Acknowledgments

This book is about teaming, and teaming made it possible. I am grateful to everyone behind the scenes who played a role in helping me, and hope I can do justice to your diverse and complementary contributions.

This book pulls together findings, insights, and frameworks from twenty years of field research. I want to express my appre­ciation for the hundreds of people in the many organizations—managers, nurses, physicians, CEOs, and front-line associates alike—who generously gave up some of their time to be interviewed and studied. I hope that one or two of them will find their way to this book and recognize that they taught me something important. I also wish to thank the Division of Research at Harvard Business School for generous financial support that funded the many studies that underlie this book.

But, long before I was a business school professor, I was an engineer working for Buckminster Fuller, helping him with some of his final design projects. When I wasn’t calculating strut lengths for a new geodesic dome, I spent my time listening to Bucky (everyone called him that) talk and teach. This is where I first learned to see large social problems (famine, pollution, housing, energy) as collective-learning challenges. Bucky thought about collaborative learning at a planetary level. All of us were crewmembers aboard Spaceship Earth, he said, and we had to learn to work together to make this world work.

Planets being somewhat ambitious targets for large-scale change, it was a relief when I met entrepreneur and author Larry Wilson a few years later. Larry introduced me to the idea that organizations can learn. Moreover, organizations played a crucial role in “making this world work,” as Bucky had put it. Now I had something I could sink my teeth into. As a researcher/consultant at Pecos River Learning Centers working closely with Larry, I started to observe much of what my later research confirmed. Larry’s ideas are everywhere in mine. I dedicate this book to him because his passion for making a difference in organizations ignited mine.

I have been fortunate in mentors. Richard Hackman’s extraordinary research and teaching led me to consider teams the right unit of analysis for my studies. Years ago, Richard chaired my dissertation committee, introduced me to the hospital as a worthy site for research, and influenced my ideas in more ways than I can recount. Chris Argyris and Peter Senge also guided my work and my aspirations in important ways. They both encouraged me to tackle questions that mattered, and I hope that parts of this book will indicate to them I have done so.

Ed Schein has become an increasingly important mentor and friend over the years, and he was the first person from whom I recall hearing the word “teaming.” In a seminar at MIT, I heard Ed say that we ought to focus on teaming rather than on teams. He certainly caught my attention! I am deeply grateful to Ed for writing the thoughtful and generous foreword to this book, and to giving me incredibly helpful feedback on the manuscript, which improved it greatly.

Kathe Sweeney at Jossey-Bass played a vital role in getting this project launched and just as vital a role in getting it finished. Kathe believed in the book far more than its progress warranted. I am grateful for her enthusiasm and for her coherent thinking about teams and organizations.

Of the many people who contributed to getting this book into shape, Jeff Leeson was by far the most important. I learned a lot from Jeff’s systematic approach to shaping, organizing, clarifying and structuring ideas to produce an integrated whole. Jeff bravely entered the landscape of my research papers and cases and helped me build something meaningful. I am indebted to him for his editing expertise, for his patience with my schedule, and for his high standards. Karen Propp played an essential role in the early stages of writing and shaping the book. Her thoughtful voice, perceptive insights, and creative suggestions of examples are sprinkled throughout these pages.

Susan Salter Reynolds was my most diligent, thoughtful, and creative reader, editor, colleague, and friend. She’s always been there for me, and I’ve always appreciated her gifts as a writer and critic. Now I appreciate them even more. When she started to work on this project in its final weeks, she brought certain sections to life, and made work fun again.

Sheba Raza shouldered some of the toughest work of all, handling references, permissions, and the endless details that go into a project like this with skill, precision, and remarkable good cheer. Several research assistants provided invaluable help in the field research, case writing, and paper development that inform this book, including Laura Feldman, Corey Hajim, Dilyana Karadzhova, Stacy McManus, and Kate Roloff. Much of the research reported in this book was collaborative, and my colleagues and coauthors on several projects must be acknowledged for their vital roles, especially Richard Bohmer, Tiziana Casciaro, Jim Detert, Frances Frei, Bertrand Moingeon, Ingrid Nembhard, Gary Pisano, Faaiza Rashid, Deborah Sole, Anita Tucker, and Melissa Valentine. Diana Smith is a colleague who deserves special mention as a mentor, friend, coauthor, and cheerleader. She is one of the people who made sure I wrote this book.

Finally, my husband, George, put up with and took care of me as I put more and more time into writing. He was unfailingly supportive and caring. His love and confidence sustained me and made writing this book possible. Further, he was there every step of the way for the past eighteen years, hearing about the research projects that were going well, and not so well, and never seeming to lose faith in me or in my work. Our young sons, Jack and Nick, growing up in the Internet age, were extremely patient, often curling up with a book nearby while I typed away. Their love of books gave me hope that it was still worth writing one.