Successful Teams Make Successful Companies

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

--Thomas Edison

Why Use Teams?

• To foster and develop– Group skills– Interpersonal skills– Communication skills– Critical thinking skills– Synergy– Increase efficiency

A decision is responsible when the group that makes it has to answer for it to those who are directly or indirectly affected by it.

--Charles Frankel

What Makes Teams Effective?

• Clear direction and goals

• Define roles and responsibilities

• Conduct effective meetings

• Problem solving/decision making process

• Conflict resolution

It is important to distinguish between efficiency—doing things right—and effectiveness---doing the right things.

--Peter Drucker

Team Roles

• Task oriented – propagate productivity, task oriented behavior

• Process oriented – behaviors to keep the group working and on track

If you don’t know where you’re going, a step in any direction is progress

--Chinese proverb

Process Roles

• Leader/Facilitator

• Gatekeeper

• Task master

• Recorder/Secretary

The successful leader knows the way, shows the wayand goes that way --Anonymous

Task Roles

• Initiating

• Information, opinion seeking, giving

• Clarifying and elaborating

• Summarizing

• Consensus testing

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single person contemplates it, bearing with them the image of a cathedral.

--Antoine de Sainte-Exupery

Team Building Exercises

• Icebreakers• Warm ups

– What are they?• Yarn Game• Scavenger hunt

– Why use them?– How are they used?

The world is not interested in how many storms you encountered, but whether you brought in the ship. --Anonymous

Pass mouse over photo to enlarge

Feedback

• What is constructive feedback?

• Feedback skills– Giving and receiving

• Who should give feedback?

• How often?

One of the best ways to persuade others is to use your ears---to listen to them. --Dean Rusk

Feedback Criteria

• Descriptive not evaluative• Focuses on feelings • Specific not general• Directed towards behavior of receiver

– To improve behavior

• Solicited not imposed• Well-timed• Clarifies communication

I always tell students that it is what you learn after you know it all that counts.--Harry Truman

Empowerment

• Making a decision as a team

• Freedom to have a plan for progress for the organization

• Gives the team authority– Fosters respect, trust and appreciation

Managers fear losing control, but employees very seldom ‘push the button.’ Knowing that they could is what counts. It makes them feel respected, trusted and appreciated. --Frank Navran

Team Evaluation

• Peer evaluation

• Tools to use

• Importance of assessment

• Task and process

Our objective is to have a good army rather than a large one.

--George Washington

Team Assessment

• Task assessment– What has the team accomplished?

• Process assessment– How has the team worked together?

A certain amount of opposition is of great help to a person. Kites rise against, not with, the wind. --John Neal

Web Resources

• Personality tests– Keirsey Temperament Sorter– The Personality Test

• Team building exercises– Just For Teams– Ice Breakers and Warm Ups

• References for faculty– Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

References

• Management: The Team Building Workbook, George Akin, University of Virginia, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2001

• Why Teams Fail: 9 Common Mistakes, CareerTrack Publications

• No-Nonsense Teamwork: Tough Questions & Practical Answers, Glenn Parker, Human Resource Development Press, Amherst, MA, 1995

Presenter

Mary Lynn Brannon

Instructional Design Specialist

Penn State Worthington Scranton

Dunmore, PA 18512