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Why do so many teams fail to perform - achieving compromise at best and gridlock at worst? And what does it take to end this gridlock? Wall Street Journal bestselling author and speaker Les McKeown shows how to take any team from gridlock to world class success.
In his new book, McKeown argues that every successful team includes a critical player, the Synergist, who can take the three exisiting types - The bold dreamers (Visionaries), the pragmatic realists (Operators), and the systems designers (Processors) - and knit them together into a dynamic, well-rounded team. Most importantly, according to McKeown, the Synergist is a role that anyone can learn.
While most attempts at teamwork improvement deal only with the symptoms of group dysfunction such as distrust, poor communication, and fear of change, McKeown address the root cause: the innately unstable Visionary-Operator-Processor triangle. Because each of the three styles' motivations, views, and goals are incompatible, without a Synergist every team will eventually implode, stall, or underperform. Only the Synergist can put aside their own agenda and interpret the language of difficult personalities, capture the best from each person, and put the good of the enterprise ahead of their own ego.
McKeown- who has used techniques presented here in his consulting with Harvard University, American Express Financial Services, the US Army, Pella Corporation, Microsoft, United Technologies Corporation, and more- shows how any individual can fill this critical role, whether or not they're the formal leader of the group.
With thought-provoking self-assesments and an extensive Synergist Toolkit, he teaches how anyone can learn to be an effective Synergist by recognizing the vital signs of inneffective teamwork and making the right interventions at these pivitol moments.
Introduction: Herding Cats: Why groups so often fail to achieve their goals, and how to prevent it happening to you
• Chapter 1: Overview: The failure gene that's baked into the DNA of every group and how to escape it* PART I: The Unstable Triangle: The 3 naturally ocurring group interaction styles
• Chapter 2: The Visionary: Hold on tight, we're going to Mars
• Chapter 3: The Operator: Yay...let's build a rocket ship
• Chapter 4: The Processor: Not so fast. Where's your requisition slip?
• Chapter 5: Gridlock: The hidden death-grip that silently paralyses every group
• PART II: The Synergist: Transforming the group by transcending personal agendas
• Chapter 6: Limping to the End Line: How and why Visionaries, Operators and Processors hobble the success of their group
• Chapter 7: From Triangle to Pyramid: Bringing a new dimension to the group dynamic - The Synergist
• Chapter 8: Dancing With the Stars: How the Synergist releases cohesion and flow in the group
• Chapter 9: Starting Fast, Finishing Strong: The lifecycle of a highly successful group
• PART III: Becoming a Leader of Leaders: Developing the Synergist mindset
• Chapter 10: This is not that: Teaching the Visionary, Operator and Processor to understand each other
• Chapter 11: We, not me: Building the groups' agenda and ensuring it's precedence
• Chapter 12: And, not or: Moving the Visionary, Operator and Processor from competition to co-operation
Overview
Why do so many teams fail to perform - achieving compromise at best and gridlock at worst? And what does it take to end this gridlock? Wall Street Journal bestselling author and speaker Les McKeown shows how to take any team from gridlock to world class success.
In his new book, McKeown argues that every successful team includes a critical player, the Synergist, who can take the three exisiting types - The bold dreamers (Visionaries), the pragmatic realists (Operators), and the ...