Team Building

Published on January 2017 | Categories: Documents | Downloads: 32 | Comments: 0 | Views: 512
of 4
Download PDF   Embed   Report

Comments

Content

Title Page • Table of Contents • Abstract • Introduction • Discussion • Bibliography • Appendix
Using the Tool

As a team leader, your aim is to help your team reach and sustain high performance as soon as possible. To do this, you will need to change your approach at each stage. The steps below will help ensure you are doing the right thing at the right time. 1. Identify which stage of the team development your team is at from the descriptions above. 2. Now consider what needs to be done to move towards the Performing stage, and what you can do to help the team do that effectively. The table below (Figure 1) helps you understand your role at each stage, and think about how to move the team forward. 3. Schedule regular reviews of where your teams are, and adjust your behavior and leadership approach to suit the stage your team has reached. Figure 1: Leadership Activities at Different Group Formation Stages Stage Forming Storming Activity Direct the team and establish objectives clearly. (A good way of doing this is to negotiate a team charter.) Establish process and structure, and work to smooth conflict and build good relationships between team members. Generally provide support, especially to those team members who are less secure. Remain positive and firm in the face of challenges to your leadership or the team’s goal. Perhaps explain the “forming, storming, norming and performing” idea so that people understand why conflict’s occurring, and understand that things will get better in the future. And consider teaching assertiveness and conflict resolution skills where these are necessary. Norming Step back and help the team take responsibility for progress towards the goal. This is a good time to arrange a social, or a team-building event Delegate as far as you sensibly can. Once the team has achieved high performance, you should aim to have as “light a touch” as possible. You will now be able to start focusing on other goals and areas of work

Performing

1

Adjourning

When breaking up a team, take the time to celebrate its achievements. After all, you may well work with some of your people again, and this will be much easier if people view past experiences positively.

Tip 1: Make sure that you leave plenty of time in your schedule to coach team members through the “Forming”, “Storming” and “Norming” stages. Tip 2: Think about how much progress you should expect towards the goal and by when, and measure success against that. Remember that you’ve got to go through the “Forming”, “Storming” and “Norming” stages before the team starts “Performing”, and that there may not be much progress during this time. Communicating progress against appropriate targets is important if your team’s members are to feel that what they’re going through is worth while. Without such targets, they can feel that, “Three weeks have gone by and we’ve still not got anywhere”. Tip 3: Not all teams and situations will behave in this way, however many will – use this approach, but don’t try to force situations to fit it. And make sure that people don’t use knowledge of the “storming” stage as a license for boorish behavior. Key Points Teams are formed because they can achieve far more than their individual members can on their own, and while being part of a high-performing team can be fun, it can take patience and professionalism to get to that stage. Effective team leaders can accelerate that process and reduce the difficulties that team members experience by understanding what they need to do as their team moves through the stages from forming to storming, norming and, finally, performing. No matter the purpose for which a team is constituted, the procedure is usually: selection or election; induction, training or both; performance and adjournment. Teams where used to construct the Pyramids in Egypt; The church of Babylon, built in 11th century, the Great Wall of China and the Empire State Building completed in 1931. Numerous projects have been completed and built before the advent of project management through the help of teams (See Oyedele, 2010). Great leaders are visionary people who are able to achieve results using people. They exhibits authority in themselves and exhume confidence in their team members. Circustances make men, just as much as men make circumstances (Marx and Engels, 1947, p.29). Some leaders are democratic, allowing team members to air the opinions. Some are dictatorial, explaining what the want from their teams to the team members

2

to execute. All styles have opportunity and challenges and may be used in certain circumstances.

Team leaders must also realise that there are different types of human traits that can be exhibited among team members. These traits rarely have advantage over others as they are complementary. It is the duty of an effective team leader to identify the trait in individual members of his or her team and know how to use the qualities to advantage. Some members of the team will be 'natural co-ordinators', 'resource investigators', 'team workers', 'shapers', 'company workers/implementers', 'completers finisher', 'planters', 'monitors/evaluators', and 'specialists'. (Belbin, 2004). All these traits have the qualities which effective team leaders can exploit and none is better than the other. There is also Myer-Briggs model (1956) which effective team leaders have to contend with. This model is about personality types. Myer-Briggs identified four ways people differ from each other. These are: the way they think; the way they view; the way they feel/perceive and the way they see things. Team diversity which include language difference, cultural difference, background difference, qualification difference, class, age, sex and experience also have effects in a team which the leader must manage.

References and Bibliography:
Bailey and Cohen (1997), cited in Halverson B. Claire; Trims S. Aleel : Effective Multicultural Teams: Theory and Practice, page 4 Making the team: a guide for managers / Leigh L. Thompson. - 3rd ed. Thompson, L. (2008). Leading high impact teams. Team leadership survey from the Kellogg School of Management Executive Program. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University, cited in Making the team: a guide for managers/ Leigh L. Thompson. (3rd ed.) Colquitt A., Jason; Lepine A., Jeffery; Wesson J., Michael: Organizational Behaviour (2nd Edition) George M., Jennifer; Jones R., Gareth; Understanding and managing organizational Behaviour (Fifth Ed.); 2008 Mullins J., Laurie: Managing and Organisational Behaviour (8th Ed.), page 309 Belbin R. Meredith: Team Roles at work; 2nd Ed., page 122 Hondon (2002), cited in Managing People in Organizations Contemporary Theory and Practice by Dr Jeremy Adams. Harvard Davis (2001), cited in Management Extra Leading Teams; page 7 Robbins (1998), cited in Management Extra Leading Teams; page 7

3

John Adair (1997), cited in Management Extra Leading Teams; page 43 Daniel Levi: Group Dynamics for Teams (2nd ed) page 20 Marx, K. and Engels, F. (1947) The German Ideology. New York: International Publishers. Oyedele, O (2010) Team Management: Lessons from the Leadership Styles of Successful Team Managers, Glasgow Caledonian University, June Belbin, M. (2004) Management Teams - Why They Succeed or Fail? 2nd Edition. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 0 7506 910 6.

4

Sponsor Documents

Or use your account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Forgot your password?

Or register your new account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link to create a new password.

Back to log-in

Close