From Teams to Teaming

Rethinking Collaboration for the Modern Workplace

In an age defined by volatility and rapid transformation, the way we think about collaboration needs a serious upgrade. So does the way we structure and enable collaboration in our organizations and institutions.

For decades, companies have organized work around teams—fixed units of individuals brought together to tackle specific functions or long-term goals. Think of the finance team, the marketing team, or the project team with a clear beginning, middle, and end. These structures have served us well in stable environments. But what happens when change becomes constant and when responsiveness determines success?

Enter "teaming" - a dynamic, flexible approach to collaboration that prioritizes interaction over structure, responsiveness over roles, and mindset over job descriptions.

The Crucial Distinction: Structure vs. Flow

Traditional teams are built on structure. They are typically defined by hierarchy, roles, and predictability. The assumption is that clarity and cohesion will drive performance. To be fair, this holds true in many operational settings.

Teaming, on the other hand, is about flow. Coined and championed by Harvard professor Amy Edmondson, teaming isn't a noun—it's a verb. It describes the ongoing process of collaboration among individuals who may not have worked together before, may not report to the same leader, and may not even share a time zone. It's messy, fast, and often temporary—but also incredibly powerful when done well.

Imagine a global pharmaceutical company assembling cross-functional experts from R&D, marketing, and regulatory affairs to rapidly evaluate a new drug's market potential. These individuals may only work together for weeks, yet their ability to quickly align, share knowledge, and adapt is critical. That's teaming in action.

Why Teaming Matters Now More Than Ever

Today's organizations operate in projectized, matrixed environments that demand adaptability. The rise of remote and hybrid work only adds complexity. In this context, the old playbook of stable teams falls short. Leaders can no longer rely on fixed structures—they must empower individuals to move fluidly across initiatives, connect quickly, and co-create in real time.

That’s why high-performing companies are shifting their focus from building better teams to cultivating better teamers—individuals who can navigate ambiguity, bridge silos, and adjust their style to the needs of the moment.

The New Skill Set: Mindset and Adaptability

Effective teaming doesn't happen by accident. It requires a new kind of interpersonal intelligence—grounded in situational awareness and cultural adaptability.

This means developing a conscious understanding of group dynamics:

• How do I show up in this situation and environment?
• What role do I need to play right now?
• How do I bridge across cultural, functional, or personality differences?

Successful teamers possess cultural agility—the ability to read the room and reshape themselves accordingly. It’s less about charisma, more about presence, listening, and intentionality. And yes, it can be developed.

Forward-thinking organizations are already investing in this capacity. They're training leaders to not define themselves by their subject matter expertise, but collaborative architects—people who foster psychological safety, navigate tension, and spark collective insight, even in ad-hoc or unfamiliar settings. This also means that they engage people in proactively developing individuals and groups, dynamically developing and calibrating inclusive ways of working.

Leadership Implications: Design for Dynamism

If you're a CEO or people leader, this shift has major implications. Are you designing your organization around static structures or enabling dynamic collaboration? Are you hiring for technical fit or evaluating teaming agility? Are your incentives aligned with individual performance or with cross-functional contribution?

Creating a teaming culture doesn’t mean abandoning teams. It means embracing both: stable cores and fluid edges. Inclusive leadership becomes the foundation for this dynamic environment. It means moving from command-and-control to connect-and-catalyze. This shift makes Inclusive leadership critical to enabling a teaming orientation in our organisations and institutions. In fact, Inclusive Leadership is the foundation upon which teaming in organisations can be accelerated.

Thriving in today's increasingly complex world is not achieved through rigid organizational charts, but through the capacity for adaptive teaming, where individuals quickly build trust, learn on the move, and adapt with agility. Teaming is far more than a buzzword; it represents a fundamental leadership paradigm and a critical skill set for modern leaders¹.

Organizations that embrace a teaming approach see significant and lasting gains in performance and innovation. Research shows that focusing on teams can lead to efficiency gains of up to 30 percent when cross-functional groups unite to tackle complex challenges².

Adaptive teaming is characterized by rapid experimentation, continuous learning, and innovation as core mindsets, rather than static structures³. For leaders willing to adopt this new perspective and invest in developing teaming capabilities, the benefits are substantial:

• Teams aligned around clear outcomes create greater ownership and commitment, as members understand how their daily work contributes to shared goals⁴.
• High-performing teams are built on trust, open communication, and distributed leadership, empowering all members to participate fully and make inclusive decisions⁵.
• Adaptive teams seamlessly share information, streamline processes, and clarify decision rights, enabling faster and higher-quality decision-making⁶.
• Leaders play a crucial role as connectors and coaches, modeling key practices, removing obstacles, and radiating team successes across the organization to combat change fatigue and build momentum⁷.
• A team-based structure enhances communication, flexibility, and empowerment, enabling organizations to respond rapidly to new priorities and challenges⁸.

Ultimately, the path to organizational resilience and breakthrough performance lies not in hierarchical charts, but in the collective potential of teams, enabled by leaders who champion adaptive teaming, foster trust, and nurture continuous learning and adaptation.

Footnotes

1. Edmondson, Amy C. Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy. Jossey-Bass, 2012.

2. Deloitte. “The Organization of the Future: Arriving Now.” 2017 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends.  

3. Edmondson, Amy C. Teaming to Innovate. Harvard Business Review Press, 2013.

4. Katzenbach, Jon R., and Douglas K. Smith. The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization. HarperBusiness, 2003.

5. Lencioni, Patrick. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. Jossey-Bass, 2002.

6. McChrystal, Stanley, et al. Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World. Portfolio, 2015.

7. Ibarra, Herminia, and Anne Scoular. “The Leader as Coach.” Harvard Business Review, November–December 2019.  

8. Harvard Business Review Analytic Services. “The New Rules of Teamwork.” Harvard Business Review, 2019.