Teams are everywhere-in all kinds of organizations. Some work beautifully to produce wonderful successes; others are miserable failures. Why? The authors conducted research with over 6,000 team members and discovered five factors that determine a team's success: collaboration, relationships, group processes, leadership, and the organizational environment. This book is a report of what they learned, loaded with plenty of advice for increasing team effectiveness.

After an introductory prologue, the book delivers five well-organized chapters that correspond to the factors of success. The first chapter explores what makes a good team member--abilities and behaviors that matter. What determines how collaborative someone will be in a team setting? The second chapter examines relationships among members of teams: what's most important, where are the greatest challenges, and how can you make it all work?

In the third chapter, the authors look into team problem solving. Included are the distinguishing factors of good problem-solving teams, dynamics and processes of solving problems and making decisions, and building systems that support results. Chapter four really digs into the team leader, reviewing six key dimensions of the role. This chapter alone is worth buying this book. Following the research-based model, the last chapter zeros in on the organizational environment. The authors evaluate management practices, structure and processes, and systems in an insightful look at how the environment affects team performance.

Each chapter is preceded by a one-page Snapshot that offers a valuable overview of the chapter. Two indexes and a half-dozen pages of notes add more value to this volume. Good flow, readable, and useful. Recommended as a good tool for team leaders, members, and encouragers in any organization.

When Teams Work Best: 6,000 Team Members And Leaders Tell What It Takes To Succeed by Frank LaFasto (Senior Vice President of Organization Effectiveness for Cardinal health, Inc.) and Carl Larson (Professor of Human Communication, University of Denver) is a practical, "user friendly" guide to the harnessing the power of cooperation and teamwork for increased productivity and effectiveness. Individual chapters address what makes a good team member, what makes a good leader, problem solving methodologies, and how to best promote confidence and trust. When Teams Work Best is very highly recommended for anyone charged with the corporate responsibility for cultivating business group work skills!

LaFasto and Larson have composed a MUST READ guide for maximizing team effectiveness. Rich in content and advice, will give readers and indepth perspective on how to unleash the power of Teams.

There's an enormous amount of reading material on teams and teamwork and this book is one of the best. Its highly rational approach condenses studies of high performing teams. The authors found eight common characteristics and explain in enough detail why they are important. They include excerpts from the leaders and teams they have studied. They also state that the two most common reasons for team failure are politics and personal agendas. They include a quote from Duke Drake: "The minute the politicians take over and start worrying about what's in it for me, you're dead in the water."

Teams are the only way to address our increasingly interrelated and complex problems. In practice teamwork is rare and the reason may be that many managers advance due to their political ability. I doubt that upper managers will ever be able to truly give up the skills that brought them there.

These authors studied all different sorts of teams (everything from a Mount Everest expedition and a Notre Dame championship football teams to the group that invented Chicken McNuggets) in order to determine what they had in common. The book is highly readable and describes eight common principles that could be implemented to improve the function of any team. It is also full of interesting comments and stories from the study. I highly recommend the book for any team member (not only managers) since the book also clearly describes how the individal can influence the success of the entire team.

Larson and LaFasto put their outstanding research into easy-to-understand language. The book is foundation reading for executives and team members who want to understand the key variables that spell success for teams. And it's an easy-reading 138 pages presented so anyone (5th grade reading level!) can understand their findings. I know the authors, and have the utmost respect for their scientific methodology and experience. We use the matching team/ leadership assessment and training program to help client organizations plan, build, and fix their teams. Really an excellent reader, and a foundation of our consulting practice.

This book is written in an accessible and practical format. It assumes nothing but at the same time treats the reader as an intelligent participant on the journey to understanding evidence based practice.

It is up to date and I was especially impressed with the web address it gives to ensure the reader is kept abreast of any changes since publication.

It systematically explains the need and use of 'evidence', how to find it (the search advice is comprehensive and includes details such as search terms and the best search engines aswell as web addresses) how to evaluate it and also how to act on it.

All in all this book was great, and I would reccomend it to anyone involved in evidence based healthcare practice as it will guide you through the thorniest problems.