Collaborative thinking: four key roles you need in your team
In his unique book "Dialogue and the art of thinking together" William Issacs introduces the Four-Player System originally developed by David Kantor. This is a very important technique for supporting real collaborative thinking in teams.
In the book Isaacs suggests that in any productive group thinking dialogue all four of the following roles should be in play:
- Mover
Without Movers there is no direction - Opposer
Without Opposers there is no correction - Follower
Without Followers there is no completion - Bystander
Without Bystanders there is no perspective
The roles do not all need to be in play at the same time but need to have been played before the thinking concludes.
About Ken Thompson
Ken Thompson delivers keynote conference speeches, workshop facilitation and in-house consultancy in four key business areas:- Creating High Performing Teams in enterprises including Virtual and Mobile Teams (based on the Bioteams Book)
- Establishing effective Collaborative Business Networks enabling companies to co-operate effectively in areas such as sales and product development (based on the book - The Networked Enterprise)
- How to use the latest social media technologies including blogging and online communities to promote enterprises, brand, organisation or event
- Development of graphical on-line interactive Business Dashboards and What-if Simulators for organisations to support Performance Improvement, Strategy Development and Executive Team Development.
Tags: books, collaboration, conversation, dialogue
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Bioteams Books Reviews
Effective Brainstorming: Top Tips
Brainstorming, despite the popularity of the term, is one of the most challenging collaborative activities to carry out. While most people think they know how to brainstorm, very few really understand how to consistently make a session work. Ken Thompson and Robin Good share some of the secrets gleaned from "The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm"
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Virtual Enterprise Simulator
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How Do I Motivate My Team? The Three-Step Turbocharging Method
It is far too easy for teams to lose focus in today's fast paced collaborative virtual workplace. When your team starts falling behind and can no longer see just how mission critical their work is to the project, it is time for you to help the team focus, and in turn, turbo-charge their effectiveness. Ken Thompson and Robin Good suggest how you can re-kindle the team's fire.
The Three Laws of Teams
Isaac Asimov, forecasted the coming age of Robots and developed the famous Three Laws of Robotics. Asimov's laws can be easily adapted to teams to determine if your team is Performing or Inverted (a team where the individual, team and other member priorities have got muddled).
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