Speeding Up Team
Learning
Amy Edmondson, Richard Bohmer,
and Gary Pisano | page 46
Cardiac surgery is one of medicine’s modern
miracles. In the operating room, a patient is
rendered functionally dead while a surgical
team repairs or replaces damaged arteries
or valves. Each operation requires incredible
teamwork— a single error can have disastrous
consequences. In other words, surgical teams
are not all that different from the cross-
functional teams that have become crucial
to business success.
The challenge of team management these
days is not simply to execute existing pro cesses
effi ciently. It’s to implement new processes—
as quickly as possible. But adopting new tech-
nologies or new business pro cesses is highly
disruptive, regardless of industry. The authors
studied how surgical teams at 16 major medical
centers implemented a diffi cult new procedure
for performing cardiac surgery. The setting was
ideal for rigorously focusing on how teams learn
and why some learn faster than others.
The authors found that the most success-
ful teams had leaders who actively managed
the groups’ learning efforts. Teams that most
successfully implemented the new technol-
ogy shared three essential characteristics.
They were designed for learning; their leaders
framed the challenge so that team mem-
bers were highly motivated to learn; and an
environment of psychological safety fostered
communication and innovation.
The fi nding that teams learn more quickly
if they are explicitly managed for learning
poses a challenge in many areas of business.
Team leaders in business tend to be chosen
more for their technical expertise than for
their management skills. Team leaders need to
become adept at creating learning environ-
ments, and senior managers need to look
beyond technical competence and identify
leaders who can motivate and manage teams
of disparate specialists.
HBR Reprint R0109JThe Best Leaders
Are Great Teachers
Sydney Finkelstein | page 54What sets exceptional business leaders
apart? One thing, says Sydney Finkelstein,
is their ongoing commitment to giving direct
reports one-on-one instruction. Finkelstein,
a management professor at Dartmouth’s
Tuck School of Business, has studied world-
class leaders for more than a decade. He’s
found that they make a point of personally
imparting memorable lessons that fall into
three categories: pointers on professionalism,
technical knowledge and skills, and broader
life lessons.
Finkelstein notes that when and where
top leaders teach is almost as important as
what they teach. Instead of waiting for formal
reviews, great managers stay accessible to
their employees and share their wisdom as
opportune moments arise, whether that’s
in the offi ce or outside it. They also create
teaching moments— often by taking protégés
off-site.
How do they make lessons stick? Their
techniques include (1) customizing instruction
to the needs, personality, and development
path of each individual, (2) asking pertinent
questions to deepen learning, and (3) model-
ing the behavior they want others to practice.
Finkelstein discusses numerous superstar
leaders who are revered as great teachers and
sugg ests that if you follow their example, you
can strengthen your staff and drive superior
business performance.
HBR Reprint R1801MTeams That Learn
NEED TO
TOUGHEN UP
AT WORK?store.hbr.org
1-800-988-0886 OR +1-617-783-7500Mental Toughness Collection
PRODUCT #1069BN • 4 ITEMS • $59
DIGITAL FORMAT
Save more than 20% off the individual
components within this collection!THIS DIGITAL SPECIAL COLLECTION
INCLUDES 3 EBOOKS AND 1 ARTICLEIt’s impossible to keep
emotions out of the
workplace. Even the most
successful professionals
face situations that
challenge their strength
and resilience.Build your emotional
acuity with HBR’s Mental
Toughness Collection.special
collection