Monsters of Team Performance
Author: Andrew Bull
Publisher: Independent Publishing Network
Pages: 389
Edition: First
Authors Social Pages:
Book Cost/Purchase Price:
Overview of Monsters of Team Performance
Monsters of Team Performance – This book caught my eye purely based on the title.
As project managers, we know that our strength is with our team. So, having a good idea on what monsters might be out there to destroy your performance or even knock you back a peg or two in the Tuckman’s Ladder is necessary.
So, I thought I would give it a try.
Below, I will dive into more details of this book and give you my final recommendation on who should read it and give it my overall rating.
The Scope of Monsters of Team Performance
Within the introduction, Andrew sets the stage for what this book is about. He mentions that the book will:
- Reveal team performance monsters
- Reveal growth opportunities for the team
- Give actionable solutions for overcoming monsters
- Be a fast and easy read
And he certainly met these promises on what the book will do. Even at close to 400 pages, this book is an easy read that you can quickly read just over a few days.
The book is broken down into 7 parts, covering topics such as:
- Part 1: It Starts with Goals
- Part 2: Why team?
- Part 3: Genesis of Performance
- Part 4: Meet the Monsters
- Part 5: Myths and Mistakes that Fuel Monsters
- Part 6: Take Action
- Part 7: Brave Future
There is also a bonus chapter on “Start with Courage”.
The goal of this book is to get you into a mindset to develop your teams to be high performing and winning teams for your organizations.
To do this, Andrew starts the book out by defining the problem – setting the goals you need to combat the monsters in your team performance.
In Part 2, he defines how these monsters start impacting our organizations. He shows how combating the monsters can lead to better productivity, recruiting, and morale.
In Part 3, we see who are these monsters are and who they are not. Like the critical concept that Monsters in our work are actually people. What we see as monster qualities such as unhelpful ideas during project planning might just be that individuals limited training.
In Part 4, we finally get to meet these monsters of team performance. And with monster names like:
- Blame Blob
- Guzzle Ghoul
- Shallow Buzzer
- And more
Andrew gives a great description of each monster, the challenge they present, and the opportunity you have to get rid of them. He explains the signs of each monster with examples of each one, in action – using an almost comic book feel.
And he closes each monster with a quick description of their myths, mistakes, limiting beliefs, and the damage caused by that specific monster.
In Part 5, we get a deeper five into the myths, mistakes, and beliefs of each of the monster. This part of the book takes a deeper look at each of the monsters. Here we get to see more details around:
- Mistakes each monster makes
- The listing beliefs that drive us towards thinking people are monsters
- The consequences for the team and business based on the monsters actions, if they are not solved.
In Part 6, we get the details on how to defeat the monsters. Analyzing the Do’s and Don’ts when dealing with them
And finally, in Part 7, we get to see the outcomes of our work in building a better team.
What I Enjoyed About The Monsters of Team Performance
The flow of this book is great.
In the Intro, Andrew gives a way to read this book the fast way. By reading parts 1-4, 7 then part 5, and finally on part 6. Reading in this order allowed me to follow along by going over the fundamentals before rolling into the myths and how to take action against each monster.
The book is also simply written in simple language that anyone can understand. If you are just assuming a leadership role or the executive of a company, you can pick up this book and learn something new about team behavior and performance.
As someone who took sociology in college – I’ve always found the interaction of different people within my organizations. So, this book hit home on attacking sociology type theories like the social labeling theory.
Sometimes people are not actually bad, we label them as bad (the monster), when it’s just lack of information and knowledge. Which leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy of the individual seeing themselves as the monster.
Andrew calls this out – and I can see how the rest of his book is not just about monsters becoming better – but it’s about our thoughts on who the monster actually is.
What I Didn’t Enjoy About/Recommend for The Monsters of Team Performance:
This one was hard. This book is actually really good.
The flow was great.
As usual with books I like, I will knickpick. And for this one, it goes against what I’ve said about other book — it is slightly overbearing with images. Most books don’t have enough – this one is full of a bunch of monsters and other images that after awhile felt slightly goofy.
And I like goofy. Most people who know me, know that I can be a goof. But this one had a lot.
Who is Meet The Players in Projectland For?
This book is for anyone who leads teams.
And for project managers, we fall into this category. We lead our project teams and focus on getting work done on time, within scope, and aligned to the budget. And we cannot do that without understanding what monsters could get in the way.
This book will help align you to some of the problems. Allow you to be more vigilant of the problems – and provides you with ideas on how to respond to and overcome each monster.
Within the Power Triangle, this would fall under those Power Skills we know PMI wants us to focus on! And this book could help you identify why your team is not climbing the Tuckmans Ladder!
Overall Rating:
About the Author
Andrew Bull
Andrew Bull’s story exemplifies resilience in the face of adversity.
After setbacks in his film career and early business venture, he persevered, using challenges as motivation. He overcame financial struggles during COVID-19 and personal health issues.
Now a successful author, speaker, and entrepreneur, Bull helps others unlock their potential and overcome obstacles. His experiences and achievements position him as a guide for those seeking personal and professional growth.
Link to Author Website:
Andrew’s page is: https://bullcompanies.com/
This website allows you to search his:
- Books
- Services
- 1:1 Coaching
- Speaking
- Consulting
- Group Coaching
- His Mission
- And How to Contact Him.
The Risk Blog
Thank you for checking out this book review for: Meet The Players in Projectland.
I highly recommend you pick up this book, take notes, and apply some of its contents in your daily life and projects!
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