I recently had the honor and privilege of sitting down with Geoff Bellman and Kathleen Ryan, co-authors of the new book Extraordinary Groups: How Ordinary Teams Achieve Amazing Results. What a treat!  Geoff has been a personal idol of mine ever since I started my doctoral program more than 15 years ago, and Kathleen may now be my newest favorite OD consultant. Whether I’ve known them long or short, both are tremendously caring and generous souls who are ever-so-graciously giving back to the field of OD these days just as they have given to their local Seattle community for many, many years.

So why do you, our blog readers, care about Geoff and Kathleen? Because they are two leading team performance experts who just published an eye-opening book……that clearly demonstrates why some groups just come and go while others produce that “wow” experience that inspires us to achieve exceptional results. According to their Group Needs Model, anyone (yes, I said ANYONE!) can create extraordinary group experiences and produce greater results. Listed below are the 6 common needs people have when they join groups, and as Geoff and Kathleen discussed in our interview, groups can achieve remarkable outcomes even if only 2 of these 6 needs are met.

• Acceptance of Self while moving toward One’s Potential
• A Bond with Others that grows while pursuing a Common Purpose
• Understanding the Reality of the World while collectively Making an Impact

Please read their book! It’s written for everyone – project managers, senior executives, group facilitators, and trainers, and really anyone who leads or participates in professional or social community groups. This short video clip about the Group Needs Model was just a snip-it of our extensive interview together. We’ll be sharing a complete transcript of the entire interview very soon so you too can find out how to create extraordinary group experiences that produce outstanding team results.