Team Building, Collaboration and CommunicationTeam = Together Everyone Achieves More

Selecting Our Team Members

Forming an effective team is more complex than simply throwing a group of people together, assigning them a task, and hoping for the best. Potential team members need to be interviewed and their skills and knowledge should be assessed. Issues to consider in selecting team members include: the individual's motivation with respect to both the team and the task at hand; the attitudes and goals of potential team members; potential problems with relationships with the group.

Carnaby Street first assesses what the skills, knowledge, and attitudes of potential team members should be. What are the tasks that need to be accomplished for the team to be successful? Our managers analyze the job and develop a list of skill and knowledge that is required.

Potential Team Member Interview Questions

What strengths can the candidate bring to our team? What is she or he is willing to work on improving? What problem solving style does the candidate have?

Can she or he share information in an effective manner?

Does the candidate have good listening skills?

Can the candidate provide constructive feedback?

It is important for us to remember that effective teams are generally made up of a variety of personalities. The selection process is structured so that it is not biased toward one personality type so that we promote diverse opinions. We do however; want someone who will fit into our culture. We want them to succeed. Carnaby Street requires both the thoughtful, detail-oriented individual, as well as the outgoing, insightful individuals.

Beyond Tuckman – The 4 Phases of Teamwork Theory

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Probably the most successful teamwork theory that our company uses is Bruce Tuckman's "Team Stages Model". Tuckman suggests that “teams grow through clearly defined stages, from their creation as groups of individuals, to cohesive, task focused teams”.

To summarize these four phases, Tuckman coined the term, "forming", "storming", "norming" and "performing". “Adjourning” was added later.

Tuckman's teamwork theory is best illustrated on a graph which shows the link between group relationships (the horizontal axis) and task focus (the vertical axis). The optimal or "performing" position is reached when relationships have developed within the group and it has started delivering with a clear focus on the task. However, Tuckman's ideas clearly indicate that it takes time to reach the "performing" stage, and it's normal for these teams to go through ups and downs as we develop relationships. Particularly in the early period, which is perhaps why Tuckman called it the "storming" phase.

Forming

Forming is the stage when team members become acquainted with one another. They also assess

the group task and the ground rules that will apply. At this stage everyone is very polite and

willing to go along with suggestions made by other team members. Team members try to avoid

making enemies and are frequently more patient with one another than they might be later in the

process.

Storming

As the novelty of being a member of the team wears off, conflict emerges. Members of the team emerge who want to exert greater influence over the process. Leadership struggles begin along

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with interpersonal conflicts. Conflicts erupt over the task requirements and the best way to achieve that task. This is the stage at which listening and finding mutually acceptable resolutions to the conflict is most important. The team can either emerge united and ready to take on the assigned task, or divided, with some members taking a passive role.

Norming

In the norming stage team members make an effort to discover what standards of performance are acceptable. What do deadlines really mean? How high a level of quality is necessary? Does every member have to be at every meeting? What about developing sub-teams? If the team can establish harmonious relationships at this stage, they are ready to move on to the performing stage. Some teams, however, disband at this stage.

Performing

At this stage the team is ready to be productive and work on the task. Team members' roles have been established and clarified. Group interaction should be relatively smooth as the team applies some of the problem-solving skills it learned earlier. If the team has reached this stage without successfully working through the problems and issues of the earlier stages, it may disband or regress and work through those issues.

Adjournment

At some point almost all teams are disbanded, whether their task is completed or a team member leaves. On the one hand this can be a happy stage, with members congratulating one another on a job well done. On the other hand adjournment means the disruption of working arrangements that may have become comfortable and efficient, and possibly the end of friendships.

These Factors Are Also Important in Developing Our Team

Shared belief in the value and achievability of the team's goals Awareness of the value of the individual's own role and contribution,

recognition of the value of other team members (whether they are key specialists or just non-specialist, junior assistants)

Desire to work collaboratively, sharing thoughts, ideas, and concerns

Friendship - enjoying working together with a common purpose

Supporting each other recognizing that the team's success requires all members to be successful

Coaching junior members rather than bossing them

Listening to ideas and advice from other team members

Making time to communicate with other team members

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Celebrating successes

Rewarding good team behavior

To achieve a collaborative team style, the Manager usually needs to behave as one of the team - collaborative, supportive, and friendly. The Manager should be the best of friends with each team member to the extent that each member would go to great lengths to works towards succeed.

Often the best recognized Managers are those who make a lot of noise, bang the table, make snap judgments, are tough with their people, "crack the whip" and generally drive people to perform through the exercise of power. These behaviors are very visible and it is common to find managers with this personal style. I view this style of management as intolerable as it develops insecurity, lower self-esteem and members are not able function either in the workplace which in turn seeps into their personal belief system. We do not adhere to this type of behavior. It is not our culture and not our rules.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory - Implications for Management

To support our beliefs, according to Maslow’s Theory of Fundamental and Hierarchy of Needs, “motivation is the driving force within individuals that impels them to action. This driving force is produced by a state of uncomfortable tension, which exists as the result of an unsatisfied need. Al1 individuals have needs, wants, and desires. The individual's subconscious drive to reduce need-induced tensions results in behavior that he or she anticipates will satisfy needs and thus bring about a more comfortable internal state”.

A Perfect Herzberg Team - The Mesh of Personalities & Man

For the Herzberg Motivation Theory to work, a project manager must really gain insight into each team member’s characteristics, skillsets, achievements, and external factors. Most managers do know the

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personalities of team members and to use this theory effectively, may at times, have to place a bad fit of a team member on a team where characteristics do mesh well.

Managers must also play the psychological role of managing teams if they want a motivated team. Through the evaluation process, managers can employ the right team member for the right job and the right mesh of personalities to get the project done.

Often, failing to evaluate team members can be a non-motivational tool; something that Herzberg does indeed stress.

"The job should have sufficient challenge to utilize the full ability of the employee."

"Employees who demonstrate increasing levels of ability should be given increasing levels of responsibility."

"If a job cannot be designed to use an employee's full abilities, then the firm should consider automating the task or replacing the employee with one who has a lower level of skill. If a person cannot be fully utilized, then there will be a motivation problem."

How We Do Not Manage Our Team

A regime of terror can only succeed so far and for so long. There comes a point where a person gives up trying and no amount of pressure can persuade them to increase their contribution. Beyond that point, people will leave and the project will fail. Conversely, in a collaborative team the participants feel that the team's success is their own personal mission. They will respond with determination as the pressure rises.

The company’s managers have created an excellent team performing optimally with very little intervention. Herein lays the dilemma for a career-minded Project Manager. In good projects our manager does not need to (and should not) exhibit dramatic, powerful, personal characteristics, but the organization's leadership may be more likely to recognize the talents of a manager who creates a lot of noise.

The classic analogy is the donkey, motivated by the promise of a carrot and the threat of a beating with the stick. Most psychologists believe that the positive experience of the carrot is much more successful than the negative threat of the stick. They would argue that the stick should be applied only on rare occasions with good cause - or, maybe, never at all. The carrot should be offered as a constant reward for performance.

Building a Collaborative Team

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Derived from the Hawthorne Studies, a similar “balance should be achieved between the stimuli generated by the availability of opportunities versus the instinctive survival reaction to threats. The best compromise can sometimes be achieved by people taking on different "good guy" and "bad guy" roles. Think about the "head teacher sanction". In a school class, children should be exposed for most of their time to a friendly, helpful, collaborative teacher. If they behave badly, it is unwise to damage the teacher-student relationship so the threat of pain and punishment takes the form of a trip to the head teacher”.

If you apply this logic to a hierarchical structure, the conclusion is that each person more than one level from the bottom needs to be a friendly, collaborative, supportive mentor to their immediate subordinates, but a tough, demanding figure in the eyes of those below. Each manager needs to be able to play both roles without becoming the big fish”.

Team-Building Agenda

Goals

• What should the goals be for the team building session?

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Strategic Planning

• Where do we want to be in 1, 3, 5, years?

Expectations

What do we expect of others on the team?

Decision Making

Who makes the decisions?

Organization

Are we organized appropriately?

Morale

What is the current level of morale in our team?

Relations and Other Units

How well are we working with other departments, offices, and organizations?

Strengths and Weaknesses

What do we see as our strengths and weaknesses? How do we correct our weaknesses?

How can we improve our strengths?

Current Problems

Are there any current problems or concerns not listed that we need to address?

The Carnaby Street Philosophy The Role of Expertise in Team Learning and Seeking Information

But who said teams need to be hierarchical? Within our team you will find a mixture of different people with different assignments, but that does not necessarily require a hierarchy. The best team cultures develop where team members recognize that everyone else also has important values to contribute.

The team structure that develops should be flexible so that the right people work together. It also means that our leader for one assignment might be only a contributor for another - and vice versa. A can be B's "boss" in some aspects of the teamwork, but B might be A's boss in others.

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In this example, see how the Applications Development Team Leader is an important contributor to the Solutions Architecture Team and also to the overall project leadership team. All the leaders can be a leader in one context but a contributor in others. It is possible to generate a highly collaborative team where every member has at least one issue to lead upon.

In this table, we see how the Project Manager has assigned staff to the various issues.

Even the most junior team member, Pat Sapphire, has a team leadership role to play - Pat is responsible for organizing the team's social events.

Jude Jade, the Change Management leader, works for Jo Green as part of the Solutions Architecture Team, but Jo defers to Jude when dealing with Change Management issues.

By respecting the specialist skills, roles and responsibilities of other team members, a strong, collaborative team spirit can be created - each person recognizing the value of others and the value of working as a team.

It is a good idea to give everyone responsibility for some part, major or minor, for the overall success of the team.

Qualities of an Effective Team Player

When we are choosing team members for our business team in our organization, who would the best team players be? Assuming that people have the right technical skills for the work to be done, what other factors would you use to select your team members?

Teams need strong team players to perform well. But what defines such people?

Reliable

You can count on a reliable team member who gets work done and does his fair share to work hard and meet commitments. He or she follows through on assignments. Consistency is key. You can count on him or her to deliver good performance all the time, not just some of the time.

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Constructive Communicator

Teams need people who speak up and express their thoughts and ideas clearly, directly, honestly, and with respect for others. That's what it means to communicate. Our a team members do not shy away from making a point but makes it in the best way possible — in a positive, confident, and respectful manner.

Active Listener

Good listeners are essential for teams to function effectively. Teams need team players who can absorb, understand, and consider ideas and points of view from other people without debating and arguing every point. Such a team member also can receive criticism without reacting defensively. Most important, for effective communication and problem solving, team members need the discipline to listen first and speak second.

Active Participator

Our team players are active participants. They come prepared for team meetings and listen and speak up in discussions. They're fully engaged in the work of the team and do not sit passively on the sidelines.

Team members who function as active participants take the initiative to help make things happen, and they volunteer for assignments. Their whole approach is can-do: "What contribution can I make to help the team achieve success?"

Open Communicator

Our team players share. They're willing to share information, knowledge, and experience. They take the initiative to keep other team members informed.

Much of the communication within our teams takes place informally. Beyond discussion at organized meetings, we feel comfortable talking with one another and passing along important news and information day-to-day. Good team players are active in this informal sharing. They keep other team members in the loop with information and expertise that helps get the job done and prevents surprises.

Cooperative and Helpful

Cooperation is the act of working with others and acting together to accomplish a job. Effective team players work this way by second nature. Good team players, despite differences they may have with other team members concerning style and perspective, figure out ways to work together to solve problems and get work done. They respond to requests for assistance and take the initiative to offer help.

Flexible

We often deal with changing conditions. Good team players roll with the punches; they adapt to ever-changing situations. They don't complain or get stressed out because something new is being tried or some new direction is being set.

In addition, a flexible team member can consider different points of views and compromise when needed. He or she doesn't hold rigidly to a point of view and argue it to death, especially when the team needs to move forward to make a decision or get something done. Strong team players are firm in their thoughts yet open to what others have to offer — flexibility at its best.

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Committed

Strong team players care about their work, the team, and the team's work. They show up every day with this care and commitment up front. We want to give a good effort, and we want other team members to do the same.

Problem-Solver

Teams, of course, deal with problems. Sometimes, it appears, that's the whole reason why a team is created — to address problems or create. Good team players are willing to deal with all kinds of problems in a solutions-oriented manner. We're problem-solvers, not problem-dwellers, problem-blamers, or problem-avoiders. We don't simply rehash a problem the way problem-dwellers do. We don't look for others to fault, as the blamers do. And theywe don't put off dealing with issues, the way avoiders do.

Team players get problems out in the open for discussion and then collaborate with others to find solutions and form action plans.

Respectful and Supportive

Team players treat fellow team members with courtesy and consideration — not just some of the time but consistently. In addition, they show understanding and the appropriate support of other team members to help get the job done. They don't place conditions on when they'll provide assistance, when they'll choose to listen, and when they'll share information. Good team players also have a sense of humor and know how to have fun (and all teams can use a bit of both), but they don't have fun at someone else's expense. Quite simply, effective team players deal with other people in a professional manner.

Team players who show commitment don't come in any particular style or personality. They don't need to be rah-rah, cheerleader types. In fact, they may even be soft-spoken, but they aren't passive. They care about what the team is doing and they contribute to its success — without needing a push.

Team players with commitment look beyond their own piece of the work and care about the team's overall work. In the end, their commitment is about winning — not in the sports sense of beating your opponent but about seeing the team succeed and knowing they have contributed to this success. Winning as a team is one of the great motivators of employee performance. Good team players have and show this motivation.

Carnaby Street Team Evaluates Each Other

In essence it means really interacting with your team, not just observing. Your evaluation needs to come as a member of the team not just its leader. It is important when evaluating team performance that you are one of its participants not just an outside observer.

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If you want to get the most from your evaluation though then you need to consider letting the other members of your team conduct their own evaluations as well. Participants will gain a clear understanding of their team's strengths and weaknesses, and will develop a process for improving team performance. Factors commonly used are attendance at team meetings, constructive participation in team meetings, contribution to group efforts independent of team meetings, ability and desire to work as a team, and overall contribution.

An increasing number of managers have come to recognize the benefit of creating employee teams that bring a common focus to the challenges and opportunities of business. More and more managers and employees are recognizing the interdependence of their tasks and the importance of teamwork. What advice did they offer to improve performance for newer team members? Remember the old axiom that "There is no I in Team".

Get your team involved in its own evaluation. Who are the individuals who consistently meet or exceed expectations in an area of performance? Think of the questions as the keys that unlock the secrets to improving team performance. What advice did they offer to improve performance for newer team members? Create a list of questions that each team member should have to ask and then compare the answers with your own results. This will let you know what your team members think.

Notable Quotes

• That is why Henry Ford rightly said “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is

progress. Working together is success.”

• Andrew Carnegie once said “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision.

The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel

that allows common people to attain uncommon results”.

• "We must indeed all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." Benjamin

Franklin

• "If I could solve all the problems myself, I would." Thomas Edison, when asked why he had a

team of twenty-one assistants

• "The strength of the team is each individual member...the strength of each member is the team."

Coach Phil Jackson - Chicago Bulls

• "None of us is as smart as all of us." Ken Blanchard

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Sources Cited:

http://www.bizjournals.com/extraedge/consultants/at_work/2003/03/24/column56.htmlFinding the Remedy for an ailing Team Bizjournal article. March 2003.

http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/leadrshp/le2diffs.htmSummary of Team Leadership differences from Traditional Leadership, North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. 8 Key Points.

http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/guide/teams.htm http://www.humanresources.about.com/.../involvementteams/.../team_one_stop.htm

http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/.../what-career-is-right-for-me-motivators.html

Guide to Managing Human Resources –Team Building.University of California, Berkeley, Office of Human Resources.

Carney, Steven H. The Teamwork Chronicles: A Startling Look Inside the Workplace for Those Who Want Better Teamwork. Austin, TX: Greenleaf Book Group, LLC, 2003.

Gold, N. Teamwork: An Interdisciplinary Approach. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.

Huszczo, Gregory E. Tools for Team Excellence: Getting Your Team into High Gear and Keeping It There. Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black Publishing, 1996.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Workplace-Bullying:-How-to-Define-Respect-and-Decrease-Conflict&id=5944908

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