My Book on Collaborative Team Management, Organizational Democracy: Collaborative Team Culture: Key to Corporate Growth has recently entered India Book of Records as part of my new World Record 'A Versatile Writer'.
My book is very useful for organizations which are either planning to shift from traditional setups to participatory management or are already in the process. The book is packed with easy to remember models and approaches to develop successful team-based structures. By blending in the elements of nature, i.e., fire, sky, earth, water and air, I have developed the 'The Perfect Configuration' theory which gives us thoughtful insight as to how all of these elements are critical for the success of any team-a perfect blend of spirituality and management principles. With an artful combination of these elements, the book offers us solid tools in dealing with the behavior patterns to which we can all relate. For example, by looking at the five elements and their traits, you will learn how earth and body are compatible, as are the water and mind. In a similar manner, you will see how the "Six Senses" are so well intertwined and how any cohesive team needs the combination of these traits. With a skillful and innovative approach, you will quickly see how this coordinative stimulation of each of our six senses has a critical role in working with your team members.
My book is doing well, both nationally and internationally. It is part of several premier colleges and universities, city council libraries, team development workshops and corporate training sessions. It is endorsed and recommended by several business experts, best-selling authors and management gurus. Here is a snapshot of these endorsements and testimonials.
1)“Chitra Lele’s book offers a novel theory – ‘The Perfect Configuration’ for identifying and balancing the types of members present in a team. She also provides effective approaches, comprehensive examples and detailed worksheets for assembling well oiled self-driven teams. Her book will help any manager understand the principles that create effective teams.”
Jack Zigon, President, Zigon Performance Group, Author of How to Measure Team Performance
2)“Chitra Lele has created a thought-provoking book that explains various models and tools that people can use to build self-managing teams.”
Mike Pegg,
Managing Director, The Strengths Academy,
Author of The Art of Mentoring, The Strengths Way and The Super Teams Book.
3)“Chitra Lele acknowledges what so often goes unacknowledged in most team building approaches: the unseen dimension of “energy” that lies at the heart of high performing teams, suggesting concrete ways to move and unleash that energy. This book serves as a practical, how-to-do-it approach that even novices to facilitating teams will understand and find imminently useful.”
Barry Heermann, Ph.D.,
Author of the McGraw Hill book, Building Team Spirit
4)“In highlighting the importance of teams and team building, Henry Ford once said that ‘coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.’ These are three important components of teams and performance that are highlighted in Chitra Lele's latest book. By following the practical strategies outlined, you too will be able to have a team that comes together, stays together, and works together. If you can do that, through following Chitra's advice, success will surely follow.”
Jarvis Finger, B.A., B.Ed., M.Ed. Admin., FACEA, AFAIM,
Author of The Management Bible, Just about Everything a Manager Needs to Know and The Classroom Teacher's Book of Management Essentials
5)“This is a book of wisdom about teams. It is thoughtful and well informed but also highly practical. Managers, team members and organizational leaders will find it a source of clear and sensible advice on creating and developing effective teams in organizations. Chitra has succeeded in writing a book which offers a concise but effective understanding of how to work in teams in modern organizations.”
Prof. Michael West, PhD, FAPA, FBPS, FIAAP, FHEA, CFCIPD, FBAM, Executive Dean, Aston Business School, Aston University
6)“Chitra Lele shines a bright light on the importance of teams and the value of teamwork in our increasingly interconnected world! Determination, connection, adaptability, creativity—different people bring much to the team. Read Chitra Lele’s book and learn how to build a diverse team focused towards success!”
Marshall Goldsmith,
NYT and WSJ #1 best-selling author of What Got You There Won’t Get You There and the recently published WSJ best-seller Succession: Are You Ready?
7)“I have been teaching ‘team’ classes at the University of Denver for over ten years now and have yet to find a class text that I’ve been satisfied with; that is until now. Chitra Lele’s book on teams has been a welcome addition to the field and an important resource that you don’t want to be without. Thanks Chitra for writing such an insightful and comprehensive book on teams.”
Greg Giesen, M.S.,
Radio Talk Show Host and Author of Ask Dr. Mac: Take the Journey to Authentic Leadership
(Bronze medal winner for best business fable from the 2008 Axiom Business Books Awards)
8)“Chitra G. Lele’s book, highlights the essentials of building a performance oriented team and provides new ways of looking at team development through approaches such as energy sharing, team accountability, and the use of a team performance measurement system. The book sheds light on how human, organization, and process factors come together in successful teamwork. Providing tips, techniques, and models for team effectiveness, Chitra offers valuable insights in how to manage team development, achieve continuous improvement, and grow teams into ‘mature units’.”
Ms. Fran Rees,
Author of How to LEAD Work Teams: Facilitation Skills
9)“Managing teams is a skill we all need to continually sharpen. Chitra clearly highlights ways to empower a team to produce spirit-enhancing results and positive change.”
Raj Gavurla, Professional Speaker,
Author of Winning at Entrepreneurship
10)“The recent history of teams in the workplace has been one of growing complexity -- in how they work, how they are structured, how teams work together, and how the team aligns its goals with those of the organization. A great deal of knowledge is now emerging about how to design, lead and support effective teams. The author provides a valuable synthesis of key themes within this expanding knowledge base, putting them into practical frameworks that should be valuable to anyone who has to create or lead a team; and articulating the increasingly important role of the team coach.”
Prof. David Clutterbuck, Oxford Brookes University,
A prolific writer of more than 45 books
11)“Chitra’s book is a thorough and complete examination of the chemistry of teamwork. The book’s attention to detail will help any manager understand the foundations and principles that create effective teams. For those blessed with a great team, this book will help you continue your group’s success. For those managers still searching for the right elements for a productive team, this book will help you understand the steps needed to find harmony.”
Mr. Joel Zeff, Speaker, Workplace Expert, and Author of Make the Right Choice: Creating a Positive, Innovative, and Productive Work Life
12)“As a manager, your personal success and that of your business is highly dependant on the achievements of your team. And that in turn, is dependant on your dynamic leadership. Chitra Lele’s latest book provides the skills and techniques to build an energy driven team who ensure your business objectives. I particularly relate to where Chitra states that, human factors make or break a team. Working with teams is a challenge and this book makes that challenge much easier to deal with.”
Alan Fairweather, The Motivation Doctor,
Author of How to be a Motivational Manager
13)“Chitra G. Lele offers a finely detailed map which brilliantly describes the nature of teams and how they are built. Written to be exceptionally practical in meeting the challenges of the present as well as our rapidly approaching future, this book can serve as the blueprint for the continuous development and leadership of teams at all levels of the organization. This is a book for all leaders to keep close at hand.
Mark Sobol, Managing Partner, Full Circle Group,
Co-author and co-editor, Leading the Global Workforce
14)“This is an energetic book filled with practical strategies for creating energetic, high-performing teams. If your teams aren't what they should be, start reading!”
Dr. Robert Epstein, Ph.D.,
Author of The Big Book of Motivation Games, The Big Book of Creativity Games, and The Big Book of Stress Relief Games, published by the business division of McGraw-Hill
15)“Chitra Lele has written a comprehensive and thorough examination on how organizations can achieve extraordinary success through the power of teams. Chitra clearly explains the benefits of linking responsibility on the team (job tasks) with accountability (results): happy, loyal customers and consistent organizational success.”
Randy Spitzer, Executive Vice President, LCI,
Coauthor of Accountability – Freedom and Responsibility without Control, and author of It’s Time to Step Up and Take Responsibility – How to Establish Self-Managing Teams with Shared Leadership
16)“I heartily recommend this book because it doesn’t just present teamwork in platitudes, but breaks it down into a workable, practical process. Today’s employees, at all levels, are by necessity, worker-managers, who have little time for lengthy classes and training sessions. Contrary to some popular thinking, today’s workers genuinely want excellence for themselves as well as their organization, but they need a practical, quick study to guide them. That is what this book is about – practical individual leadership and ultimate organizational success!”
Dr. Twyman Towery, Ph.D., LFACHE, President of Towery Communications, Management consultant and best-selling author of The Wisdom of Wolves, The Power of Eagles and The Male Code
17)“Chitra Lele has taken a complex subject and presented it in a practical and tangible manner that gives professionals the tools that are needed to succeed in a work world without walls. This book represents a very sophisticated effort at offering solutions to the myriad of issues faced when one is working virtually. Both individuals and teams will find this book as a foundational resource for their business practices.”
Dr. Steven Flannes, Ph.D.,
Co-author of Essential People Skills for Project Managers
18)“Chitra Lele has compiled an impressive collection of essential tools for developing and leading self managed teams. It's got everything you'll need to focus the energy of your team on the fundamentals of success.”
Jim Kouzes, Award-winning co-author of The Leadership Challenge, and the Dean's Executive Professor of Leadership, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University
19)“This book provides a comprehensive model for collaborative teamwork that both team members and leaders can use to improve productivity and the emotional environment of the workplace. It is an important contribution in team development!”
James Bradford Terrell,
Co-author of The Emotionally Intelligent Team and the Team Emotional Social Intelligence (TESI) Assessment