After realizing that the patient spent multiple hours looking at the ceiling, the team brainstormed about how to redesign the ceiling-an often overlooked area of a hospital room.
Team members also scan the environment inside and outside the organization for new ideas, practices or technologies that may be adapted to the team’s needs.įor example, one team at IDEO, an innovation and design consulting firm, learned about customer needs while designing a new emergency room by putting a camera next to a patient’s eye. This might mean conducting a survey of customer needs, hiring a consultant to outline market trends, performing an Internet search on the competition, or just having coffee with an old college professor who is working on innovative products. Team members keep pace with shifts in markets, technologies, cultures and the competition. X-team leaders engage members in scouting for new ideas, opportunities and resources. X-teams differ from traditional teams in three concrete ways: external activity, extreme execution and flexible phases.Įxternal activity.An effective X-team leader engages in high levels of external activity, including scouting, ambassadorship and task coordination. Rather than following the existing wisdom of team performance that focuses primarily on internal team dynamics, X-team leaders also see external outreach as a core mission, mind-set and modus operandi from day one. X-team members become the eyes that read the changing environment, the visionaries who help shape the future and the inventors of innovative solutions to organizational challenges. X-team leaders continuously push members to reach outward to fuel the innovation process. What kind of team and team leader are needed in today’s world? What’s needed and what works is a new kind of team, the “X-team,” with the “X” referring to “external” focus. Teams cannot look solely inward they must augment their internal focus with an external approach that enables them to innovate and align with leadership up and down the organizational hierarchy. Organizations need to leverage new ideas, expertise, vision and commitment wherever they are found.
In today’s hyper-competitive business environment, success and survival depend on innovation, speed and organizational synergies that satisfy customer needs. And that wall can prevent the team from adapting to change and delivering value to the organization. These internal dynamics-while positive-can create a wall between the team and the outside world. This model of internal team dynamics has been burnt into our brains and is now what we think of as best practice.īut research shows that “good” teams often fail even with the above attributes. Their responses reflect the wisdom found in the business literature and the guidelines in team training sessions. While lists differ somewhat from one group to the next, the pattern is clear: “Good” team leaders build camaraderie, confidence in members’ abilities and a solid process for working together. What accounts for high team performance? When we ask groups of team leaders this question, the usual answers pour out: “top-notch talent,” “team members work well together,” “clear goals,” “members are committed to the mission,” “highly motivated to perform” and “trust.” In today's world where team success depends on innovation and speed, leaders need to take an external approach.
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