Bioteams 101: Introduction to Bioteams Principles
A Bioteam is a team which has a life of its own and requires an alternative model to traditional command and control. The Bioteam concept is introduced in The Bioteaming Manifesto, described in depth in Ken Thompson's book "Bioteams" and discussed daily in The Bioteams Blog.
There are 5 Bioteams "Zones". The Zones are listed in the broad sequence they should be addressed (starting with 1, then 2 etc) and each zone is broken down into a number of "Beliefs" or "Rules".
1. Beliefs Zone
2. Leadership Zone
3. Connectivity Zone
4. Execution Zone
5. Organization Zone
Beliefs Zone: Team beliefs about Co-operation, Consequences and Confidence
Belief 1. Clear and Public Accountability
Belief 2. Trusted Competency
Belief 3. Give and Take
Belief 4. Total Transparency
Belief 5. Shared Glory
Belief 6. Meaningful Mission Value
Belief 7. Outcome Optimism
Leadership zone: Treat every team member as a leader
Rule 1: Stop Controlling
Communicate information not orders
Rule 2: Team Intelligence
Mobilize everyone to look for and manage team threats and opportunities
Rule 3: Permission Granted
Achieve accountability through transparency not permission
Connectivity zone. Connect team members, partners and networks synergistically
Rule 4: Always-On
Provide 24*7 instant "in-situ" message hotlines for all team members
Rule 5: Symbiosis
Treat external partners as fully trusted team members
Rule 6. Cluster
Nurture the team's internal and external networks and connections
Execution zone. Experiment, cooperate and learn
Rule 7: Swarm!
Develop consistent autonomous team member behaviors
Rule 8: Tit-for-Tat
Team members must learn effective biological and interpersonal cooperation strategies
Rule 9: Genetic Algorithms
Learn through experimentation, mutation and team review
Organization zone. Establish sustainable self-organization
Rule 10: Self-Organizing Networks
Define the team in terms of "network transformations" - not outputs
Rule 11: Porous Membranes
Develop team boundaries that are open to energy but closed to waste
Rule 12. Emerge
Scale naturally through nature's universal growth and decay cycles
Useful Bioteams Links
Three common types of Bioteam: Business networks, Fan Communities and Mobile teams
The Networked Enterprise (TNE) Book
A Networked Enterprise is a Bioteam of independent collaborating businesses
*** Free Bioteams Tools ***
Bioteams Instant Need Assessment Tool
Bioteams Instant Operational Review Tool
About Ken Thompson
Ken Thompson is an expert practitioner in the area of bioteaming, swarming, virtual enterprise networks, virtual professional communities and virtual teams and has published two landmark books:
Bioteams: High Performance Teams Based on Nature's Best Designs
The Networked Enterprise: Competing for the future through Virtual Enterprise Networks
Ken writes the highly popular bioteams blog which has over 500 articles on all aspects of bioteams (aka organizational biomimicry) - in other words how human groups can learn from nature's best teams.
Ken is also founder of an exciting European technology company Swarmteams which provides unique patent-pending bioteaming technologies for all shapes and sizes of groups, social networks, business clusters, virtual/mobile communities and enterprises. Swarmteams enables groups to be more responsive and agile by fully integrating their mobile phones and the web with bioteam working techniques.
The latest Swarmteams implementation is SwarmTribes which helps social object owners (e.g. musicians/bands, sports teams, film-makers) and good cause sponsors (e.g. Volunteering, Environmental, Public Health) to form unique collaborations with their fans/supporters for mutual benefit.
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Bioteams Books Reviews
The Internet and social engagement
Authentic social experience is beyond the web.In On the Internet by Hubert Dreyfus, a UC-Berkeley philosophy professor, provides a truely unique philosophical perspective on the internet. Dreyfus seriously challenges a number of widely held assumptions such as the usefulness of search engines, the effectiveness of distance learning and the possibility of meaningful virtual relationships.
Buy it now from:
Amazon.Com
Amazon.Co.UK
Related Bioteams Features Articles
Wired Magazine features Bioteams
Are you smarter than a goose? Sure you are -- one on one. But when it comes to working efficiently, you and your colleagues can't touch the gaggle. According to author Ken Thompson, geese and other animals that naturally form groups have a lot to teach us about business. In a theory he calls organizational biomimetics, Thompson lays out the principles underlying nature's management strategies. So what can you learn from a bird or an ant? Take a gander. Katharine Gammon at Wired Magazine reports.
How symbiotic is your collaboration
Symbiosis is a central tenet of bioteams which in bioteams means you should 'partner date' widely but commit to partners very carefully. But according to wikipedia there are four different types of symbiotic behavior possible between two different biological species.
Group Messaging Instincts: how to recover them
Biological teams make extensive use of short messages as their main means of communication: Ants use chemical messages, Bees use visual messages conveyed through dance and Dolphins use sonar, however most human teams seem to have forgotten their Messaging Instincts.
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