Insights from Book: "Team Genius: The New Science of High-Performing Organizations" (Part 1)

Here's some insights that I have gathered from my interpretations of the book "Team Genius: The New Science of High-Performing Organizations" by Michael S. Malone and Rich Karlgaard.

So, the book largely covers the science behind team building and operations, which is critical for an effective command-ship as a leader and player of a team (either or both). Here's some of the great points.

PART 1: What great teams do?

1) Communication is key!

Great teams communicate frequently. High performing teams usually have close to a dozen conversations between themselves and the outside world within every work hour. Its is merely a trend or observation but it holds true in majority of the good teams out there.

Contrary to common understanding, most of the ideas are most effectively conveyed not via formal conversations, but during informal "small talks" (or "kopi-chats" in local context). Why? A guess was that formal conversation sets a barrier to free expression of ideas, since there would usually be a unspoken conscious on what to say and what not to say on the table-top, and members tend to be conservative on what they are gonna say in such a formal setting.

2) Mutual respect + Equal footing

Members talk and listen in equal measure. Everyone in the team is unique and deserves a listening ear. A good team tend to have an even distribution of communication share among each member, which in other words, every member have a fairly equal share of the amount of content they present to the group. Bad teams often have teams within teams (i.e. divided fronts that have a lack of consensus) or have members who talk/ listen but not both, which often results in a one way communication.

A common problem for work groups, especially student-led groups, tend to have most of the weight laying on a single person, or a couple of people that are usually outspoken. And, whether with or without consensus, most of the teams would naturally let the outspoken ones to take the initiative on the course of action and direction of the group.

3) A resourceful warehouse

A good team often have members looking for ideas and information outside the group. Members would intermittently or consistently connect with various outside sources (especially for skill-sets and knowledge that are lacking in its members)

These teams often have a well kept record of useful info that they can leverage on should they need it in the future.

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