Ch. 5 Effective Teaming

Why we join teams

Security/Power: Reduces our insecurity of standing alone. Stronger together. Seen in protests, parents confronting a school board together, friends backing each other up.

Status: To be a part of something that is seen as important or exclusive. Like the recognition. Country clubs, charity board, HOA.

Self Esteem: To make yourself feel good. Seen in charity groups/volunteering.

Affiliation: Fulfil a sense of belonging. Don’t like to feel alone. Fills a social and personal need.

Achievement: Some tasks can’t be done alone, and a team is needed for success.

Essentials of effective teaming

Commitment: Foundation of a successful team.

Principled Leadership: Someone who shows skills like honesty, integrity, and respect. If they do not show respect then they will not be respected.

Support and Recognition: Turning down team ideas, ignoring the employees, etc. leads to a lack of morale and poor performance.

Member Competency: Motivation and willingness to engage in goal directed work isn’t sufficient for team effectiveness. Being able to perform tasks and build good customer and work relationships.

Communication Skills: Ability to communicate effectively. Whether it is with direct team members or not, and customers.

Clear and Evaluating Goals: Good motivation is good, but clear and direct tasks lead to success. Clear goals need to be committed to by each member of the team and a date needs to be set.

Living Team Norms: What is an acceptable form of behavior within the group. When members don’t follow this norm, their overall performance levels are compromised.

Types of Teams

Natural Teams: A team comprised of people who work together on a regular basis. Ex: CS call center.

Functional/Problem Solving Team: Team of members form the same group or department whose purpose is to problem solve within the group or department. Ex: enhancing document flow.

Cross-functional Team: Members come from diverse areas within or across organizations. This team is usually created to develop new ideas and solve problems involving multiple groups or departments. Team is only together as long as the task still needs completed.

Virtual Teams: Geologically dispersed. Limited social context, different time zones. Creating team cohesiveness is challenging.

Team Development 5-1 Stage

Form: When formed, members are selected based upon the overall goals of the team and they commit to the team and objectives.

Storm: Struggles among the team members. Not a productive time and can cause a lot of personality conflict and productivity issues.

Norm: Effective teams develop clear, shared standards of behavior, known as guiding principals, shared values, or a code of conduct. Can also learn from others.

Preform: members are now comfortable with each other and the storming behavior is less intense. The team is now breaking down what needs to be done and progress is being made.

Adjourn: For teams who were created to complete a task in a specific period of time.

What successful team members model

Grant team members their expertise: Someone might know more about a topic, so don’t assume you know everything.

Value Differences: Everyone brings something unique to the table. Use it.

Focus on solving problems and not laying blame: Leads to greater cohesiveness.

Support group decisions: It may not be your decision, but if it aligns with your goals then it is worth a shot.

Give credit to everyone on the team: Acknowledge that everyone has an important part to play.

Be respectful of all team members