Team Dynamics & Leadership

Team Charter

A written agreement created collectively by all team members that outlines purpose, goals, roles, and rules for the team, serving as a roadmap for how they will work together.

4 Key Components of a Team Charter

1. Purpose & Goals (mission), 2. Roles & Responsibilities (who does what), 3. Norms & Ground Rules (communication, decision-making, conflict), 4. Accountability & Consequences (what happens if commitments aren't met).

Performance Goals vs. Process Goals

Performance goals focus on outcomes like grades, deadlines, and quality; Process goals focus on how the team works together, such as collaboration, respect, and learning.

Forming (Tuckman's Stage 1)

Members are brought together and try to "figure it out." Characterized by uncertainty about roles/goals and a focus on orientation and inclusion. Charter role: Build a foundation.

Storming (Tuckman's Stage 2)

The team tries to integrate various opinions in defining the mission and workflow. Characterized by conflicts, competition, and clashes in styles/personalities. Charter role: Provide guidance during conflicts.

Norming (Tuckman's Stage 3)

The team shifts focus to tasks and establishes implicit and explicit rules. Shared norms, trust, cohesion, clearer roles, and team identity form. Charter role: Reinforce and revise expectations.

Performing (Tuckman's Stage 4)

The team actively gets work done and operates at high effectiveness. Members are motivated, interdependent, and goal-oriented. Charter role: Keep the team aligned and accountable.

Adjourning (Tuckman's Stage 5)

The team has completed its goals and prepares to disband. Provides an opportunity for reflection and recognition.

When is the initial Team Charter most critical?

During the Forming and Storming stages (and it can be revised during the Norming stage).

Functional Teams

Teams composed of members from the same department or area of expertise (e.g., Accounting/Finance). Work on ongoing, routine tasks with a clear hierarchy (manager-led) and stable, long-term structure.

Cross-Functional Teams

Teams composed of members from different departments or business specialties formed to solve complex problems or innovate (e.g., new product development). Can be temporary or long-term, shared or manager-led.

Task Force

A temporary project team assembled to address a specific, time-bound, urgent problem (e.g., crisis management during a product recall). Members are chosen for expertise and disband after completion.

Self-Managed Teams

Teams that operate without direct supervision, sharing leadership, responsibility, and accountability with high autonomy (e.g., Whole Foods store departments handling hiring, scheduling, and inventory).

Team Effectiveness Model

Input -> Process & Emergent States -> Output (Performance & Viability).

Team Process

The "How" of teamwork (how members interact rather than just what they do), including Conflict Management and Coordination.

Coordination

The process of organizing team members' activities; the level required is determined by the degree of task interdependence.

Task Interdependence

The degree to which team members rely on one another to complete their work. Determines communication/coordination needs and leadership style.

Pooled Interdependence

Lowest level of interdependence/coordination. Members perform work independently and combine efforts later (e.g., sales reps with individual targets contributing to total sales).

Sequential Interdependence

Taskwork flows from one member to the next mostly in one direction, like an assembly line (e.g., loan approval: sales rep -> underwriter -> manager).

Reciprocal Interdependence

Taskwork flows back and forth between members over time, but only with a limited number of other members (e.g., production design team: marketing

Comprehensive Interdependence

Highest level of interdependence/coordination. Taskwork involves multi-directional interaction among all members simultaneously (e.g., cross-functional innovation team brainstorming and testing together).

Task Interdependence Tradeoffs

High interdependence increases between-member learning and adaptability to novel situations, but requires much more communication and coordination.

Leadership under High Interdependence

Leadership shifts from directing tasks to enabling collaboration and empowering autonomous, adaptive coordination (e.g., Transformational Leadership).

Team Emergent States

Team properties that develop over time from member interactions; they are outcomes of past processes and drivers of future processes (Cognitive vs. Affective).

Cognitive Emergent States

Shared mental representations and knowledge structures within a team (includes Shared Mental Models and Transactive Memory Systems).

Shared Mental Model (SMM)

A common understanding among team members about key aspects of their work—including tasks, goals, roles, processes, and each other's knowledge. Improves coordination, communication efficiency, and performance.

Representational Gaps (r-gaps)

Occurs when team members have different mental models and interpret tasks, goals, or processes in inconsistent ways, leading to confusion, conflict, and inefficiency.

Transactive Memory System (TMS)

A shared system for encoding, storing, and retrieving knowledge within a team—knowing "who knows what" (a "collective brain"). Reduces redundancy and speeds up decision-making.

3 Core Components of TMS

1. Specialization (distinct expertise), 2. Credibility (trusting others' expertise), 3. Coordination (knowing where to go for info and using it effectively).

Affective Emergent States

Shared emotional, relational, and attitudinal conditions that arise from team interactions over time (includes Cohesion and Psychological Safety).

Cohesion

"We're in this together"—the emotional bond and sense of unity among team members. Enhances motivation, collective effort, satisfaction, and reduces turnover.

Psychological Safety

"I can speak up"—a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking without fear of ridicule or punishment. Encourages innovation, learning behaviors, and constructive disagreement.

Universal Telecom: Core Diagnosis

Downsizing (160 to 20 employees) shifted the Presales team from a traditionally managed team to a self-managed team by default, but nobody formally acknowledged or redesigned the team structure.

Universal Telecom: Role Redesign Solutions

1. Stop waiting for Warren (accept self-management), 2. Channel Manager (Mavis - single client intake), 3. Point Person/Support Partner (tag teams by expertise), 4. Process Review Manager (Jack - checks technical quality/errors), 5. Competency Manager (Neil - scouts new products), 6. Visibility Manager (Jennifer - internal network promotion).

Universal Telecom: 4 Key Takeaways

1. Conflict (redesign within unchangeable constraints), 2. Priority (solve problems with highest external/customer cost first), 3. Motivation (match roles to what people care about), 4. Contribution (fairness means differentiated roles creating equitable value, not identical tasks).

Three-Hour Tour: Why Denver Failed

Entered a flat, hands-on, intense, technical startup culture and used a lean medium (email) to dismiss senior engineer Patel's valid constraints (serial workflow, real overhead), breaking his promise of a "bottom-up" approach and losing all local credibility.

Three-Hour Tour: 5 Leadership Takeaways (First 30 Days)

1. Observe (see work firsthand), 2. Map Influence (find informal authority/expertise like Patel), 3. Test Assumptions (check real constraints), 4. Match Channel (use face-to-face for ambiguous/identity-threatening issues, not email), 5. Align (match actions to promised participation).

Trait (Entity) Theory of Leadership

Assumes leadership is determined by inherent characteristics (charisma, confidence, intelligence)—"leaders are born, not made." Focuses on selection rather than development.

Incremental Theory of Leadership

Assumes leadership is a skill set that grows through experience and deliberate practice—"anyone can lead." (Randomly selected leaders performed better than systematically selected ones).

Transactional Leadership

Uses rewards and punishments with clear expectations/goals. Best for routine tasks and stable, predictable environments, but discourages innovation and intrinsic motivation.

Transformational Leadership

Inspires, motivates, and elevates followers through example, vision, and values. Good for intrinsic motivation and best for dynamic, uncertain, growth-oriented environments.

Autocratic Leadership

Leader makes decisions unilaterally with strict control and clear instructions. Best for crisis situations requiring quick action or low-ambiguity tasks with clear procedures.

Democratic Leadership

Leader involves the team in decision-making through collaboration and open communication. Best for complex problems requiring diverse perspectives.

Shared Leadership

Leadership responsibilities are distributed among team members rather than centered on a single leader. Best for tasks requiring diverse expertise; increases ownership and commitment.

Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory

Leadership effectiveness depends on the quality of the relationship between a leader and each individual follower. High-quality exchanges (trust, respect, support) boost satisfaction, performance, and citizenship behaviors.

Social Network

The set of relationships between people or other social units (e.g., advice, information, friendship, and trust/social support networks).

Social Network Analysis (SNA)

A method for mapping and measuring relationships among people to help leaders understand how information, trust, and resources actually flow beyond the formal org chart.

Milgram's Six Degrees of Separation

"Small world" experiment showing that even strangers in the U.S. are linked by a short chain of acquaintances (averaging six steps to reach a Boston stockbroker from Omaha).

Node, Tie (Edge), and Path Length

Node: An actor in the network (person, team, unit). Tie (Edge): A relationship/interaction between nodes. Path Length: The number of steps to connect two nodes.

Strong Ties

Frequent, close, trusted relationships (e.g., friends, close teammates). Provide emotional/informational social support and social integration, but often share redundant information (risk of echo chambers).

Weak Ties

Infrequent, looser connections (e.g., acquaintances). Main source of new, non-redundant information, diverse perspectives, and job opportunities (too many leads to low trust/shallow influence).

Network Density

How many actual connections exist in a network compared to the total possible connections (Sparse Network vs. Dense Network).

Network Centralization

The degree to which a team's communication or interaction ties are concentrated around one central member or a small set of highly connected members (e.g., high in a Wheel network; low in an All-Connected network).

Structural Hole

Exists when two groups/clusters or individuals lack a direct relationship or have only a weak connection between them.

Broker

An individual who is the only person connecting two otherwise disconnected groups (bridging a structural hole).

3 Sources of Broker Advantage

1. Control/mediate information flow between groups, 2. Gain access to unique, non-redundant information, 3. Influence both sides and gain informal power in the network.

Gregory (Panel A) vs. Berta (Panel B) Networks

Gregory has a close-knit, dense, closed-loop clique network (echo chamber). Berta has a less dense, open-loop, boundary-spanning network where she acts as a broker connecting separate clusters.