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In Social Network Analysis: an introduction, Richard Cross, bioteams.com Guest Author, explains the importance of making organisations hidden social networks visible. In this follow-up article Richard discusses how Social Network Analysis (SNA) actually works in practice.

Continue readingSocial Network Analysis in practice

Any social organisation from the smallest team to the largest enterprise carries with it a social network. Until recently these social networks were largely invisible to the organisations which depended on them. Now Social Network Analysis or SNA is a hot topic but what is it, where did it come from and how does it work: Richard Cross, bioteams.com Guest Author, explains.

Continue readingSocial Network Analysis: an introduction

Charles Handy is one of the true pioneers of virtual working: promoting the concept of the virtual organisation long before todays enabling technologies appeared.

Continue readingVirtual Enterprise Design: the doughnut principle

One of the aspects of bioteams in nature is that they seem to have just the right amount of structure to handle their environments. Too much and they would be slow and cumbersome. Too little and they would lack the sophisticated responses to move them up the food chain. In either case the consequences are extinction!

Continue readingTeam adaptability secrets: the law of requisite variety

Much has been written about why people collaborate and the pay-offs. Key concepts include Tit for Tat and The Prisoners Dilemma discussed in Dysfunctional teams: bioteam them.

Continue readingA critical test of collaboration: the 3 greens check

David Brent, the manager in the hugely popular satirical comedy drama about organisational life, The Office suffers from ‘delusions of grandeur’ concerning his leadership skills and the value of his personal philosophy of management. I have compiled a collection of his top tips in the area of teams, leadership and collaboration.

Continue readingManaging Teams: David Brent of ‘The Office’ offers ten tips

The seven habits of highly effective dolphins.
According to a excellent site dedicated to Dolphins at Western Illinois University (Illinois) Dolphin social behavior is one of the most complex and advanced in the animal kingdom and offers us a number of insights into effective bioteaming.

Continue readingTeamwork: learning from dolphin pods

What is Teamwork? Although there are many different definitions, in nature the definition of ‘teamwork’ is very precise. There are four different types of “teamwork” in biological teams: Solowork, Crowdwork, Groupwork and Teamwork itself. A bioteam knows how and when to use all four forms – the choice depends on the specific task at hand.

Continue readingNatures four teamwork systems

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.

Continue readingThe maximum team size for effective working

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 them