Amy C. Edmondson - Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy

Teaming is a fresh new concept to organize the best knowledge available for creating and maintaining effective action.

Chris Argyris , professor emeritus, Harvard University

This is the ultimate book on teams and learning. Edmondson combines academic rigor and relevance in a unique way. A must-read for scholars and practitioners.

Bertrand Moingeon , professor, directeur gnral adjoint, and deputy dean, executive education and academic development, HEC Paris

Amy Edmondson is the best leader teacher I know. Her experience in the classroom and her deep understanding of how leaders lead in the real world rings loud and clear in this book.

Charlie Eitel , founding partner, Eitel & Armstrong; and former chairman and CEO, Simmons Bedding

Edmondsons insights that teams are verbs rather than nouns, and that leaders who focus on teaming animate a more adaptive work environment, are a major advance in our grasp of leading, organizing, and learning. This is the work of a gifted, hands-on scholar at her best!

Karl E. Weick , Rensis Likert Distinguished University Professor, organizational behavior and psychology, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

Teaming is the book on how to lead and learn from innovative teams and dispersed networks. Amy Edmondson has gathered a wealth of evidence, experience, and illustrations to write the definitive playbook for learning and bringing out the best in collaborative endeavors anywhere.

Michael Useem , professor of management, and director of the Leadership Center, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

The always-insightful Amy Edmondson has produced a terrific book. She provides the best insights I have seen on failure and learning in teams. By distinguishing between types of failures across her Knowledge Process Spectrum, she shows how some types of failures should be discouraged and minimized while others are essential for learning and advancement. Easy to read, Teaming provides useful insights from start to finish.

Roger Martin , dean, Rotman School of Business, University of Toronto

Teaming shows how organizations can inspire every employee to voice new ideas, compensate every manager to reward the risk of experimentation, and recognize every leader who empowers the collective quest for learning and innovation. Edmondson has provided an articulate, indispensable guide for organizations to succeed in an age of unprecedented change and competition.

Sean Woodroffe , vice president, human resources, Sun Life Financial U.S.

Many of us have experienced or observed the drama of a hospital emergency room where life-and-death split second decisions are made, and where priorities and staff assignments shift unpredictably, even in the midst of caring for a patient. Teaming describes a new way of working that achieves superior outcomes in this chaotic environment, a setting for which past organizational theory has fallen short.

Ray Gilmartin , professor of management practice, Harvard Business School; and former CEO, Merck & Co.

Edmondson goes to the very heart of the single biggest challenge we face in the 21st century: while our problems are growing ever more complex, the expertise we bring to those problems is growing ever more narrow. Only through teamsor teaming, as Edmondson rightly arguescan we hope to learn across boundaries and tackle the problems we face today. Using captivating stories based on decades of research, this remarkably readable book explains why such learning is hard, shows how its possible, and illustrates what it takes. Beautifully written and cogently argued, its bound to be a classic.

Diana McLain Smith , chief executive partner, New Profit Inc.; and author, The Elephant in the Room: How Relationships Make or Break the Success of Leaders and Organizations

A must-read for managers at all levels who want to learn about cross-boundary teams and how to lead them. Based on her extensive research and consulting experience, Edmondson has written an authoritative, comprehensive, and engaging book that I will recommend to my students and corporate clients.

Michael Beer , chairman, TruePoint Partners; and Center for Higher Ambition Leadership Cahners-Rabb Professor Emeritus, Harvard Business School

No one has done more insightful research than Amy Edmondson on why effective teams are effective. Every team leader needs to know what she knows.

Chip Heath , author, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard

Amy Edmondson has built a wide following for her studies on how organizations learn and grow through cooperative work and enlightened leadership. Her experience provides the rich soil from which this book has grown. It is packed with insight, drawn from cutting-edge research, and is squarely aimed at 21st century leaders seeking to build collaborative, self-reflective teams.

David Gergen , senior political analyst, CNN; adviser to four U.S. presidents; professor, public service, and director, Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School

This book is both practical and profound. It takes us from the static organizational models and procedures of the past to the skills and practices of a knowledge economy, in which learning is the mainstay of success. Teaming is an extraordinary concept, filled with inspiration and possibility. My admiration for Amy Edmondson continues to grow with this contribution. This is a must-read for those in pursuit of habitual excellence, joy, and meaning in work, and success in the 21st century.

Julianne Morath , chief quality and patient safety officer, Vanderbilt University Medical Center; and associate professor, clinical nursing, Vanderbilt University

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