X-Teams are externally oriented and very adaptive teams. With the ever changing external environment, organizations need to be able to adapt to these changing conditions. This is a strength of X Teams as they are managed across boundaries (department, projects, and organizations for example) such that they are able to lobby for resources, connect the group to different change initiatives and make information seeking much easier. They are the link the internal team with outsiders who are of valuable resource to them.
Five components that differentiates an X Team from a normal one is its
- External activities: members of an x team work across boundaries allowing them to tap into activities around them. This area includes ambassadorial activities (managing relation to the power sources of the organization in order to obtain and maintain resources); scouting activities (manages relations downward, gathering info throughout the company and industry) and task coordination (manages relations laterally, focusing on the interdependencies outside their team).
- Extensive Ties: manages their relationship with outsiders. Teams would manage the intensity of their ties, weak ties are good for small task such as gathering info within the company, but stronger ties are needed for higher level cooperation and when task are complex.
- Expandable Tiers: this is the structure of the team. There are different levels of membership in the group. First there is the core members those are the people who are always present in the team from day one. They are the creators and moderators of the team's identity, as they are familiar with the history, values and purpose of the team. Typically there are several core members. Second there are the operational members who are the workers of the team. Finally there are the outer-net members who are the more flexible members of the group. They join the group as a result of their expertise in a specific field for a project/assignment.
- Flexible membership: as earlier mention is a characteristic of X team as it allows members to join or leave the team as conditions require.
- Execution processes: this includes coordination and communications of the team internally and externally since memberships are continually changing. Examples include integrative meetings where the team shares information with everyone to increase the value of the information. Transparent decision making is another mechanism allow members to understand the reason and value for each decisions made and thus will support or won't rebel against decisions.