Book Review by Jack Falt
This book is based on the work of Linda Berens, relating temperament and cognitive processes (Jung/Myers theory) to teams in the world of work. Today, with change occurring at a faster pace, it takes team effort to keep up and try to get ahead of the competition. Teams need to be functioning at peak efficiency. This book is intended to help teams to look at themselves in terms of their personalities and to use this information to forge an effective team that can respond to changes and still produce quality work.
The book contains theory, exercises and tips so that a person could benefit greatly from just working through the material on his or her own. It is that clearly written. Of course, having the opportunity to have a facilitator lead the team through the activities would greatly benefit the whole group. After all that is what teamwork is all about. Everyone needs to have the basic knowledge and tools to be able to perform effectivley.
The first step the book addresses is to help people determine their own temperaments. It then helps them see what these temperaments look like in the day-to-day interaction among team members. There are many charts, exercises and case studies to ensure that individuals have a clear understanding of these concepts. The next step is to similarly look at the cognitive processes. Again there is a wealth of material to help show how these processes play out in team situations. While individuals are thought to have a dominant temperament and a dominant cognitive process, they are required and do use all of them in their jobs at various times. The book emphasises how important it is for the whole team to have a good grasp of these concepts before they move on to applying them in their working lives. The third chapter then puts all of this material together so that participants can relate the material to the results of their MBTI® instrument. There are one-page descriptions of each type in a format that points out the dynamics of the type, the strengths and challenges this type has, and likes and dislikes in the working environment.
The material in these first three chapters alone makes it is worth while for facilitators to read and understand the material for their own development. It also provides a model to use with other topics. The authors do a very thorough job of helping people understand the meaning of their MBTI® instrument results and what they mean in terms of their everyday life.
The second and major part of the book focuses on applying these concepts in team situations. The authors use the acronym SCORE to work step-by-step through all the aspects that go into making an excellent team: S - cohesive Strategy; C - Clear roles and responsibilities; O - Open communication; R - Rapid response; and E - Effective leadership.
To start with, there are many exercises to help each team member know more about the rest of the team. Just knowing the temperaments and cognitive processes of each of the team members goes a long way towards helping the team work better. The next phase is to have a strategy about how they will work as a team, knowing who does what in the team and who is responsible for it, how this new knowledge can improve their communication, how to deal with change, and look at the leadership styles and to know when to use each of them. Again, this section is filled with theory, exercises and tips in a very readable form.
The authors have provided a wealth of information in a user-friendly manner. It is well laid out and easy to follow. While the concepts are still the same as the original book, the material is greatly expanded and has benefited from the authors experience since the previous book was written.