Have you checked out our free Learning Exchange at www.tms.com.au/lex.html? This month we publish our 87th edition with the focus firmly set on teams and ways to make them exceptional. There are four excellent articles here with lots of up-to-date information that can help all team members and their leaders.

Rick Lepsinger’s article Virtual Team Failure: Six Common Reasons Why Virtual Teams Do Not Succeed starts the edition by taking a timely look at the ever-increasing virtual workforce, with some key findings from his worldwide research on virtual teams. The study included over 48 virtual teams across various industries and found that 27% of the virtual teams surveyed were not fully performing. Organisations that get it right know that virtual teams and co-located teams can’t be built and managed in the same ways. Ineffective leadership, lack of clear directions, lack of goals and priorities, lack of clear roles among team members, lack of cooperation, lack of engagement, and inability to replicate a ‘high touch’ environment are the main reasons for failure.

In his article Teamwork & Flow: Building a High Performance Environment, Scott Simmerman provides insights into Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's work. 'Flow' is described as becoming absorbed in an activity and tapping into that energy field to perform at a high level. Once we get in 'The Zone' things just roll. With the right combination of skill and challenge we can frame a process for optimising team performance. Read about the ten ways that you can set up flow conditions for your team.

Rodger Duncan has a comprehensive article, Being Team-Friendly: Finding Strength in Unity. He lists five essential conditions that are fundamental to team effectiveness: it must be a real team, not just a team in name only; it must have a compelling purpose that kindles the enthusiasm of its members; it should establish a reinforcing framework that promotes and enables rather than inhibits team achievement; it should provide a nurturing context, not just lip service support; and team members must have ready access, individually and collectively, to skilful coaching on teamwork issues. Rodger also gives a great exposition on Bruce Tuckman’s stages of teamwork that’s definitely worth reading.

I’ve contributed to this edition too with my article, Assassin in the Pond, which focuses on the threats impacting teams. Does trouble start because of environmental factors or just basic differences, or both? Do we tend to blame external events for our failures in teamwork? Do we focus too much on external threats – the 'T' in a SWOT analysis - and sometimes forget that the major threat lies within?

Does your team monitor and deal with possible internal threats? It's an important feature of high-performing teams. I discuss eight core concepts that are the basis of effective teamwork:

• Team mental models and transactive memory
• Team cohesion
• Collective team climate
• Goal setting and action plans
• Critical work functions and team ground rules
• Individual and team Learning
• Team efficacy and group potency
• Team resources

These four articles cover most of the ideas you should focus on when developing a high-performing team – be it a classic co-located one, a virtual one or, the most likely team of the future – the hybrid team.

To read these article in detail visit our website www.tms.com.au/lex.html and join the Learning Exchange. Access is available immediately once you register your email address for notifications and complete the double opt-in process.

Dick McCann