By Deborah Ancona and Henrik Bresman

Harvard Business School Press, 2007

Summarized by J. Melvyn Ming

“… leadership can no longer exist only at the top of the organization, but must also be distributed throughout the organization and shared with teams”[1]

“Leadership … must be pushed from the executive level to the operational level, with rapidly flowing dialogue between them”[2]

“The X in X-Teams underlines the point that an X-Team us externally oriented, with members working outside their boundaries as well as inside them.”[3]

The shift from a singular reliance on command-and-control leadership to more of a distributed leadership mind-set requires additional dialogue and alignments up and down the organization.[4]

X-Teams Defined

X-teams are externally oriented, adaptive teams that emphasize connections to those outside their area and the organization.

Components of X-Teams

X-teams are set apart from traditional teams by three components:

1. External activity
2. Extreme execution
3. Flexible phases

1. External activity

• High levels of external activity are key
• Outreach may be role of leader or any member
• External activities:

1)   Scouting—lateral and downward searches through the organization for knowledge and expertise

“They need to know where critical information and expertise reside, both inside and outside the organization.”[5]

2)   Ambassadorial activity—aimed at managing upward

3)   Task coordination—managing the lateral connections across functions and interdependencies with other teams and units

2. Extreme Execution

• Three fundamental concepts:

1) Psychological safety

“… the teams culture must support a frank exchange of views. Such ‘psychological safety’ means that all members feel the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking. It means that team members feel free to express their views, even controversial ones.”[6]

2) Team reflection

“…team members need to take time to reflect on their actions, strategies, and objectives.”[7]

“Members set aside time to think about their big picture, where the team is going, and how things can be done better; and they lean on each other in that effort.”[8]

3) Knowing what others know

“Knowing what others know enables a team to connect islands of expertise into a system in which the right members work on the right tasks at the right time.”[9]

• Tools for Extreme Execution

1)   Integrative meetings

2)   Participatory and transparent decision-making process

3)   Shared guidelines (Heuristics)

4)   Shared timelines

5)   Information Management Systems

3. Flexible Phases

“X-Teams change their core tasks over the team’s lifetime.”[10]

1)   Sense making

“Understanding the context in which a team and its members operate.”[11]

2)   Relating

Developing key relationships within and across organizations.

3)   Visioning

Creating a compelling picture of the future.

4)   Inventing

Designing new ways to work together to fulfill the vision.

The X-Team Support Structure

1. Extensive ties

• To engage in external activities, X-team members need to have extensive ties with outsiders

2. Expandable tiers

• X-teams operate through three distinct tiers that create differentiated team membership:

• Core members—carry the team’s history and identity
• Operational members—do the ongoing work
• Outer-net members—join the team to handle tasks that are separable from ongoing work

3. Exchangeable membership

• X-team membership is fluid
• People may move in and out of the team during its life or move across tiers

[2] X-Teams, p 47.

[3] X-Teams, p 6.

[4] T. Malone, The Future of Work. Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press, 2004.

[5] X-Teams, p 65.

[6] X-Teams, p 92.

[7] X-Teams, p 96.

[8] X-Teams, p 97.

[9] X-Teams, p 101.

[10] X-Teams, p 118.

[11] X-Teams, p 121.

In the LDR Church Development Process we talk about the changes in organization and how this impacts the church.

Organization is just a way to help people to work more effectively together. My Friend, Josh Hebert, sent me link to a video by Dan Pink on “The Surprising science of Motivation.”

Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don’t: Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories — and maybe, a way forward.

It is about 18 minutes long, but definitely worth watching

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html

It is totally about the business world, but illustrates the differences in motivation used by 21st Century companies.