Overview: The word team once was used to talk about oxen or horses "pulling together" to plow a field or move a load. The word "team" now refers to "a group of people who need each other to accomplish a result." Teamwork trends involve crossing boundaries between departments, organizations, industries and disciplines.

How Team Building Works: An ideal size for a team is 4 to 7 people, a size with roots in the history of many cultures. Networks of teams can form large groups. Team building can involve skills to:

• create a culture of respectful interaction,
• build working relationships,
• manage authority and responsibility,
• focus on results.

Teams can learn how to learn as a group, function as a whole, and seek shared vision.

The Payoff: Team skills can improve outcomes and results over time. Large and small organizations can benefit. Team building can reach beyond traditional organizational boundaries to include and benefit suppliers, customers, and supporters.

How to Make It Happen: Facilitators can support a group to build skills together-and to create templates for continued learning.

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Rosen, R.H., & Berger, L. (1992) The Healthy Company: Eight Strategies to Develop People, Productivity, and Profits, NY, NY: Tilden Publish.

Senge, P.M. et al (1994), The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization, New York, NY: Doubleday.

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