Bake a Collaboration Cake: My “Ingredients” for Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!

Collated by Michael J Griffin CEO of ELAvate

No manager or entrepreneur is a “one band man” or woman! Organizational success has the ingredients of healthy, trusting teamwork among unique motivated individuals. For 40 years, I have learned teamwork across different cultures, client organizations, and from an amazing variety of gifted people across generations. Below I will list resources or “ingredients” that you can learn and “mix to bake” your own teamwork cake that can make your team relationships fulfilling and worthwhile. These resources are not in any order of priority and you may find some more “tasty” than others. Goal: Create your own unique team building plan and action steps to lead healthy, productive teams.

“Riding the Waves of Culture” by Fons Trompenaars. “Riding the Waves of Culture” strengthens teamwork by helping members understand that their differences or similarities stem from cultural values rather than personal flaws. The seven dimensions of culture found in the book give teams a shared vocabulary for discussing differences in rules, communication, decision-making, emotional expression, and time orientation. This awareness reduces misunderstandings, builds empathy, and discourages stereotyping. Teams learn how to reconcile seemingly opposing values rather than choose one over the other, creating flexibility and agility that respects everyone's perspective. The result is greater trust, more open communication, constructive conflict resolution, and collaboration that draws on cultural diversity as a strength. Goal: Teach and review the 7 dimensions of culture and have team discuss how to reconcile different values to have unity through diversity.

The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork by John Maxwell. “The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork”  strengthens teamwork by showing that success depends on collective effort rather than individual brilliance. Laws such as the Law of the Big Picture, the Law of the Niche, and the Law of Communication encourage members to share a common purpose, work in their strengths, and keep dialogue open. The Law of Mount Everest and the Law of the Bad Apple stress strong leadership and accountability. I have found having team discussion about these laws and choosing about 4-5 laws to have the team concentrate and apply is an excellent way to begin team member motivation to participate in building healthy agile teams. I believe Dr. Maxwell also has You Tube videos on these laws of teamwork. Goal: Use as an Icebreaker to focus team and get their buy in to improve teamwork.

The Wisdom of Teams by Katzenbach and Smith. “The Wisdom of Teams” shows that high performance comes from disciplined teams, not just groups of people working together. It distinguishes real teams from working groups, defining a team as a small number of people with complementary skills, a meaningful shared purpose, specific performance goals, a common approach/processes, and mutual trust & accountability. The authors stress setting clear goals, building skills, and celebrating early wins to create momentum. By focusing on results rather than team-building for its own sake, leaders can cultivate commitment, trust, and sustained collective performance. Goal: Use their rock solid definition of teams to get members to clearly define KPI, goal or task success. The “Team Answer and Question Guide” in the appendix is an excellent tool make team members aware of team dynamics and leadership. Could be developed into a survey you give your team. I also use the insights from this book to launch and train teams in Setting Goals and Communicating Work Assignments.

Leading Teams by John Zenger, and et al. Zenger, Musselwhite, Hurson, and Perrin's “Leading Teams” offers leaders a practical roadmap for leading productive teams. It emphasizes that team leaders must create a compelling purpose, set clear goals, and well-defined roles so members understand how they contribute. The authors highlight leaders' responsibility for building trust, encouraging open communication, and developing members' skills. Motivation grows through recognition, shared ownership of results, and empowering people to make decisions. Leaders are encouraged to coach rather than control, address conflict constructively, and continuously assess team performance, creating engaged teams that sustain high productivity and commitment to shared outcomes. Goal: Summarize the skills and processes a leader must instil from this book. Goal: the chapters in this book are very clear on the skills and processes needed to move from top down team leadership to self-directed teams. The former AchieveGlobal and my company ELAvate have developed specific 1-2 hour modules from this book. 

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. Unlike the earlier teamwork books, which are mainly positive and describe what effective teams do, Lencioni's “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” diagnoses why teams fail, using a leadership fable. It presents a pyramid of the five team dysfunctions: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. Without vulnerability-based trust, members hide weaknesses and avoid healthy debate, producing artificial harmony. Unclear commitment breeds ambiguity, while unchallenged standards foster resentment. Ultimately, individuals selfishly prioritize personal status or protection over collective goals. These dysfunctions erode morale, slow decisions, and weaken performance, so Lencioni urges leaders to rebuild trust first. Goal: Use this book or the very informative “Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team Field Guide” first by yourself if you think your teams are low trust and not achieving results. If so, Lencioni provides a short survey on pages 116 – 117 you can use to assess team dysfunctions by asking your team. Then use this guide to build trust in combination with the other books mentioned.

Employ TTISI DISC Motivator and EQ Profiles. Using TTI Success Insights' DISC, Driving Forces, and Emotional Quotient (EQ) profiles gives team members objective language for understanding themselves and each other. When I teach and review these profiles, members become more aware of themselves, can begin to recognize and appreciate people different than themselves and finally learn how to align and adapt communication to collaborate and align with team members. DISC reveals natural communication and behavioral styles, helping colleagues appreciate and adapt their approach to reduce friction. Driving Forces uncover the deeper motivators behind decisions, explaining why people value different things and clarifying sources of conflict. EQ profiles build self-awareness, empathy, and emotional regulation. Together, they replace unfounded assumptions with insight, strengthen team trust, and support open dialogue. Teams can assign roles by strengths, tailor feedback, and resolve conflict constructively, fostering respect, cohesion, and healthier, more productive relationships eliminating or reducing the five dysfunctions teams may have. Goal: Do a DISC Driving Forces Profile first, hold a session to help team members interpret their profiles. About three months later have the member do the EQ or Emotional Intelligence Profile. Teach it to interpret it and link to the other two profiles. You may want to use AI to analyse all three profiles together and come up with personal action plans for personal growth as a leader or team member.

I have created custom team building workshops and processes that move groups from average to high-performance teams using these resources. Contact me below to have a discussion on how you can boost the trust, relationships and collaboration in your teams.

“Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!”

Michael J Griffin
CEO & Founder of ELAvate
michael.griffin@elavateglobal.com
+65-91194008 (WhatsApp)