High Performing Teams and Improved Collaboration through Biomimicry
Your teams are too big: break them up.
Newspapers sometimes run contests to see who can produce the best summary of a epic book in one hundred words or less. Here is my 100-word version of “The maximum team size for effective working” drawing from an excellent article by Christopher Allen entitled The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes.
There are many ways to analyse dysfunctional teams in organisations such as deficiencies in trust, absence of shared objectives, poor co-operative working practices or inappropriate leadership styles/models. However taking a purely biological perspective opens up exciting new possibilities for really transforming these teams performance.
Continue readingDysfunctional teams: bioteam themWe are used to having to work very hard to make collaboration happen in teams and groups however sometimes it just emerges. The Christmas Truce is the true story of how British and German soldiers in the trenches on Christmas eve 1914 called a truce and celebrated Christmas Day by singing carols, exchanging gifts and playing football together. It is an amazing example of nature’s most effective co-operation strategy, Tit for Tat, which emerged spontaneously for, sadly, an all too short time.
Continue readingSpontaneous human cooperation: The Christmas TruceCredit to Christopher Allen & Shannon Appelcline for identifying an interesting historical book, Robert’s Rules of Order, originally written in 1896 and proposing a set of rules for conducting Fair and Orderly Meetings & Conventions. Many of Robert’s Rules would seem to apply to today’s virtual meetings too.
Continue readingRunning better meeting: Roberts Rules 1896Pheromone-based messaging is the oldest and most evolved form of biological signalling. It uses chemicals to effect communications between animals and insects through smell and taste. There is an excellent opportunity for today’s virtual teams and mobile groups to re-organise the way they use their internet, email, messaging and presence-aware technologies to gain huge benefits from it.
Continue readingThe perfect mobile group communications system: adopt nature’s oldest signalling systemOne of the main dilemmas for team leaders and members is the thorny issue of responsibility. We often fixate on the problem of leaders and members not taking enough responsibility but according to Dr Scott Peck they can also do damage if they try to take too much!
Continue readingTeam member responsibility problemsManaging any team, network or group becomes a whole lot simpler if you understand the three rings of member commitment.
Continue readingThe 3 rings of member commitment in any dynamic groupi,Team
The famous science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov, forecasted the coming age of Robots with a series of entertaining stories involving dilemmas around the concept of the Three Laws of Robotics. Asimov’s work was brought to the big screen in the recent block-buster film starring Will Smith “i, Robot”. But can these laws also be applied to teams?
Beliefs are the fuel which can really energise bioteams
There is one, often neglected area, which a team needs to address as part of a bioteaming strategy if it wants to be exceptionally successful – team member beliefs.
One of the most important team questions, often not properly resolved when a team is setup is:
Continue readingThe Three types of organisational teams“What type of team is it?”