact, few will deny that the promise of teams has fallen far short of our expectations. But we keep hearing about them because when they work, teams increase productivity, improve communications, do work ordinary groups can't, and are more creative and efficient.
Packed with down-to-earth questions and answers about teams, Why Teams Don't Work identifies the obstacles preventing teams from achieving their potential (most of them people-made), suggests ways to remove those obstacles, and explains how to take care of those "human things." That's what makes this book special - its focus on the human factors of teamwork. Robbins and Finley know what goes wrong with teams - and how to make it right.