The Performance Factor: Unlocking the Secrets of Teamwork

Pat MacMillan is one of the top consultants in the USA to Fortune 500 businesses and non-profit organizations. In this book he gave me, for under $20, thousands of dollars of help for my own personal "team building" challenges, and those of my own consulting clients.Unlike some business books, this one is readable and helpful at the *personal* as well as the organizational level. There is, quite simply, a truck-load of wisdom and counsel in this book.Joe B. Webb, PresidentWebb & Associates

This book on teams is the best I have ever seen on the subject. The author retells the story of United Flight 232 throughout the book to make his points. It brings the principles to life in a very real life way. The "team wheel" and the chapters on the qualities of a high performance team are worth the price of the book alone.This book would be of real value to anyone leading a team. It would be an especially good resource for consultants as well. Lots of graphs and diagnostic tools make the book feel like a library of resources. On a personal note, there is a lot you can apply to any set of relationships where you are on a team. I learned a lot about being a husband and dad just reading it!

Whether an organzation is doubling or downsizing, the synergy that comes from high performance teams is critical to success in a marketplace that doesn't give a lot of second chances. Pat MacMillan's The Performance Factor presents a guide to developing high performance teams and team leaders that is both profound and practical. With the right blend of principle and practice, this book is a must read for anyone who wants to understand what teamwork and leadership are all about in the real world.

Leading teams is the hardest and most rewarding work I have done. I have led a number of large, multifunctional customer teams consisting of Marketing, Sales, Finance, Systems & Supply Chain. I have also led a number of smaller project teams related to new product introductions, acquisitions and organizational restructures. My experience has taught me that there are always two objectives when I'm working with teams - the task and achieving high performance. Time and time again, I have found that high performance teams significantly enhance the results associated with the task. The hard part is getting a group of people to perform like a high performance team. The answer is found in Pat MacMillan's latest book The Performance Factor.MacMillan's book is a must read for anyone leading teams, or anyone aspiring to lead teams. It is simply the best resource for both conceptual framing and practical application of high performance teams. The book is centered on a high performance team model that MacMillan has been working with for years. The model is simple and intuitive, and therefore effective. The book is packed with examples and tools to improve your chance of reaching high performance results. One of the features I liked best about the book is that every chapter ends with a "bottom line" section summarizing the material and a useful application section titled "message to team leaders". As an experienced team leader, I highly recommend it!

This book is one of the best I've read on teams and team leadership. MacMillan's comprehensive model breaks down the somewhat mysterious business of effective teamwork and gives an overarching framework that gets to the heart of high performance. Six components (Purpose, Roles, Leadership, Processes, Relationships, and Communication) form a wheel that turns throughout the book. Each section of the wheel is explained in detail, with plentiful anecdotes and visual aids. The author also includes sections on team principles, possible pitfalls, and the process of building a high-performance team, among others. At the end of each chapter the author addresses `the bottom line' and includes a message to team leaders, making the principles of the book practical and doable. A helpful team assessment instrument is included in an appendix. Teams have become an integral component of successful organizations, and in this book MacMillan makes high performance teamwork accessible to anyone interested in learning. Packed with wisdom and insight, it's a must-read for anyone working with others to achieve extraordinary results.