Chapter Eight
Building and leading high-performing teams
1. Building and effective team:
1) Deciding to form teams
Ø Deciding to form a team is a process very similar to deciding to call a meeting. Both meetings and teams can alienate participants if they are not clearly the best approach.
2) Forming your team
Ø Once you have decided that a team is the best answer, you will need to look closely at how you will form that team. Companies often decide who should be on teams based on functional responsibilities.
2. Establishing the necessary team work processes
1) Creating your team charter
One of the first steps for your team will be to create a team charter or contract. A charter usually consists of the following:
Ø Project purpose/goals
Ø Team member roles and responsibilities
Ø Ground rules
Ø Communication protocol
2) Using action and work plans
Ø For a team project of any complexity or length, an action plan of overall phases is useful and a specific work plan of all action items and end products with responsibilities and time lines is essential.
Ø Action plans allow the team to see the big picture of the project easily and help them organize the individual tasks into blocks of work that make it easier to manage the responsibilities and deliverables.
Ø The action plan phases should set up the main areas of work for the work plan.
3) Delivering the results
Ø A team’s performance will depend on the team being able to deliver the results of its work. That usually means delivering a presentation, a report, or both. These tasks are often one of the major communication challenges that teams face.
4) Learning from the team experience.
Ø Team members want to learn from the experiences of being on the team, which calls for reflecting on the team work processes.
Ø The team leader will also want to provide feedback on the performance of individual members and ask for feedback on his or her performance as a team leader.
3. Managing the People Side of Teams
1) Position and Responsibilities
Ø High-and low-context preferences affect various functional groups within organizations as well as cultures, and these differences will influence the person’s expectations of team dynamics.
Ø The team benefits by knowing about the outside demands both for the sake of understanding, and also for helping the team to assign team responsibilities.
2) Team Experiences
Ø How often have the members worked on a team and on how many teams
Ø What kind of experiences have they had
3) Expectations
Ø Different expectations and goals—cross purposes
4) Personality
Ø Knowing the characteristics of different personality types on your teams can contribute to your ability to lead and manage them as well as help you function constructively as a team member.
5) Cultural Differences
Ø The more team members know about each other, the better.
4. Handling TEAM Issues and Conflict
1) Types of Teams Conflict
Ø Analytical (team’s constructive disagreement over a project issue or problem)
² It should be encouraged and recognized for the value it brings
² Should have a ground rule encouraging members to disagree
² Team members must view analytical conflict as constructive
Ø Task (goal, work process, deliverables)
² Having a ground rule that sets his expectation establishes the responsibility for every team member
Ø Interpersonal (personality, diversity, communication styles)
² Need to apply some of the approaches to handling team conflict
Ø Roles (leadership, responsibilities, power struggles)
² If it is disruptive, the team needs to address it or risk failing to accomplish planned objectives
2) Approaches to Handling Team Conflict
Ø One on One: individuals involved work it out between themselves.
Ø Facilitation: individuals involves work with a facilitator (mediator).
Ø Team: individuals involved discuss it with the entire team.
5. Helping Virtual Teams Succeed
1) Defining Virtual Teams
Ø Virtual teams are teams whose members are geographically dispersed and rely primarily on technology for communication and to accomplish their work as a team.
2) Identifying Advantages and Challenges of Virtual Teams
Ø Advantages
² Lowering travel and facility costs
² Reducing project schedules
² Allowing the leveraging of expertise and vertical integration
² Improving efficiency
² Positioning to compete globally
Ø Challenges
² Much of the context of communication
² Cultural differences can become amplified, and personality conflicts more pronounced
² It is difficult to share and discuss complex information
² Connection and trust are difficult to build in a virtual environment
3) Addressing the Challenges of Virtual Teams
Ø Shared beliefs
Ø Storehouse of credibility and trust
Ø A shared work space
Building and leading high-performing teams
1. Building and effective team:
1) Deciding to form teams
Ø Deciding to form a team is a process very similar to deciding to call a meeting. Both meetings and teams can alienate participants if they are not clearly the best approach.
2) Forming your team
Ø Once you have decided that a team is the best answer, you will need to look closely at how you will form that team. Companies often decide who should be on teams based on functional responsibilities.
2. Establishing the necessary team work processes
1) Creating your team charter
One of the first steps for your team will be to create a team charter or contract. A charter usually consists of the following:
Ø Project purpose/goals
Ø Team member roles and responsibilities
Ø Ground rules
Ø Communication protocol
2) Using action and work plans
Ø For a team project of any complexity or length, an action plan of overall phases is useful and a specific work plan of all action items and end products with responsibilities and time lines is essential.
Ø Action plans allow the team to see the big picture of the project easily and help them organize the individual tasks into blocks of work that make it easier to manage the responsibilities and deliverables.
Ø The action plan phases should set up the main areas of work for the work plan.
3) Delivering the results
Ø A team’s performance will depend on the team being able to deliver the results of its work. That usually means delivering a presentation, a report, or both. These tasks are often one of the major communication challenges that teams face.
4) Learning from the team experience.
Ø Team members want to learn from the experiences of being on the team, which calls for reflecting on the team work processes.
Ø The team leader will also want to provide feedback on the performance of individual members and ask for feedback on his or her performance as a team leader.
3. Managing the People Side of Teams
1) Position and Responsibilities
Ø High-and low-context preferences affect various functional groups within organizations as well as cultures, and these differences will influence the person’s expectations of team dynamics.
Ø The team benefits by knowing about the outside demands both for the sake of understanding, and also for helping the team to assign team responsibilities.
2) Team Experiences
Ø How often have the members worked on a team and on how many teams
Ø What kind of experiences have they had
3) Expectations
Ø Different expectations and goals—cross purposes
4) Personality
Ø Knowing the characteristics of different personality types on your teams can contribute to your ability to lead and manage them as well as help you function constructively as a team member.
5) Cultural Differences
Ø The more team members know about each other, the better.
4. Handling TEAM Issues and Conflict
1) Types of Teams Conflict
Ø Analytical (team’s constructive disagreement over a project issue or problem)
² It should be encouraged and recognized for the value it brings
² Should have a ground rule encouraging members to disagree
² Team members must view analytical conflict as constructive
Ø Task (goal, work process, deliverables)
² Having a ground rule that sets his expectation establishes the responsibility for every team member
Ø Interpersonal (personality, diversity, communication styles)
² Need to apply some of the approaches to handling team conflict
Ø Roles (leadership, responsibilities, power struggles)
² If it is disruptive, the team needs to address it or risk failing to accomplish planned objectives
2) Approaches to Handling Team Conflict
Ø One on One: individuals involved work it out between themselves.
Ø Facilitation: individuals involves work with a facilitator (mediator).
Ø Team: individuals involved discuss it with the entire team.
5. Helping Virtual Teams Succeed
1) Defining Virtual Teams
Ø Virtual teams are teams whose members are geographically dispersed and rely primarily on technology for communication and to accomplish their work as a team.
2) Identifying Advantages and Challenges of Virtual Teams
Ø Advantages
² Lowering travel and facility costs
² Reducing project schedules
² Allowing the leveraging of expertise and vertical integration
² Improving efficiency
² Positioning to compete globally
Ø Challenges
² Much of the context of communication
² Cultural differences can become amplified, and personality conflicts more pronounced
² It is difficult to share and discuss complex information
² Connection and trust are difficult to build in a virtual environment
3) Addressing the Challenges of Virtual Teams
Ø Shared beliefs
Ø Storehouse of credibility and trust
Ø A shared work space
