High-Performance Teams: The Katzenbach-Smith Collection (2 Books)

8

Teams, Obstacles, and Endings

Getting Unstuck

OBSTACLES ARE A continual fact of life for teams. They occur from the moment a potential team gathers until the team comes to an end. Obstacles also differ as much as the teams, performance challenges, organizational settings, and business contexts that produce them. The Burlington Northern Intermodal Team, for example, encountered weak support from management, policies against advertising, distrust of truckers, and mediocre talent in the intermodal department. It also faced bad weather, intense competition, and a poor economy when it had to prove its strategy with the two new hubs. Any of these obstacles could have derailed the team’s progress and performance. None of them did. Indeed, working ...