Much has been written about why people collaborate and the pay-offs. Key concepts include Tit for Tat and The Prisoners Dilemma discussed in Dysfunctional teams: bioteam them.

Instead of issuing orders, nature's teams such as ants, geese, dophins, jellyfish and microscopic life forms, function by providing timely information to the team members and then allowing and expecting them to take the appropriate action. Curiously, this information is not provided by the Queen nor a leadership group but by the 'rank and file' members. Team Intelligence provides a team with a much more sensitive and long-range early warning 'radar' than the conventional approach which enables them to spot problems and opportunities sooner and to react to them more effectively.

The seven habits of highly effective dolphins.

According to a excellent site dedicated to Dolphins at Western Illinois University (Illinois) Dolphin social behavior is one of the most complex and advanced in the animal kingdom and offers us a number of insights into effective bioteaming.

What is Teamwork? Although there are many different definitions, in nature the definition of 'teamwork' is very precise. There are four different types of "teamwork" in biological teams: Solowork, Crowdwork, Groupwork and Teamwork itself. A bioteam knows how and when to use all four forms - the choice depends on the specific task at hand.

Pheromone-based messaging is the oldest and most evolved form of biological signalling. It uses chemicals to effect communications between animals and insects through smell and taste. There is an excellent opportunity for today’s virtual teams and mobile groups to re-organise the way they use their internet, email, messaging and presence-aware technologies to gain huge benefits from it.

New bioteaming manifesto published

I am delighted to announce that, in collaboration with my colleague Robin Good, and the very kind support of ChangeThis whose mission is "to spread important ideas and change minds" we are launching “The Bioteaming Manifesto – A new paradigm for virtual, networked business teams”.

Beliefs are the fuel which can really energise bioteams

There is one, often neglected area, which a team needs to address as part of a bioteaming strategy if it wants to be exceptionally successful – team member beliefs.

Its now six months since Robin Good and I published our first bioteams manifesto.A lot has happened since then and we feel it may now be a good time to publish a new version of the manifesto and to circulate the bioteaming ideas to a wider audience using changethis as a medium. If you agree then we would appreciate it if you would let us know by visiting the bioteaming manifesto feedback page on changethis and registering your vote by clicking 'yes write this manifesto'. We would also value any other comments you might have on bioteaming.

Many Thanks
Ken Thompson

Bioteaming – the secret to high-performing, self-organising, virtually networked teams

In my research into bioteaming I have (so far) identified four action zones and about a dozen action rules.This article provides a brief introduction.

Bioteams are sustainable self-organising systems