Think Like an Entrepreneur, Act Like a CEO

36 How to Foster Great Teams, Even if You’re Not the Leader

When I want a quick sense of whether a new client is working well with a team, I take a look at how the members communicate.

Jenna* was an agency branch chief who wanted to help her 14 direct reports become more innovative and productive. Years ago, her branch had been organized into cascading layers, with three deputy chiefs each managing two to four people. That kind of top-down organization made sense when it was the only way to assure the distribution of accurate information. But the old command-and-control model became out of date with the advent of e-mail and other technology. Now that the agency was much flatter, its leaders were exploring new ways to arrange the workload.

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