FAQ - X-Teams: Revised and Updated

Welcome back to xNEWS, where we explore principles and practices of leadership in an exponentially changing world.

My partner in this experiment is Deborah Ancona, a professor at MIT. You can learn more about me here and Deborah here.

We plan to publish a biweekly newsletter in the form of a dialogue. Today, I respond to Deborah's newsletter from two weeks ago (which you can find here) and, in turn, she will respond in two weeks.?

We hope you will join us with insights and questions along the way. Please feel free to connect and message me on LinkedIn.

Earlier this week, the new edition of my book with Deborah Ancona, X-Teams, Revised and Updated: How to Build Teams That Lead, Innovate, and Succeed was released. We are thrilled that this work has impacted so many, and we are grateful for the opportunity to revisit X-Teams with the new lens that decades of research and experience have provided us with.?

In honor of the new release, we’ve decided to dedicate this newsletter to some of the frequently asked questions we’ve received about the book:

What inspired you to release a new edition of X-Teams?

Simply put, the ideas we introduced in the book have spread. For example, since we introduced the notion that networks of externally oriented teams can help organizations become more nimble, the idea of “agile organizations” has gone mainstream.

While the idea of x-teams has spread, the implementation results are mixed. We still find that teams too often are stuck in an internal mindset—because it is hard to “go out.” We now know more about why this is. So, we wanted to share what we have learned since the first edition about how to make x-teams work and bring them to life.

What makes this edition different from the last one?

We have updated the examples to reflect the shifts and shocks the world has gone through in the intervening years—the emergence of Big Tech, DAOs, the shock of Covid, AI, and so on. It is also far more practical because we have learned a lot over the years about making this work.

What surprised you about revisiting X-Teams?

My biggest takeaway has been less of a surprise and more of a reminder. When there is magic in organizations, it is in teams. When leaders and organizations set up their teams for success, they thrive. We were reminded of this essential truth while writing this book, and we’d like to see more of that magic. This is challenging, and the book can be seen as a celebration of all the teams that have taken on this challenge.

What are some of the most important concepts or strategies you cover in your book?

The starting point is the three fundamental principles of x-teams:

1. Out Before In: Engage in External Activity - High-performing teams work across their boundaries, reaching out to find the information they need, understanding the context in which they work, navigating the politics and power struggles that surround any team initiative, getting support for their ideas, and coordinating with other groups. This consists of sensemaking (which Deborah covered in her last newsletter), ambassadorship, and task coordination.?
2. In Matters, Too: Build a Robust Internal Environment - If team members spend considerable time and effort on external sensemaking, ambassadorship, and task coordination, then integrating the products of these efforts becomes a critical job. The internal environment must support the additional demands of engaging in external activity and realizing its potential. Team members must have a shared understanding of the team’s goal, roles, and norms related to processes and behavior. Be active, coordinate and divide work, and listen to everyone’s ideas.?
3. Pivot Along the Way: Make Timely Transitions - As the demands of a task or project change, team members must be flexible enough to shift gears, changing what they do and how they do it. This ensures that they don’t get stuck in any one mode of operating.?

How do you suggest readers approach implementing the ideas in your book?

We outline different approaches in the book, depending on your role, but the one that focuses squarely on teams is X-ifying the Team.?

This requires organizing your team by fleshing out the nature of your task, setting goals, and creating the norms, roles, and tools needed for innovation and execution. Be sure to create an environment of psychological safety and establish a culture of learning inside the team. Then, reach out to people inside and outside of your organization for sensemaking, ambassadorship, and task coordination. (We provide helpful checklists in the book with more details for each step of the way!)

Once you have x-ified your team, you can expand to many x-teams, establishing an infrastructure of innovation throughout the organization. This will necessitate thoughtful designation of distributed leadership roles at all levels.

If this sounds like a lot of information, it’s because it is! The book goes into far more detail around each idea and is packed with real world examples and actionable steps.

What's next for you?

Three things:?

1. Because the world is changing so quickly, the way we work in teams also needs to change. Our research is never done! So we will continue to study all of the advancements and innovations of teams in an exponentially changing world. Many other researchers, several of whom we mention in the book, are on the same journey. In x-team fashion, I look forward to striking up new and exciting collaborations with many of them.
2. After Covid, the challenges of our healthcare system have become painfully clear. I plan to spend more time helping and collaborating with healthcare professionals, finding creative solutions by applying what we know about x-teams there.
3. Finally, a passion project is to help teams and leaders at every level pursue the dual outcomes of wealth and wellbeing (I like the alliteration). Many leaders believe there is a tradeoff between performance and mental health–I do not. Importantly, when they work, x-teams are a powerful means to achieve both outcomes.

Deborah, what are some key insights that you have had since we wrote the first edition of the book?

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Thank you for reading the latest edition of xNEWS. Look out for Deborah's response in two weeks, and don’t forget to subscribe.