About this course -- How to take this course -- Pre-test -- 1. The business case for teams -- Many problems -- One solution with variations -- Example 1: Union Sanitary District (USD) -- Example 2: Y2K vigilantes at Gartner -- Example 3: AXAs eDOX Team -- Example 4: Gartner's WCW 2000 Team -- Just what is a team anyway? -- Why teams outperform individuals -- Teams vs. teamwork -- Kinds of teams -- Recap -- Review questions -- 2. When to form teams -- Ready for teams? Not yet -- Three situations that cry out for teams -- Warning: crisis ahead -- Needed & do more with less -- The moving target: continuous improvement -- Teams make (dollars and) sense -- Three conditions needed for success -- Condition 1: Long-term, visible management support -- Condition 2: Willingness to fail and learn from it -- Condition 3: Zeal for acquiring new skills -- When teamwork works better than teams -- Absent: the three conditions -- Nobody trusts nobody -- Sharing information is enough -- Individual contributions are enough -- Advocating for teams -- Recap -- Review questions -- 3. Characteristics of successful teams -- What successful teams have, reviewed -- What successful teams do -- A most unusual investment firm -- Recap -- Review questions -- 4. Getting off to a good start -- Start-up steps -- One more giant step for new teams -- Catching up -- Recap -- Review questions -- 5. What team leaders do -- It's never lonely at the top, it's way too lively -- Responsibilities of team leaders -- Track progress and coordinate the work -- Keep the team focused on performance goals -- Motivate team members -- Facilitate team meetings -- Facilitate team problem solving and decision making -- Remove obstacles -- Report to upper management -- Relate to outside stakeholders -- Additional responsibilities of project team leaders -- Additional leadership roles in permanent work unit teams -- Responsibilities of executive sponsors -- How one sponsor defined his role -- Recap -- Review questions -- 6. What team members do -- What you should expect from team members -- Task-related responsibilities -- People-related responsibilities -- Team process responsibilities -- Assessing team member performance -- Recap -- Review questions -- 7. Measuring team effectiveness -- Measuring team effectiveness at AMD -- What to measure -- Start with the right goals -- Measure processes as well as outcomes -- Measure all the team's accomplishments -- Measure individual contributions as well as team performance -- How to measure -- Recap -- Review questions -- 8. Hurdling obstacles -- Resistance to teaming -- Converting the unbelievers -- Resistance from the outside -- Conflicting priorities -- Lack of cooperation among teams -- Intra-team dissention -- Individual performance problems -- Loss of focus -- Slow pace of organizational change -- Inconsistent management support -- Recap -- Review questions -- 9. Handling team transitions -- New team member -- New leader -- New goals -- Closure when goals are met -- Recap -- Review questions.