Teaming

Continuous improvement, understanding complex systems, and promoting innovation are all part of the landscape of learning challenges today''s companies face. Amy Edmondson shows that organizations thrive, or fail to thrive, based on how well the small groups within those organizations work. In most organizations, the work that produces value for customers is carried out by teams, and increasingly, by flexible team-like entities. The pace of change and the fluidity of most work structures means that it''s not really about creating effective teams anymore, but instead about leading effective teaming.

Teaming shows that organizations learn when the flexible, fluid collaborations they encompass are able to learn. The problem is teams, and other dynamic groups, don''t learn naturally. Edmondson outlines the factors that prevent them from doing so, such as interpersonal fear, irrational beliefs