Launch of Bryan’s next book Team Think – How Teams Make Great Decisions

I first worked with Bryan back in the early days of the COVID pandemic, when the spectre of the unknown loomed large. He brought frameworks for managing risk and making complex strategic decisions in a situation that was the very definition of the Uncertainty Paradox. Team Think offers practical and rigorous tools for all leaders as they embrace uncertainty, navigate complexity, and strive for the flow that underpins success.  

Bryan takes us on a whirlwind tour of why and how team decision making can improve outcomes. He presents a range of models and ideas that allow the reader to consider different approaches. Perhaps applying some of the tools suggested in this book, readers can decide how to improve their decision making. An important reminder that with mindful application and design, together we can go further than trying to outthink the problem on our own.

Team Think is the pocket guide to getting your team humming. Full of practical advice, Bryan uses his engaging style to pull together the research and his own experience into an operating manual for leaders, to optimise team decision making.

Team Think dives right into the heart of what makes or breaks team decisions and comes out with some serious gold. Bryan Whitefield has a way of breaking down the nitty-gritty of strategic planning and decision hygiene that’s both eye-opening and, dare I say, fun. It’s like having a chat with a wise friend who knows just how to steer your team to greatness. With insights on everything from leadership roles to tackling biases, this book is a must-have for anyone ready to lead their team to new heights. It’s not just another business book; it’s your team’s next step to becoming unstoppable.

Over the years, I’ve dedicated considerable thought to enhancing the speed and quality of team decision-making. Bryan’s exceptional book thoughtfully explores the dynamics of team decision making offering practical methods for optimising team decisions. Drawing from his extensive background in business, consulting and facilitation, Bryan provides compelling examples of how to use the optimisation process and create the right environment for faster and better team decisions.

Team Think: How Teams Make Great Decisions’ by Bryan Whitefield is essential for anyone involved in organisational leadership and decision-making. Bryan’s expertise in linking decision-making processes with risk management is evident throughout the book. He masterfully demonstrates how effective decision-making enhances organisational performance and mitigates risk by fostering a culture of informed and collaborative decision-making. This book provides invaluable insights and practical tools that empower teams to navigate complex challenges with confidence and agility. It is a must-read for leaders who strive to make sound decisions that drive success and sustainability.

Invaluable insights not just for the risk community, but for the broader business world, a must read!

Why do so many teams struggle with decision-making? As one of Australia’s leading risk experts, Bryan understands the importance of culture and leadership better than most. Bryan’s latest book, Team Think, explores Decision Flow in teams in a practical way with actionable insights for leaders. If you want to shift how your leaders and teams decide, Team Think is a must read.

When teams are prepared - whether in sport or business - their success is seldom a stroke of luck. The only way to be prepared is to do the hard yards up front, and unfortunately, because they are ‘hard yards’, too many teams don’t do this resulting in costly consequences. This is why you need to invest the time to read and re-read this book Team Think.

As someone who is passionate about the value of high performing teams, it was refreshing to read Bryan Whitefield’s Team Think. The book does a fantastic job of recognising the inherent complexity of teams and the environment they operate within at the same time as offering a range of applicable frameworks and principles all designed to enable better decision making. Readers and teams who apply the lessons of this book will make better decisions and that is a good thing for all of us.

Team Think is a book that I strongly recommend to anyone involved in decision making, whether it be a board member, a member of an executive leadership team, management or just those required to make good decisions. The book is informative, thought provoking and an enjoyable read for a wide audience. Brian has a knack for making the complex simple to understand and peppers the text with tools to use in decision making, with examples that have relevance to a wide spectrum of readers. Bryan spells out why decision making is critical to good organisational governance and the deficiencies in many organisations’ governance frameworks around decision making. He highlights the cost to an organisation from poor decisions and why there is a need to focus attention, not only on the large “strategic” and “big bet” decisions at the start of a project, but equally importantly on the myriads of subsequent decisions, some big but many small, that are essential to successful execution of projects. He highlights the importance of good decision flow on an organisation’s growth trajectory. What is needed to make quality team decisions quickly and provides a useful matrix to classify decisions so that the correct process can be identified for each decision. His book is well referenced to the literature on decision making that supports his analysis but presents it in a coherent form that makes the complex research undertaken into the subject of decision making, easily absorbed by the reader. Lastly, Bryan provides a wealth of experience in building support tools and processes for decision making. This is a “how to” book which I recommend as an essential read for those interested in decision making.

As always, Bryan’s book Team Think provides insights into how to put theory into practice. Decision making is one of the most difficult aspects to get right in organisations. It’s impressive to see how Bryan effectively integrates various theories into a cohesive, systematic approach for navigating team decisions. As a risk professional, better team decision making is one of the keys to success.