Smart Teams audiobook cover - How to Work Better Together

Smart Teams

How to Work Better Together

Dermot Crowley

★ 4.2 / 5(125 ratings)
Start ListeningDownload App
Categories:
ProductivityCorporate Culture

If You're Curious About These Questions...

You should listen to this audiobook

Listen to Smart Teams — Free Audiobook

Loading player...

Key Takeaways from Smart Teams

Learning Tools

Reinforce what you learned from Smart Teams

Mind Map

Smart Teams
Culture of Friction+
Productive Team Member+
Productivity Principles+
Productive Communication+
Optimized Meetings+
Project Collaboration+
Managing Urgency+
Leading Culture Change+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 10
What does the concept of 'friction' refer to in a workplace culture?
  • A. The natural and healthy competition that arises between ambitious team members.
  • B. The loss of productivity that happens between people due to disruptive behaviors and poor practices.
  • C. The physical and mental fatigue experienced after working long hours on a complex project.
  • D. The disagreement between management and employees regarding long-term company goals.
Question 2 of 10
According to the book, what does it mean to work 'mindfully' within a team?
  • A. Focusing strictly on your own tasks to ensure they are completed ahead of schedule.
  • B. Taking regular breaks to meditate and reduce your personal workplace stress.
  • C. Staying conscious of how your work and actions affect your teammates' ability to achieve their goals.
  • D. Keeping a detailed log of every task you complete to maintain strict accountability.
Question 3 of 10
What is the recommended approach for creating an effective 'productivity principle'?
  • A. It should be a broad, abstract goal that inspires the team to work harder.
  • B. It must be drafted exclusively by senior management and enforced strictly across all departments.
  • C. It should combine a desirable quality with a specific situation so it is easy to tell if it's being followed.
  • D. It needs to focus entirely on individual output rather than team interactions.
Question 4 of 10
When crafting an email, why does the book recommend using the US military's communication system?
  • A. To ensure the email bypasses corporate spam filters and reaches the inbox.
  • B. To state upfront in the subject line what is needed from the reader, such as an action or decision.
  • C. To convey a sense of extreme urgency and importance to the recipient.
  • D. To keep the email content entirely hidden until the recipient is ready to read it.
Question 5 of 10
According to research by Bain & Company mentioned in the book, what happens to a meeting's effectiveness when there are more than seven attendees?
  • A. Effectiveness increases by 10 percent for every additional attendee due to diverse perspectives.
  • B. Effectiveness is reduced by 10 percent for every attendee over seven.
  • C. The meeting automatically takes twice as long to reach a consensus.
  • D. The decision-making process becomes entirely paralyzed, resulting in zero effectiveness.
Question 6 of 10
What are the three main ingredients required for successful collaboration on projects?
  • A. Alignment, Agreement, and Awareness.
  • B. Authority, Accountability, and Action.
  • C. Budget, Briefing, and Brainstorming.
  • D. Speed, Strategy, and Synchronization.
Question 7 of 10
How does 'responding' to urgency differ from 'reacting' to it?
  • A. Responding means ignoring the request entirely, while reacting means doing it immediately.
  • B. Responding involves delegating the task to someone else, while reacting involves doing it yourself.
  • C. Responding means taking time to evaluate the request's true urgency, while reacting means getting sidetracked without pausing to check if immediate action is needed.
  • D. Responding is done formally via email, whereas reacting is done informally in face-to-face conversations.
Question 8 of 10
What is described as the 'first rule of leadership' when trying to influence a team's productivity culture?
  • A. Always be the loudest and most confident voice in the room.
  • B. Do no harm by avoiding disruptive behaviors like last-minute requests or unnecessary meetings.
  • C. Demand perfection from every team member at all times.
  • D. Delegate all administrative tasks to junior employees so you can focus on strategy.
Question 9 of 10
What is the primary purpose of creating a 'meeting purpose statement'?
  • A. To document the meeting for the HR department's official records.
  • B. To provide a brief explanation of why the meeting is held so everyone stays focused on the goal.
  • C. To list the dietary requirements of the attendees for catering purposes.
  • D. To formally reprimand team members who have been causing friction in the workplace.
Question 10 of 10
If you are not a senior manager, how does the book suggest you go about improving your organization's productivity culture?
  • A. Wait until you are promoted to a leadership position before suggesting any changes.
  • B. Send a company-wide email demanding everyone change their behavior immediately.
  • C. Focus on improving your immediate team's culture to set a visible example that inspires others.
  • D. Complain to the CEO about the lack of productivity in other departments.

Smart Teams — Full Chapter Overview

Smart Teams Summary & Overview

Smart Teams (2018) is a practical guide to enhancing your team’s productivity. It gives you tools and strategies that you can use to help you and your team communicate better, collaborate effectively, and stamp out the disruptions that stop you from achieving your goals.

Who Should Listen to Smart Teams?

  • Business leaders who want to create a more productive company culture
  • Professionals seeking to collaborate more effectively
  • Anyone who wants to know how team productivity works

About the Author: Dermot Crowley

Dermot Crowley is a trainer, speaker, thought leader and productivity expert with more than twenty years’ experience in the productivity industry. He is director of Adapt Productivity, a Sydney-based training company he founded in 2002. He is also the author of the best-selling personal productivity guide Smart Work (2016).

 

© Dermot Crowley: Smart Teams copyright 2018, John Wiley & Sons Inc. Used by permission of John Wiley & Sons Inc. and shall not be made available to any unauthorized third parties.

🎧
Listen in the AppOffline playback & background play
Get App