A playbook for transforming underperforming teams
By Joe Frontiera and Daniel Leidl
Jossey-Bass,
250 pages; $25.95
Joe Frontiera and Dan Leidl are managing partners of Meno Consulting, a firm that specializes in team and leadership development. It's no wonder then that the authors, who are also columnists for The Washington Post , opted to write a book called Team Turnarounds . In it, the two share five years of research of business, sports and government teams to explore what it takes to get a failing team back on track. To do so, they spoke with CEOs, frontline managers, governors, as well as owners and general managers of professional sports teams. Climbing back to the top, the two determine, comes down to six basic tenets: Lead Past Losing, Commit to Growth, Change Behaviors, Embrace Diversity, Achieve Success and Nurture a Culture of Excellence. As the book correctly points out—it's all worked before. The book also includes an in-depth case study of the Indianapolis Colts, a team that went from last place to Super Bowl champions. Not too shabby.