In their best-seller, The Wisdom of Teams,Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith summarized the
continuum from a workgroup to a high-performing team on a “Team Performance Curve.”
SECTION 10 TOOLS FORLEADINGTEAMS ANDGROUPS 299
How work gets done: When it is best to use:High-Performing
Team- Due to coordination, communication, and
relationship demands, teams are usually
composed of a small number of members (12
or fewer), each with complementary skills. - Teams succeed, or fail, together. Members are
individually andjointly accountable for a
specific product or service that is unique to
the team (i.e., a whole job). - High-performing teams are distinguished by
the production of exceptional and
demanding results, with no expectation of
rewards as individuals. - Members are deeply committed to results as
well as to each other’s growth and success. - High-performing teams are leaderful, as each
member can speak for the team.
✔Teams are often distinguished from work-
groups by synergy. The output of a work-
group is basically the sum of individual
efforts, while team output should be much
greater than the sum of what a group of
individuals could produce working alone.✔High-performing teams are rare. This level of
commitment, relationship, and caring for
results, for team success, and for each others’
individual development and success can be
supported and encouraged, but cannot be
commanded of people.Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business School Press. From The Wisdom of Teams: Creating
the high-performance organization.by Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith. Boston MA, 1993,
p. 84. Copyright 1993 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.