Table of Contents
Introduction xv
A Tale of Two Teams
What's in This Book?
Who Is This Book For?
Toward a Beloved Community
Chapter 1 Refining a Vision 1
A Note on Terms
What Is a Great Team?
What Makes an Effective Team?
Why Do We Need Teams?
When Do We Really Need a Team?
How Do We Build Teams?
Chapter 2 Knowing Ourselves as Leaders 13
The Amygdala in a Strange Land
Exploring the Terrain of Leadership
The Potential of Transformational Leadership
Spotting the Tentacles of Power
Emotions Are Contagious
Chapter 3 Creating a Culture of Trust 39
Why Human Bingo Doesn't Build Trust
Trust Isn't Built in a Day, But We Can Lay Bricks Every Hour
Use Hindsight to Strengthen Foresight
Chapter 4 Defining Purpose, Process, and Product 63
The Necessity of a Reason for Being
It's All about How We Work Together
What Are We Going to Do Together?
Mapping Out the Journey
Chapter 5 Laying a Foundation for Trust 95
Community Agreements Build Culture
A Good Norm Is Not Hard to Find
Getting from Here to Norms
Make Your Norms Serve You
Setting Intentions: A Counterpart to Norms
A Beloved Community
Chapter 6 Developing the Emotional Intelligence of a Team 121
What Is the Emotional Intelligence of a Team?
How Do I Create an Emotionally Intelligent Team?
Managing Unexpected Change
Taming the Stress Demons
Chapter 7 Cultivating Healthy Communication 137
A Blueprint for Transformational Conversations
Constructing Good Conversations
Twenty Ways to Improve Your Team's Communication
Giving Feedback
Equity of Participation
Chapter 8 Making Good Decisions 159
Indicators of Effective Decision Making
Identifying Decision-Making Moments
Who Is Involved and How Much Say Do They Get
Decision-Making Processes
Facilitating Discussions
When Conversations Get Stuck
Reflection and Feedback
Chapter 9 Supporting Adult Learners 183
The Big Picture: The Learning Organization
From Theory to Practice
Common Challenges
Dealing with Resistance
Chapter 10 Orchestrating Meaningful Meetings 205
To Meet or Not to Meet?
Why Meet?
Which Activities Should We Do?
How Do I Choose What to Do?
Chapter 11 Setting the Stage for Artful Meetings 231
Start with Feedback
Don't Forget the Facilitators Agenda
Prepare Your Internal Self
Put on the Finishing Touches
Find the Joy in Planning
Chapter 12 Navigating Conflict 245
What Is Conflict and Why Is It So Scary?
What Is Healthy Conflict in a Team?
How Can I Facilitate Healthy Conflict?
A Note on Talking about Race and Other Really Hard Things
How Can I Respond to Unhealthy Conflict?
What If None of These Suggestions Work?
Chapter 13 Assessing Organizational Conditions 269
The Primacy of Purpose
Focus, Focus, Focus
Alignment Up and Out
Stability
Leadership
Membership
A Culture of Learning
Trust
Decision Making
Time
Conclusion: Coming to an End 291
Ten Truths about Building Teams
Amid the Redwoods
Appendices 297
Appendix A Facilitator Core Competences 299
Appendix B Team Effectiveness Self-Assessment 305
Appendix C Community-Building Activities and Random Grouping Strategies 307
Appendix D Facilitation Planning Tool and Facilitation Observation Tool 313
Appendix E Activities for Meetings 319
E1 The Consultancy Protocol
E2 The Feedback Protocol
E3 Chalk Talk
E4 DYADS
Appendix F Recommended Resources 327
On Emotions and Self-Knowledge
On Leadership
On Brain Science
On Managing Change
On Systems Thinking
On Community Building
On Meetings and Facilitation
On Communication
Race, Racism and Systemic Oppression
For Inspiration
Appendix G Plan for Team Building 331
For Leading a New Team
When Continuing to Lead a Team and Identifying Next Steps
Acknowledgments 335
About the Author 339
References 341
Index 345
