This chapter introduces the story of the Mann Gulch fire disaster of 1949 to set the stage for our discussion of team resilience. We build on this story in chapter 2, where we discuss the four pitfalls of team resilience. We also use this chapter to define team resilience as a team's capacity to bounce back from a setback that results in diminishment of valuable team processes. We also define each of the three elements in more detail. We discuss how team resilience is different from team performance for teams operating in stable environments, including the three dimensions of making sense of situations, coalescing, and persisting, and we provide examples from Mann Gulch to highlight each. We conclude with an outline of the rest of the book.

Building on our description of the Mann Gulch fire disaster from chapter 1, we introduce the four pitfalls responsible for the tragedy, including (1) too little or too much team confidence (i.e., individual team member confidence does not add up to collective team confidence), (2) an inadequate teamwork roadmap (i.e., knowing where the team is going and each member's role in getting there), (3) an inability to improvise (i.e., even the best-laid plans can become worthless as conditions on the ground change), and (4) a lack of team psychological safety (i.e., team members have to be comfortable enough with one another to be their true selves). In addition to discussing each of these in the context of Mann Gulch, we also provide a real-world example to further illustrate each pitfall.

We elaborate on the first team resilience resource, confidence. We begin the chapter with an example of the importance of team confidence regarding a team member's experience working on a software development team that has encountered adversity and must use its resilience to overcome it. We follow with additional real-world examples and research findings on the importance of team confidence. We then describe in detail the five ways team leaders can build a healthy level of team confidence (i.e., not too little, not too much) to maximize team resilience (i.e., make sure team goals and processes are clear, empower the team, be a transformational leader, use ethical leadership, and offer hypothetical and/or sequenced mastery experiences). We provide real-world examples for each of the five behaviors.

We elaborate on the second team resilience resource, introducing and defining teamwork roadmaps. We begin the chapter with an example of the importance of teamwork roadmaps to a team member's experience working on a behavioral response team in a large university hospital that has encountered adversity and must use its teamwork roadmap to overcome it. We follow with additional real-world examples and research findings on the importance of teamwork roadmaps. We then describe in detail the five ways team leaders can build effective teamwork roadmaps for their teams to maximize team resilience (i.e., hold regular team meetings, use team interaction training, use shared leadership, lead with a growth mindset, and use hypothetical adversities to prepare teams). We provide real-world examples for each of the five behaviors.

We elaborate on the third team resilience resource, capacity to improvise, and introduce and define it. We begin the chapter with an example of the importance of teamwork roadmaps regarding a team member's experience working on a new product development team for a consumer goods manufacturer that has encountered adversity and must use its team capacity to improvise to overcome it. We follow with additional real-world examples and research findings on the importance of team capacity to improvise. We then describe in detail the two ways team leaders can enhance a team's capacity to improvise (i.e., build up a team's transactive memory and increase team creativity). We provide real-world examples for each of the two behaviors.

We elaborate on the fourth team resilience resource, team psychological safety, and introduce and define it. We begin the chapter with an example of the importance of team psychological safety regarding a team member's experience working on a consulting team charged with analyzing a drop in profitability at a large family-owned company that has encountered adversity and must use its team psychological safety to overcome it. We follow with additional real-world examples and research findings on the importance of team psychological safety. We then describe in detail six leader behaviors and four team structural factors that can build psychological safety for their teams to maximize team resilience. We provide real-world examples for each of the behaviors and structural levers.

This chapter walks leaders through the three stages of resilient leadership—minimizing adversity, managing adversity, and mending after adversity. Readers assume the role of vice president of client services for a small marketing company. When a key team member takes an emergency leave of absence at a critical time during the biggest project in company history, the team and leader must regroup, redefine roles, and buckle up for what promises to be a bumpy road ahead. We offer specific practical techniques leaders can take to boost both morale and teamwork during this trying time.

This chapter discusses building team resilience in hybrid and remote teams. It begins with the story of a team member who is an advertising executive working for a medium-sized agency in California that has encountered a setback and now must use the four team resilience resources to overcome it and bounce back. We revisit each of the leader actions devoted to building the four resources and focus on providing specific actions needed to enhance them when members are spread out over geographic distances. We make sure to include specific examples targeted at hybrid teams (i.e., those teams having some members collocated and others remote), which are projected to be the most common form of teaming post-pandemic.

This closing chapter briefly summarizes the main content from the first eight chapters, highlighting critical takeaways. We then provide a set of team self-assessment tools that can be used to measure many of the key team attributes discussed in the book including: team resilience, team confidence, teamwork roadmaps, team capacity to improvise, and team psychological safety. We also provide a detailed example of a team charter, including both an individual team member and overall team component.