ABSTRACT
This chapter starts by describing three types of team we had observed – dream teams, standard teams and teams from hell. Mrs Thatcher, for all her international reputation, had evidentially presided over a classic team from hell. It is not always possible to examine a team's characteristics on all factors from outside the team and at a given point in time. The factor is differentiating dream teams from teams from hell is the presence of a strong platform of understanding. The factor relates to the psychological climate for creative change within teams, concerns ownership of ideas and resilience to setbacks. The other factor is evidence that some of the team members – we call them 'network activators' – are particularly good at working with key individuals both within and outside the team. The chapter concludes with the creative problem-solving systems that were the precursors to the approach.
