Self-Selection

Here’s a radical idea: Trust people to know best and let them decide which team they should work in. Let them self-select!

Known as Self-Selection, Squadification, or Self-Selecting Teams - this is an effective way of creating great teams. From the people who literally wrote the book on it, here you will find a wealth of resources to guide you through the process.

Our Top Self Selection Articles

Self-selection on a Page

Jun 14, 2016  ·  Sandy Mamoli

Everything you need to know about Self-Selection on a page. Download the quick overview guide. Download the Self Selection On A Page If you'd like to know more get our book "Creating Great Teams - How Self-Selection Lets People Excel".... continue reading

Video: Keynote Agile Tour Montreal

Jan 12, 2020  ·  Sandy Mamoli

"Trusting people to choose who to work with and what to work on creates not only great teams but also great organisations. I have run self-selections since 2013 and have some stories to tell." In her keynote at Agile Tour Montreal Sandy Mamoli explores the idea of self-selection. Can it improve prod... continue reading

Quick Guide to Self-Selection

May 12, 2014  ·  Sandy Mamoli

This free Self-Selection pocket guide is a quick guide to Self-Selection. Use these handy checklists for preparing and running self-selection events of 20-200 people. It can be used as a stand-along guide or as a companion to the book “Creating Great Teams - How Self- Selection Lets People Excel” by... continue reading

Case Studies and Articles

Read Self-selection stories, watch presentations, listen to podcasts and download our useful pocket guide here.

5 Questions about Self-Selection

Sept 29, 2021  ·  Sandy Mamoli

1. What is self-selection? Self-selection is a way of letting people choose which team to work in. It is a facilitated process of letting people self-organize into small, cross-functional teams. It is the fastest and most efficient way to form stable teams and is based on a belief that people are at... continue reading

Spamcast: A Podcast with Sandy Mamoli

May 24, 2020  ·  Sandy Mamoli

SPaMCAST features Tom Cagley's interview with Sandy Mamoli. We talked about teams and the book she co-authored, Creating Great Teams: How Self-Selection Lets People Excel. Sandy’s unique perspective as a world-class athlete and Agile Coach allows her to deliver options about forming teams you didn’t... continue reading

Asked to Self-Select? Here's How to Pick your Team

May 12, 2020  ·  Sandy Mamoli

“How do I know which team to choose and what guidelines I should apply?” “How do we make sure people make good choices, not just for themselves but for all of us?” These are the two most common questions managers and team members ask before any self-selection event. This post will provide guideline... continue reading

Case Study: Self-Selection with Distributed Teams

Jan 22, 2020  ·  Sandy Mamoli

How Travelstart used remote self-selection to create distributed teamsOnly five months after creating cross-functional teams Travelstart, a South African travel booking website, had a change in strategy and needed to rethink their team structure. From previous hackathons the company had experience w... continue reading

Video: Keynote Agile Tour Montreal

Jan 12, 2020  ·  Sandy Mamoli

"Trusting people to choose who to work with and what to work on creates not only great teams but also great organisations. I have run self-selections since 2013 and have some stories to tell." In her keynote at Agile Tour Montreal Sandy Mamoli explores the idea of self-selection. Can it improve prod... continue reading

See all Self-Selection articles
Creating Great Teams

Creating Great Teams

How Self-Selection Lets People Excel

People are happiest and most productive if they can choose what they work on and who they work with. Self-selecting teams give people that choice. Build well-designed and efficient teams to get the most out of your organisation, with step-by-step instructions on how to set up teams quickly and efficiently. You'll create a process that works for you, whether you need to form teams from scratch, improve the design of existing teams, or are on the verge of a big team re-shuffle.