High-Impact Tools for Teams, keep your team on track, reviewed

High-Impact Tools for Teams by Stefano Mastrogiacomo and Alex Osterwalder published by Wiley, available here.

High-Impact Tools for Teams reviewed

This book is visual, clearly presented, and with lots of good graphics. We’re not fans of  the landscape layout, but it does follow the design decisions of the previous books in this series, so it is something they are clearly happy with. It does build on the business design canvas approach, created by the book’s coauthor, which was so effective and useful for many. At this stage with tools like slack, and many others created to aid team working, the challenge is partially to assess which one is the best for your team. A new factor may well also be how often is your team working remotely, in person, or a blended combination of the two.

The book aims to offer trouble shooting and problem solving solutions too. It also addresses non compliance, and less than optimal engagement by team members. These are all real and serious challenges to consider. This book definitely has the potential to help, those these days we do also wonder how many people are using book based solutions to help them address these problems.

Don’t get us wrong, we love books, but at the same time, many of these issues might now be addressed in a slack thread or a live teams call. This is a live and open question, and the book does address and engage with relevant issues, the question will just be if people are still using books as one of their problem solving tools.

More about the book ->

Power critical team work quickly and effectively. Written by the masterminds behind the Business Model Canvas, the tool used by millions of business people around the world, High-Impact Tools for Teams shares new tools to help teams thrive and get results. The book includes The Team Alignment Map, a tool to help team leaders and members achieve clarity on roles and responsibilities for any important project. Based on years of research and used by thousands of teams, the five tools presented in the book help teams create alignment, communicate better, build trust and manage conflict constructively, fast.  

Best-selling author and co-designer of the Business Model Canvas, Alexander Osterwalder, joins Stefano Mastrogiacomo, designer of the Team Alignment Map, on the new and timely book, High-Impact Tools for Teams: 5 Tools to Align Team Members, Build Trust, and Get Results,

High-Impact Tools for Teams gives business leaders and their teams a toolkit of 21st-century resources that combine the best practices of managing work and building trust in teams. It is the 5^th book in the Strategyzer series of integrated books and tools for business leaders. Others in the series are the 2020 book, The Invincible Company; Testing Business Ideas, released in 2019; and bestselling titles including Business Model Generation and Value Proposition Design. Together they have sold over 2 million copies and have been translated into over 40 languages worldwide.

 High-Impact Tools for Teams is a powerful visual guide to create  alignment, build trust, and deliver results with stronger teams.  Harvard Professor Amy Edmondson says, “What is particularly powerful about High Impact Tools for Teams is its emphasis on improving team process and the psychological climate.

Most authors address one or the other – offering a step-by-step guide to manage a team project or else explaining the benefits of a psychologically safe climate that allows teams to learn and innovate. This book offers simple tools to do both.”  Based on years of research, and thousands of teams already using Mastrogiacomo’s Team Alignment Map tool, this striking visual guide explains how to:

• Create AlignmentAlign Stakeholders visually, clarify roles, and manage risks as a team using the Team Alignment Map.
• Communicate BetterAsk good questions and surface facts with the Fact Finder. Manage conflict constructively with the Nonviolent Request Guide.

• Build TrustQuickly set the rules a team will play by and create an environment of appreciation and respect between team members with the Team Contract and the Respect Card.

With the guidance of High-Impact Tools for Teams, leaders at all levels can be better prepared to plan effectively, reduce risks, and collaborate with others. Edmondson shares in the book’s foreword, “If you are leading a team – or plan to anytime soon – you’ll want to keep this book close at hand.”

High-Impact Tools for Teams

About the Book:

High-Impact Tools for Teams: 5 Tools to Align Team Members, Build Trust, and Get Results Fast by Stefano Mastrogiacomo and Alexander Osterwalder (Wiley ISBN: 9781119602385, 336 Pages, $35.00. For more information, please visit the book’s page on wiley.com.

 About the Authors:

Stefano Mastrogiacomo is a management consultant, professor, and author. He is passionate about human coordination and he is the designer of the Team Alignment Map, the Team Contract, the Fact Finder, and the other tools presented in this book. He has been leading digital projects and advising project teams in international organizations for more than 20 years, while teaching and doing research at the Universities of Lausanne, Switzerland. His interdisciplinary work is anchored in project management, change management, psycholinguistics, evolutionary anthropology, and design thinking.

Alex Osterwalder is a leading author, entrepreneur, and in-demand speaker whose work has changed the way established companies do business and how new ventures get started. Ranked No. 4 of the top 50 management thinkers worldwide, Alex also holds the Thinkers50 Strategy Award. Together with Yves Pigneur he invented the Business Model Canvas, the Value Proposition Canvas, and the Business Portfolio Map — practical tools that are trusted by millions of business practitioners.

Previous books by the authors:

The Invincible Company, Business Model Generation, Testing Business Ideas, and Value Proposition Design.

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