Team Building Skills

Develop Your Team Building Skills

Author : Paul Parcon

Publisher : Lotus Press, 2007

ISBN : 81-8382-095-6

Pages : 130

The Big Idea

Many view teams as the best organization design for involving all employees in creating business success and profitability.

However, how to develop and implement the disciplines, frameworks, and techniques required for team building and good team performance – and/or how to improve upon what is already in place and in play – is a question that many executives, organizations and companies, both large and small, are constantly asking themselves.

There is a real need for groups of all sorts to learn about team building and how to go about it.

Why You Need This Book

This book on team building provides tools for the development of individuals, teams, and organizations, with a especial focus on the formation of teams and motivating them to achieve their goals. It tackles each step of the team-building process, beginning by discussing the need for team building in the first place, and ending by providing advice on what to do in case the teams fail to achieve their objectives.

The Need for Team Building

“It’s easy to get the players; it’s getting them to play together that’s the tough part” – Casey Stangel

When a team in an organizational development context embarks upon a process of self-assessment, it gauges its own effectiveness to improve performance. The symptoms that signal a need for team building are:

• Decreased productivity
• Conflicts or hostility among staff members
• Confusion about assignments, missed signals, and unclear relationships
• Decisions misunderstood or not carried through properly
• Apathy and lack of involvement
• Lack of initiation, imagination, innovation; routine actions taken for solving complex problems
• Complaints of discrimination or favouritism
• Ineffective staff meetings, low participation, minimally effective decisions
• Negative reactions to the manager
• Complaints about quality service

The Ingredients of Team Building

“What chance gathers she easily scatters. A great person attracts great people and knows hwo to hold them together” – Johann Wolfgang Goethe

Ingredients seen as important to the successful set-up and launch of such team efforts include:

• Selection of participants
• Establishing visions, goals, missions and/or objectives
• Distribution of workload
• Timetabling
• Balancing skill-sets
• Metrics
• Harmonizing personality types
• Training on how to work together

Types of Teams

“Clearly no group can as an entity create ideas. Only individuals can do this. A group of individuals may, however, stimulate one another in the creation of ideas” – Estill I. Green

INTERDEPENDENT TEAM. No significant task can be accomplished without the help of essentially all team members and the success of every individual is inextricably bound to the success of the whole team.

INDEPENDENT TEAM. A tennis team is a classic example for this where matches are played and won by individuals or partners, every person performs basically the same actions, and whether one player wins or loses has no direct effect on the performance of the next player.

VIRTUAL TEAM. Consists of members joined electronically, with nominal in-person contact. Virtual teaming is made possible with technology tools, especially the Internet. This allows teams to be formed of players otherwise unavailable.

PROJECT TEAM. A team used only for a defined period of time and for a separate, concretely definable purpose, often becomes known as a project team.

Skills Needed for Teamwork

“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success” – Henry Ford

Aside from any required technical proficiency, a wide variety of social skills are desirable for successful teamwork, including:

• Listening – it is important to listen to other people’s ideas. When people are allowed to freely express their ideas, these initial ideas will produce other ideas.
• Questioning – it is important to ask questions, interact, and discuss the objectives of the team.
• Persuading – individuals are encouraged to exchange, defend, and then to ultimately rethink their ideas.
• Respecting – it is important to treat others with respect and to support their ideas.
• Helping – it is crucial to help one’s co-workers, which is the general theme of teamwork.
• Sharing – it is important to share with the team to create an environment of teamwork.
• Participating – all members of the team are encouraged to participate in the team.

Team Development

There can only be one state of mind as you approach any profound test; total concentration, a spirit of togetherness, and strength” – Pat Riley

The forming-storming-norming-performing model takes the team through four stages of team development and maps quite well on to many project management life cycle models, such as initiation – definition – planning – realization.

Stage 1: Forming

The principal work for the team during the Forming stage is to create a team with clear structure, goals, direction and roles so that members begin to build trust. During the Forming stage, much of the team’s energy is focused on defining the team, so task accomplishment may be relatively low.

Stage 2: Storming

Team Tasks during the Storming stage of development call for the team to refocus on its goals, perhaps breaking larger goals down into smaller, achievable steps. A redefinition of the team’s goals, roles and tasks can help team members past the frustration or confusion they experience during the Storming stage.

Stage 3: Norming

Members shift their energy to the team’s goals and show an increase in productivity, in both individual and collective work. The team may find that this is an appropriate time for an evaluation of team processes and productivity.

Stage 4: Performing

The team makes significant progress towards its goals. Accomplishments in team process or progress are measured and celebrated.

Stage 5: Termination/Ending

During this stage, the team should focus on three tasks:

1. Completion of any deliverables and closure on any remaining team work

2. Evaluation of the team’s process and product, with a particular focus on identifying “lessons learned” and passing these on to the sponsor for future teams to use

3. Creating a closing celebration that acknowledges the contributions of individuals and the accomplishments of the team and that formally ends this particular team’s existence.

What Team Building Should Be and What It Shouldn’t Be

“Many candles can be kindled from one candle without diminishing it” – Midrash

Team building must be:

• A way of life
• The responsibility of every Team Member
• A continuous process
• About developing a clear and unique identity
• Focused on a clear and consistent set of goals
• Concerned with the needs and ambitions of each team member recognizing the unique contribution that each individual can make
• An awareness of the potential of the team as a unit
• Results oriented
• Enjoyable

Team building must NOT be:

• A short-term, flavor-of-the-month project
• Imposed without regard to people’s feelings
• Spasmodic
• Reserved for only some members of the team
• An excuse for not meeting personal responsibilities
• A process where actions clearly contradict intentions
• Seen as a chore

Characteristics of a Team Leader

“Being apart of success is more important than being personally indispensable” – Pat Riley

There are several ways in which the team leader can contribute to creating a positive climate within the team:

1. One of the most powerful forces is to put forward, in cooperation with team members, an exciting vision/purpose of what the team is to achieve.

2. The team leader, where possible, should help select or influence the composition of team members.

3. The team leader can provide the leadership for helping the team develop an understood and accepted set of principles that will contribute to their success.

4. The team leader should be the liaison between the team and upper management.

5. The team leader needs to know and work with upper management to obtain full commitment from them in support of the team’s program.

6. The team leader can encourage team member growth, and should be willing to take some risk by having members whose resources are relevant to the immediate task provide the leadership.

7. The team leader should be fair, supportive, and recognized by team members as one who can make final judgments, work with upper management, and give direction to the team as needed.

Steps to Building an Effective Team

“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work” – Vince Lombardi

• Consider each employee’s ideas as valuable.
• Be aware of employees’ unspoken feelings.
• Act as a harmonizing influence.
• Be clear when communicating.
• Encourage trust and cooperation among employees on your team.
• Encourage team members to share information.
• Delegate problem-solving tasks to the team.
• Facilitate communication.
• Establish team values and goals; evaluate team performance.
• Make sure that you have a clear idea of what you need to accomplish.
• Use consensus.
• Set ground rules for the team.
• Establish a method for arriving at a consensus.
• Encourage listening and brainstorming.
• Establish the parameters of consensus-building sessions.

What to Do About Team Failures?

“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime: - Babe Ruth

The following measures should be taken for securing success for teams:

1. Learn about teams. You wouldn’t invest in capital equipment without first finding out how it works and what it will (or won’t) do for you. Make sure to do the same regarding teams.

2. Learn before you leap. Visit other companies, read, and send people to conferences, among other things.

3. Develop your vision and strategy. This is not a mystical leap or a list of pious principles to hang on a plaque in the lobby. Create a specific picture of what you want to have in place when you’re successful.

4. Explore readiness. Take a careful look at where to start.

5. Choose the right team structure to fit your needs.

6. Craft a plan. You can’t implement workplace teams in an ad hoc fashion.

7. Focus on real work. Effective work teams, by definition, get high-quality results with high levels of engagement and satisfaction for their members.

8. Expect transition time. Hurrying the team’s development and expecting miracles too soon will only short-circuit their effectiveness.

9. Form friendships. Having a “best friend at work” is one of the important factors that contribute to high-performing teams.

10. Fire people who refuse to join in. We all know the people who sit back, arms crossed, and let everyone else do the work.

11. Give permission to start over. Make it clear that mistakes are expected and are just another way to eliminate what won’t work in order to get to the successes.

12. Appreciate how powerful teams really are! The momentum they bring to any problem, decision, or direction can be unstoppable and highly influential.