Dallas, Texas – As a company that gets to work with teams in the Dallas-area though our Team Building workshops (Team Building in Dallas), the New Year is a great time for managers to look at activities and strategies for strengthening the team dynamic – and picking up tips from Team Building books is definitely a worthwhile investment of your time.
Here are a handful of books that have recently hit shelves that have strategies and techniques that could be a fit for your team (and all would make for a great gift for a colleague, friend or family member who manage teams).
Team Building Books for Managers
- by John C. Maxwell
“Teamwork is always at the heart of great achievement,” New York Times best-selling author John C. Maxwell, doles out tons of tips, anecdotes, strategies and techniques that will serve you well as a team lead regardless of your industry, experience or education. And it’s an easy-read – bonus.
2) Purpose Driven Leadership: Building and Fostering Effective Teams - by Brigette Tasha Hyacinth A great read that explores team work and leadership. Brigette highlights the importance of being a purpose-driven leader and how that approach will build a team that is motivated to support each other and work together.
3) Debugging Teams: Better Productivity through Collaboration - by Brian W. Fitzpatrick and Ben Collins-Sussman
Fitzpatrick and Collins-Sussman come from an engineering background, which serves their approach to this team building book. A core area we focus on when working with our clients, the authors identify techniques for developing and increasing a team’s ability to collaborate as central to a group’s productivity. While a good read for anyone in a leadership position, this book will be particularly relevant for tech leads or software managers.
4) “Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility” - by Patty McCord Patty McCord gives us a look at the company culture at Netflix and how they built their teams. McCord, the former head of HR at the streaming behemoth (her official title at Netflix was Chief Talent Officer), shares her experiences and approach to developing the culture, getting buy-in, ways to motivate staff and create an environment that allows teams to flourish. This is a really entertaining read.
5) The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age - by Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, and Cris Yeh Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of Linkedin, co-authors this tome focused on how on how to recruit and retain team members who, while being entrepreneurial minded, stay committed to the success of the team.
6) Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About the Business of Life - by James Kerr What is the foundation for the long-term success of one of the sports worlds legendary teams – the New Zealand All Blacks?
Author James Kerr delves into the keys to how the All Blacks have created an environment they can rely on to drive high performance and a commitment from everyone to focus on the greater good of the team, rather than individuals.
The focus on thinking of team management within a long-term strategy and building a culture that propels everyone forward is enlightening.
Happy reading!
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We’re (Improv to Improve) a Dallas-based corporate training company, specializing in using improv as the foundation for our training workshops. We work with clients to help build teams that collaborate, communicate and support each other at a higher level (Team Building in Dallas), as well as working with teams to improve their presentation skills, sales skills, and impactful communication for leaders (Presentation Skills Workshops in Dallas)
If you’d like to learn more about any of our workshops, get in touch:
Alex at Alex@improvtoimprove.org or Kayce at Kayce@improvtoimprove.org