TEAM BUILDING

Success or failure in business depends on whether people work together effectively in teams. Getting people to work together in a co-operative manner calls for skills and attitudes of group members which experience alone does not teach.

Definition of a team: Individuals working together to accomplish more than they could alone by leveraging their unique positive skills, experience knowledge and personalities and minimizing the negative thereby creating synergy. The teams can be long term teams or short term teams with specific agenda, objectives and a time limit. They can be hierarchical, cross functional.

Limitations to effective team building: Poor recruitment & selection Confused organizational structure Lack of control Poor training Low motivation Lack of succession planning Unclear aims

Characteristics of Effective Team Building Open communication Empathic listening (placing oneself in others place) Informality Respect for others feelings/Concern for others/Supportive atmosphere Participation Clear agreement on goals and objectives Commitment Generating alternatives and creative suggestions Cooperation not competition Negotiation/Win win Shared leadership Risk taking Experiment and testing/Exploring attitude Trust Healthy conflict/Healthy disagreement Maximum use of energy and abilities/Using whole person Spirit of adventure Vision and values alignment

For adopting value focused approach we need to follow steps like Clarify values Commit to values

Communicate values Convert values to action Values could be anything like waking up, helping people, enhancing creativity etc. E.g. Value We will value our customer We will value our staff rewarding We will care for the environment Action excellent & preferred service promoting initiative & achievement to safeguard it

Real team work should make an impact by continually transforming problems into solutions, loss into profits, consumers into customers, enemies into friends, raw materials into products, individuals into teams. For a good team to operate it must take failure as well to energize himself as someone has rightly said that if you want to succeed double your failure rate. One needs to think beyond self focused interest in team building. Four things which need considering for effective team building are teams mission, goal achievement, empowerment, honest communication and positive roles or norms.

STAGES OF TEAM BUILDING THE UNDEVELOPED TEAM FEELINGS OF PEOPLE ARE NEITHER CONSIDERED NOR DEALT WITH WORK PLACE IS FOR WORK ONLY. THATS IT. THE ESTABLISHED LINE FROM THE TOP PREVAIL POOR LISTENING UNCLEAR OBJECTIVES LOW OR NO INVOLVEMENT IN PLANNING BOSS TAKES MOST DECISIONS BUREAUCRATIC CULTURE SUSPICION, FEAR AND ANXIETY ABOUT THE TASK AHEAD MEMBERS CAUTIOUSLY EXPLORE BOUNDARIES OF ACCEPTABLE INDIVIDUAL AND TEAM BEHAIVOUR TENTATIVE ATTACHMENT TO THE TEAM

THE EXPERIMENTING TEAM THE TEAM EXPERIMENS WITH NEW IDEAS RISKY ISSUES ARE DEBATED PEOPLE BECOME TESTY, BLAMEFUL AND OVERZEALOUS MORE AND WIDER OPERATIONS CONSIDERED PERSONAL FEELINGS ARE RAISED MORE LISTENING CONCERN FOR OTHERS DOMINATED BY ONE OR TWO TEAM MEMBERS

THE CONSOLIDATING TEAM WORK BECOMES MORE METHODICAL AND ORGANIZED PROCEDURES ARE AGREED UPON GROUND RULES, PROCEDURES ARE ESTABLISHED COMPETITIVE RELATIONSHIPS BECOME COOPERATIVE SENSE OF TEAM COHESION AND CLOSE ATTACHMENT

THE MATURE TEAM VERY FLEXIBLE BEHAVIOUR APPROPRIATE LEADERSHIP MAXIMUM USE OF ABILITIES AND ENERGY FOR ACHIEVING TEAM OBJECTIVES NEEDS OF ALL ARE CONSIDERED AND MET THROUGH DIAALOGUE NEGOTIATION AND CONSULTATION INDIVIDUAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT BECOMES A PRIORITY ABILITY TO PREVENT OR WORK THROUGH TEAM ISSUES

In short team building follows 4 rules of forming, storming, norming and performing.

MOTIVATING THE TEAM Communication Communication is a vehicle to motivate. For motivating team communication channels need to be opened. Every objective in team should carry a germ of action and the objective should be to reinforce interactive communication among the organizational participants. Essence of Good Communication: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Tune in to each others mood Awareness of what is going on (Departmental Representation) Honest with each other (No information hiding) Value openness Leave space for the unexpected to happen

Training A Highly trained team is a motivated team. If the team lacks some skills and competencies, it needs to be trained in weak areas as to bring them at par with each other. As a result of this, the individuals in the team feel highly trained and competent to do the job.

Resources Communication and training, however, are not enough. The team must have the necessary resources of, in particular, money, people, equipment, authorizations and time in order to do the job. Team, whether a short-lived networking team or a long duration team, will only be motivated if the team members feel that there is a good chance that effort on behalf of the team will lead to obtaining some desired reward or goal. To put it more simply, if the prize offered is valued by the team and there is a good chance of winning it then motivation will arise. If a barrier is placed in the way of the incentive or reward, then frustration will occur and motivation will not be easy. In most of the cases money could not be considered as the primary motivator. It could be seen by dividing rewards and punishment into two categories: intrinsic (those things that come from within us) and extrinsic (those things that come from outside) We can define intrinsic rewards as those outcomes of work behavior that an individual values for example, the performance of a specific task by providing mental stimulation, even though the job completions not normally lead to more tangible rewards, such as increased salary. Extrinsic rewards generally include more tangible assets like salary as well as promotion, company cars etc. It is through the refocusing on these rewards that team members could get rid of their old self defeating habits. It requires raising an individuals level of self-awareness. The individual must be stimulated to take a very close inward look at him or herself to examine his or her own current needs and how these needs are being satisfied through the behavioral patterns which are being pursued.

TEAM MEETINGS Team meetings are crucial to team building and morale; they are the place for effective decision-making, for airing both positive and negative views and they are a forum for debate. People in teams need their say and feel involved if they not only get it, but know that channels of communication exist to relate their feelings and opinions throughout the organization. The team meeting, run well, can be that necessary forum. Badly run, they can undo a great deal of teambuilding effort in the workplace.

Check the validity of your meeting The questions offer a range of compliance between one and six; one being the lowest and six being the highest. 1. The team always knows the purpose of meetings 1 2 3 4 and what is expected of it from the outset. 2. The team members are given the opportunity 1 2 3 4 for effective preparation for meetings. 3. Agendas are always used 1 2 3 4 4. Agendas are clear and useful 1 2 3 4 5. People turn up to meetings on time 1 2 3 4 6. Meetings are well structured and well-timed 1 2 3 4 7. People at our meetings make valuable contribution 1 2 3 4 8. I feel that i never spend time in meetings that is 1 2 3 4 Wasted or was not necessary 9. The chair actively asks for contributions and does not 1 2 3 4 Just accept only what is offered 10.Discussion is well organized and controlled 1 2 3 4 11.We reach effective decisions 1 2 3 4 12.We rarely have to go back over old ground 1 2 3 4 13.Our chair distinguishes between what is urgent and 1 2 3 4 what is important? 14.There is a great deal of enthusiasm for our meetings 1 2 3 4 15.I feel able to contribute to discussions 1 2 3 4 16.We do not hold meetings when other forms of communication (e.g. telephone, memos) would have been more appropriate 17.Our meeting room/environment is conductive to good discussion1 and an open atmosphere 18.Minutes of our meetings are distributed well in advance o 1 2 3 4 Next meetings. 19.Minutes are clear and accurate 1 2 3 4 20.Action points are dealt with effectively and always 1 2 3 4 Followed up at meetings 5 6 5 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6

5 6 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6

5 6 5 6

2 3 4 5 5 6 5 6 5 6

The minimum score possible on the checklist is 20 and the maximum is 120.

A score of 50 or below should give cause for concern as probably the whole culture of meetings is poorly thought out in the company. Between 50 and 90 suggests that although meetings are running reasonably well, there are probably areas that could do with some fine-tuning; examine where the low results are coming from and address those areas as a priority. A score of over 90 probably represents a very enlightened attitude to meetings; what is important is to see how that score moves up or down as you use the questionnaire on a series of occasions.