Discussing the Book of the Month

January 2005 - Contagious Success: Spreading High Performance Throughout Your Organization

Companies in search of a competitive edge look outside for answers when the secret ingredients for success might already be right under their noses. Every company has a few ace workgroups -- identify those top-flight teams and "clone the genes" by positioning them as examples for other employees to follow. To determine what makes some teams good at what they do -- be it HR at Microsoft UK or product development at Whirlpool Corp. -- Annunzio put 3,000 knowledge workers under the microscope in search of a universal formula for high performance. The result is a book about the dos and don'ts of managing, intended for rising execs with teams of their own.

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Discussion Questions

1. Identify the best-performing teams in your organization. Position them as role models for others to follow.
2. Move up the middle. Managers shouldn't devote their time and attention only to the 10% of workgroups that are high-performing, nor should they focus on bringing up the bottom. Reinforce the teams in the middle that are already doing some things right.
3. Borrow the "red handle process" from Navy flight decks. Offer employees a contact they can appeal to outside their workgroup, when they need help on sensitive issues.
4. Employ a "no a--hole rule," an edict that vetoes hiring jerks, regardless of how good their resumes look.