Committed Teams: Three Steps to Inspiring Passion and Performance

by Mario Moussa, Madeline Boyer, Derek Newberry

Build high-performing teams with an evidence-based framework that delivers results

Committed is a practical handbook for building great teams. Based on research from Wharton’s Executive Development Program (EDP), this concise guide identifies the common challenges that arise when people work together as a group and provides key guidance on breaking through the barriers to peak performance. Committed draws its insights from the EDP’s living an intensive two-week simulation during which executive-level participants run complex global businesses.  The authors have observed over 100 teams collaborating and competing for over 100 combined years in this intense environment.  It has yielded fundamental insights about what usually goes wrong, what frequently goes right, and the methods and techniques that will help you access your team’s full potential. These insights have been distilled into a simple, repeatable process that you can start applying today.

Getting teams engaged and aligned is hard.  Committed will give you the tools you need to deal with all of the familiar teamwork challenges that get in the organizational politics, delegation, coordination, and aligning skills and motivation.  Using vivid stories and examples from the worlds of business, sports, and non-profits, it will teach you how

Understand the dynamics of successful teams Achieve peak performance using a research-backed methodology Gain expert insight into why most teams underperform Learn the critical points common to all great teams Committed gives you the perspective you need to combine the right people with the right way of collaborating to achieve extraordinary results.

Genres: Business, Leadership

239 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 18, 2016

Reviews

[Andrew Anderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a really bad example of a management book. The authors are more concerned with name dropping all of the people they have worked with than actually imparting knowledge. Perhaps they have good ideas, but they hide them behind impenetrable and unending anecdotes that rarely get to any meaningful point.

[Pat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Required reading for my new position at work. Author used big words for some basic concepts....didn’t impress me.

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Billed as three steps to inspire passion and performance, this book is based around a fairly simple scheme, namely set a direction, stay on track and amend slightly the course if necessary. It sounds so easy, doesn’t it, yet the authors admit that our typical workday can work against us and inhibit implementing this simple plan, so they seek to help find us reach success in whatever way possible.

The authors have developed and refined this programme as part of an extensive research process and believe that it has the capability to deliver great results for team-working, allowing a powerful entity to work towards their common goals. It works by aligning team member interests to a common vision, provides efficiencies and clear areas of responsibility and leads to high-performance, powerful project execution.

It makes for an interesting read, although it felt to be a bit of a slow burner, requiring a bit more persistence and focus when reading. It evoked a sense of credibility and authority rather than relying on “fake enthusiasm” and unrealistic promises of success that many similar books tend to fall back on. The knowledge being imparted was understandable and capable of being implemented. It certainly had a good mix of theory and practice to draw you in and get you wanting to investigate further.

A book with potential and a worthy read to see if you can kickstart your project working in the future.

[giftedteacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives insight into the pitfalls and positives of teams, and how to best make them work. I see the value of things like analyzing team members' bargaining styles even within groups of students, or family members! I understand why some groups "clicked" and others did not.

I received this book as an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[giftedteacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives insight into the pitfalls and positives of teams, and how to best make them work. I see the value of things like analyzing team members' bargaining styles even within groups of students, or family members! I understand why some groups "clicked" and others did not.

I received this book as an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.