Watch an extraordinary group at work and you will see that an inspiring and shared purpose surfaces repeatedly. Motivated by their purpose, members make their group a priority even in the face of other demands on their time. Members know that agreeing on a common purpose is critical to their work together. They make purpose visible, they post it, they remind each other of it, they use it as their primary guide for decisions. They check with each other when they suspect that purpose is not commonly understood.

A clear, compelling purpose is easy to see in task-oriented groups, ones we call External Change groups. For them, doable goals that require a stretch are important and set in motion action plans, work assignments, and deadlines. Most groups brought together in the work environment have this type of purpose. For example, Tom and Fred's team came together to analyze the information system's needs and to shape a recommendation. At the more compelling level, what they were really about was trying to do what was right for one portion of the business—and they took no small satisfaction in bucking the top-down system at the same time. Tom remembers that "the others were interested in getting involved. They got caught up in the possibility of doing something that made sense and going against the centralized bull. They liked the idea of breaking that mold."

Purpose is equally important to more socially-oriented groups—which we call Individual Support groups. Friendship circles that meet on regular basis, book clubs, or professional development groups are examples. In less task-driven settings, members are strongly drawn to their shared, internal purpose, typically providing some type of support for one another. Just as with external, task-driven groups, a purpose that is clear and compelling allows the relationship-driven groups to collectively assess how they are doing at what they have come together to achieve.

Watch an extraordinary group in action and you will notice leadership behaviors from across the group. These groups are not top-down or leader-centric. Instead leadership is expressed by many in the group; the lead role shifts with the subject at hand and the expertise required. Many groups self-organize; members know that anyone can initiate with a question, a task, an issue, or a proposal. In these groups, you will see members leading together: initiating, facilitating, structuring, suggesting, and doing all manner of things to help the group be effective. With shared leadership, members take mutual responsibility for outcomes. This gives everyone more opportunity to assist in getting what the group wants. Each member of Fred and Tom's group was a manager in his own right, some were higher on the corporate ladder than Tom, who had initiated the group. Depending on their areas of expertise, each led a different aspect of the work. For example, the materials manager coordinated with his counterparts in the three divisions, keeping people in the loop, gathering data, and moving the assessment process ahead. As decision points surfaced, members relied on each other's content expertise for guiding the group through the steps required to reach their recommendations.

This is not to suggest that extraordinary groups do not have formal leaders. They often do, but those assigned that role see their jobs differently from how more directive leaders do. How so? These leaders know their role is very important and that they are one leader among many. Typically, they focus on seeing that the group is being led rather than on being the one constant leader. They turn responsibilities and questions back to the group; they ask others what they would do. They pay attention to group members and try to see that individual needs are addressed.

Tom is such a leader. Even after twenty years, he can recount what each member in his group did to advance the work and how their competence and enthusiasm came together to make a great team. Aside from being the point person to buck the system, he "carried the water for the troops. You've got to organize around people's excitement and their desires and abilities to get things done. It's important to keep it light and to care about people, especially when they are overcommitted."

Give extraordinary groups a clear purpose and they will come up with ways of working that are governed more by outcome than structure. They will establish and honor systems, plans, roles, tasks, and working agreements—if those structures fit the challenges ahead of them. But they never forget that the main reason they are together is about fulfilling their purpose. The structure is a means to that end. In Tom and Fred's group, the "secret was to keep it human. We used some rudimentary project management tools—like a task list. We reviewed this in our weekly meeting and updated it together. That's the only way this sort of thing gets done. Keep it simple but make sure that everyone is informed and included."

More organic than mechanical, members work together in ways that are collaborative, flexible, creative, and adaptive. They create just-enough-structure—at the time that it is needed—to support purpose and outcomes. They guard against overstructuring or structuring too soon, both of which can impose boundaries on people's thinking and limit the time available for substantive conversations. Agendas are never more important than the outcomes they are designed to meet; roles and plans shift as circumstances call for reaching toward purpose in a new way.

The space created by compelling purpose, just-enough structure, and shared leadership pulls members toward full engagement. When fully engaged, members readily contribute their knowledge, skills, and talents; they do not wait to be asked. In a group like this, rather than holding back, members may have trouble getting airtime—waiting for others to breathe so they can dive in. Depending on what's being discussed, the intensity and excitement of engagement can be more apparent than order. Ideas flow, tumbling one over another like a river just forming and seeking its course. People pitch in, adapt, inform, exclaim, and resolve issues together. And engagement doesn't end when a meeting is over; people do what they say they will do. When a member commits to taking action, others can count on that person to follow through. People work hard and intensely, often for hours, days at a time; they do so because they are committed to their unifying purpose and don't want to let each other down.

Tom and Fred's group had one of these intensely focused times. As they were conducting their due diligence on issues and finances, they knew that they were off-cycle for the company's budget process. They got the word from headquarters that the CEO of the company had finally agreed to consider the group's proposal. With this, the group had hopes they could bypass some of the normal rules and procedures. Tom remembers that "then my boss called and said 'show up tomorrow morning.' The team was completely together on this. We stayed up until 2 A.M. to get ready for the presentation the next day." When the next day came, "we were ready and we nailed it!"

Extraordinary groups thrive because members are enthusiastic and are willing to speak passionately about things that are important. Sometimes group dynamics get complicated and messy—but that's OK. Conflict and disagreement are not uncommon and are not avoided. Members give each other the benefit of the doubt and do not expect each other to be perfect communicators. Laughing, good humor, playful energy, and a joyful spirit show up—and can be present even in the face of very serious circumstances or tense moments. People take pleasure in being together with others who care about the same thing. Irreverence or spontaneous play often erupt, producing side-splitting laughter. This breaks the tension of work and gives the group a larger perspective that helps members understand that all is not seriousness and struggle. Joking and kidding are rooted in positive intent and appreciation of one another, rather than in power or competition. Fred remembers that the group members really had fun together. Tom recalls that "We frequently went down the street after work and shared a pitcher of beer. We laughed a lot and hammered out what we needed to do next. We had a good time together—and we all gained a great deal of respect for each other throughout this time."

In extraordinary groups, people are intrigued by the diversity of information, perspectives, backgrounds, and cultures within the group. They respect each other for who they are as human beings as well as for the skills, knowledge, and talent they apply to the group's purpose. Members know that creative solutions require a broad range of viewpoints and the ability to blend positions—even contradictory ones. With this frame, they experience their unique ideas being respected, listened to, and talked about in service to group purpose. Fred remembers that his group "was a true team, where everyone had input and egos didn't get in the way. There was no 'I'm doing this my way.' " A culture of deferring to the subject matter experts quickly developed. "Beyond deferring details to them, we developed a consensus approach for the bigger issues. We wanted to go forward with a plan that had everyone fully committed. We couldn't afford to have members of the team questioning our decisions or our decision-making process after the fact."

Respect for differences makes it easier for members to bring their true selves to the group. People feel appreciated for who they are; they know that acceptance in the group does not require them to pretend to be someone else. As a result, people are more spontaneous, more likely to take risks, and generally give expression to sides of themselves often not shown in ordinary groups. Members readily acknowledge what they don't know without apology, and what they do know without bragging.

These dynamics promote a sense of safety and trust. In safe environments, members take risks because they trust each other; they do not worry about their intentions being misinterpreted or suffering a reprisal for something they say. They challenge each other, push boundaries, work through differences, share personal stories and experiences—including ones that are painful. They discuss undiscussable^[2] issues to get to the bottom of misunderstandings or hurt feelings. They give each other feedback and ask for it in return. They strive for sensitivity but not perfection in their communications because they know others will accept them for who they are. And they collaborate—willingly and openly sharing ideas, building off each others' perspectives and information, stretching toward breakthrough thinking and reaching powerful decisions together. In this way, respect, safety—and the trust that follows—allow for full engagement.

Tom remembers that "there was a high degree of mutual respect. Some of our best work came out of arguments. People felt safe defending a position and safe compromising when needed. The willingness to compromise was helped by that mutual respect. For my part, I reminded everyone that we were not trying to solve world hunger; we were simply trying to convince a conservative corporation to start doing business in a new way."

Of course people in groups expect to learn, but our extraordinary groups were characterized by learning that went beyond their expectations. You can almost hear learning taking place in an extraordinary group. Learning is central to these groups being transformed. A phrase that captures the energy of this learning is "Ready . . . Set . . . Stretch!" The stretch extends beyond incremental growth; it is an intentional reach to become more together. It's one thing for a member to be uniquely challenged by the task; it's quite another when the entire group takes up the challenge together. Excited by the work before them, members are united in learning together and supporting one another. Often what they learn together has wider application than this project with this team; it applies in their careers and lives.

As a pattern, members of extraordinary groups give more than they originally signed up for: more hours, more energy, more expertise, more patience, more sweat, more empathy, more study, and more risk. In their stretch, members grow in real skills, knowledge, mental frameworks, awareness of self, and sense of potential. Members expand their beliefs of what a group can accomplish together—with profound implications for future groups they will join.

Time and time again, people we interviewed reported being changed, increasing personal confidence, and learning so much! Fred was one of them: "I learned lessons that I didn't know before. About how to get the right people on the team, how to work together so that egos don't get in the way, how to do a process from end-to-end." Fred left the company soon after the installation of the systems his group recommended. As his career unfolded, he told us that "I was a project leader for my whole career." The lessons gained through this team served him well for years.

Relationships between members of extraordinary groups take shape in two primary ways. Some groups form around established relationships; members so enjoy being together that they search for shared purpose and activity that allow them to go on spending time together. Continuing, deepening, and strengthening what they already have in their relationship is a high priority. Other groups draw together first around group purpose. As members join they meet new people, but they are initially attracted more to purpose than to each other. New relationships grow from the work together and sometimes result in lasting friendships. This is not surprising, given the quality and energy of the interactions that characterize such groups.

When group behavior causes individuals to feel respected, enhanced relationships are a natural result. Groups that help members discover common values or interests feed friendship. When the norm is to rely on one another, to commit, and to follow-through, what else would we expect? Add to this the bonds formed through facing challenges together and the fun of daily work and celebrating accomplishment. Tom says, "When we got the whole team in one place, we were together for all of our waking hours for two to three days in a row." The friendships that evolved out of such intensely focused work lasted years beyond people's tenure at the company. Even twenty plus years later, Tom knew how to reach two other members of the team so we could interview them.

Results that surpass members' expectations regularly happen in extraordinary groups. Over two-thirds of those we interviewed identified impressive tangible results. With Tom's team, the operating costs for the one division alone were reduced by $1 million per year. The company's later sale of the division was possible because its information system was not tied to the corporate mainframe. Among our other groups we heard many stories of remarkable accomplishments—a library built, software developed, research completed, conferences held, strategies planned, a beach cleaned, a neighborhood beautified, candidates screened, championships won, markets gained, military missions accomplished, students sent abroad, cargo transported, and lives saved.

Even informed by results such as these, we wish we could guarantee that all the changes groups want to make in the world will be wildly successful. We can't. Why? There are simply too many intervening variables that depend on factors outside any group's span of control. For example, what if the corporate executives had said "No"—for whatever reason—to Tom and Fred's team? We are convinced, however, that by paying attention to the indicators highlighted here, members and leaders will dramatically increase the likelihood that they will achieve or exceed the tangible outcomes they seek. Looking back to our field study, four out of forty-six External Change groups were not successful at achieving their ultimate goals. In spite of this, those we interviewed still described their group experience as amazing. This judgment comes directly from valued intangible results of the group experience.

Results that are not readily measured in numbers, dollars, percentages, or units turn out to be tremendously important to extraordinary groups. When members speak of the amazing aspects of what they did together, with a few exceptions, the tangible results seldom make the top of their list. Why might this be? Tangible results are usually seen as an indicator of the success of what they did, not the success itself. The success itself is usually associated with the more intangible ways people worked together. Learning, increased confidence, and enhanced relationships are the most significant outcomes of these extraordinary groups. Members also glow in their pride of accomplishment or their sense of community. Dramatic testimony to the importance of the intangible came from people who had life-changing experiences. For example: altering a career path, redefining the meaning of family, experiencing a shift in self-esteem, or becoming a part of a community that helped one person stay centered and positive as she faced chronic health challenges in her family.

These intangible results transformed the lives of individual group members. After this, a person's internal experience and external view of her world are never quite the same again. After three years of studying and thinking about extraordinary groups, we know that when someone says "That was an amazing experience!" a powerful intangible shift has most likely taken place. As you will see from the stories we share in the chapters ahead, impressive tangible results usually accompany the intangible transformative shifts. But they seem to take second place to the changes in people's internal experience. A notable exception was one executive who became tangibly rich beyond his dreams. The money was very compelling and changed his life; but although his story provoked a little envy, it stood out as being one of the few in which the tangible made the most important difference.

Looking back on his experience, Tom knows that his team enabled him to make a powerful shift in how he saw himself in the world. "It gave me legitimacy. I already knew what it meant to do this kind of technological change, but this experience showed me I could rise above personal fears and redefine my success. I didn't have a history of bucking the system and I've never really liked confrontation." More than once Tom was told by his superiors to "back off." During the presentation to the CEO, the company's comptroller asked, "How confident are you that this is a good idea?" Tom replied, "I'll bet my job on it." Like Fred, Tom also left the company not long after the IT systems were installed in the three divisions. What he learned propelled him to seek leadership roles with increasing scope and responsibility; the transformative shift he described to us stayed with him and shaped his leadership throughout the years. When we spoke with him, he was president of a company.

Next we provide an overview of the elements that come together to shape an experience such as Tom's.

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