Groups and Teams
Groups: a number of people who are connected by some shared activity, interest, or quality.
vs.
Team: "A group in itself does not necessarily constitute a team. Teams normally
have members with complementary skills and generate synergy through a
coordinated effort which allows each member to maximize his/her strengths and
minimize his/her weaknesses. Team members need to learn how to help one another,
help other team members realize their true potential, and create an environment
that allows everyone to go beyond their limitations. A team
becomes more than just a collection of people when a strong sense of mutual
commitment creates synergy, thus generating performance greater than the sum of
the performance of its individual members."
This chapter explores the use of both teams and working groups. As a leader you need to know which structure makes the most sense to accomplish your goals as well as how to manage both teams and groups. I have included some articles on groups and teams below and discussed how this topic relates to my goal of starting a consulting business. I have also included exercises that can strengthen groups and teams. Whether you are a part of managing a group or a team it is important that you understand the structure of both and how to best manage them. I have included some educational material that summarizes the key points of this chapter.
Articles with information on groups and teams:
Groups: a number of people who are connected by some shared activity, interest, or quality.
vs.
Team: "A group in itself does not necessarily constitute a team. Teams normally
have members with complementary skills and generate synergy through a
coordinated effort which allows each member to maximize his/her strengths and
minimize his/her weaknesses. Team members need to learn how to help one another,
help other team members realize their true potential, and create an environment
that allows everyone to go beyond their limitations. A team
becomes more than just a collection of people when a strong sense of mutual
commitment creates synergy, thus generating performance greater than the sum of
the performance of its individual members."
This chapter explores the use of both teams and working groups. As a leader you need to know which structure makes the most sense to accomplish your goals as well as how to manage both teams and groups. I have included some articles on groups and teams below and discussed how this topic relates to my goal of starting a consulting business. I have also included exercises that can strengthen groups and teams. Whether you are a part of managing a group or a team it is important that you understand the structure of both and how to best manage them. I have included some educational material that summarizes the key points of this chapter.
Articles with information on groups and teams:
![](http://www.weebly.com/weebly/images/file_icons/pdf.png)
the_discipline_of_teams.pdf | |
File Size: | 834 kb |
File Type: |
The Discipline of Teams
By Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith
The Discipline of Teams is useful in determining whether using a team or a working group makes the most sense for your situation. A team's performance calls for both an individual's performance and mutual accountability whereas a working group performance is a collection of what members do as individuals. This article shares all of the benefits of teams and mutual accountability but also walks you through all of the factors that are important in deciding which style is most appropriate to accomplish the goals of your business. In preparing to start my own RT consulting business it seems that the task of my employees doesn't demand joint work products and that working groups would be the more effective option. The information about teams is important to have as a resource so that you can recognize situations where teams may be more appropriate or effective in the future. Teamwork values are important regardless of whether you are using an actual team or not, these include: encourage listening and responding constructively to views expressed by others, giving others benefit of the doubt, providing support, and recognizing the interests and achievements of others. In the situation of my consulting business (and having worked as a RT consultant in the past) a working group structure seems to make the most sense. Employees will come together to share information, perspectives and insights, to make decisions that help each person do a better job, and to reinforce individual performance standards, keeping the focus on individual goals and accountabilities. Some of the noted characteristics of a working group include: strong clear focused leader, individual accountability, the group's purpose is the same as the broader org. mission, individual work products, runs efficient meetings, measures its effectiveness indirectly by its influence on others, and discusses, decides, and delegates. After reading this article it is quite clear that a working group fits into the structure of what I am trying to accomplish. Assessing the tradeoffs when deciding to use a work group or a team is important and cannot be overlooked, which is why this article is a great resource currently and will be in the future.
By Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith
The Discipline of Teams is useful in determining whether using a team or a working group makes the most sense for your situation. A team's performance calls for both an individual's performance and mutual accountability whereas a working group performance is a collection of what members do as individuals. This article shares all of the benefits of teams and mutual accountability but also walks you through all of the factors that are important in deciding which style is most appropriate to accomplish the goals of your business. In preparing to start my own RT consulting business it seems that the task of my employees doesn't demand joint work products and that working groups would be the more effective option. The information about teams is important to have as a resource so that you can recognize situations where teams may be more appropriate or effective in the future. Teamwork values are important regardless of whether you are using an actual team or not, these include: encourage listening and responding constructively to views expressed by others, giving others benefit of the doubt, providing support, and recognizing the interests and achievements of others. In the situation of my consulting business (and having worked as a RT consultant in the past) a working group structure seems to make the most sense. Employees will come together to share information, perspectives and insights, to make decisions that help each person do a better job, and to reinforce individual performance standards, keeping the focus on individual goals and accountabilities. Some of the noted characteristics of a working group include: strong clear focused leader, individual accountability, the group's purpose is the same as the broader org. mission, individual work products, runs efficient meetings, measures its effectiveness indirectly by its influence on others, and discusses, decides, and delegates. After reading this article it is quite clear that a working group fits into the structure of what I am trying to accomplish. Assessing the tradeoffs when deciding to use a work group or a team is important and cannot be overlooked, which is why this article is a great resource currently and will be in the future.
![](http://www.weebly.com/weebly/images/file_icons/pdf.png)
powering_up_teams.pdf | |
File Size: | 1543 kb |
File Type: |
Powering Up Teams
Bradley L. Kirkman and Benson Rosen
This article discusses how to empower teams and how that will lead to getting the most out of your team. Successful teams have active synergy, each group member has the ability to make his or her teammates better. Although the employees (consultants) that will work for my RT consulting business may not function as a team there was a lot of great information in this article that can be utilized for work groups as well as teams and I found this article very insightful. As an aspiring manager learning how to empower teams and individuals in a working group is essential. This article discusses in detail the four experiences empowered teams share: potency, meaningfulness, autonomy, and impact. These four dimensions are likely mutually reinforcing and reciprocal. Teams that are empowered are more productive, proactive, and capable of providing excellent customer service. The employees of empowered teams report very high levels of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and commitment to their teams. The process of powering up teams is detailed in this article as well as a diagnostic tool to use in determining the appropriateness for empowered teams in your business. Leaders of empowered teams must play the role of coaches and facilitators, helping teams define tasks, structure activities, and monitor their own progress. This article explains how some tasks are better suited to be carried out by individuals in a more traditional work environment.
Groups and teams exercises:
Exercise 1:
The following exercise will be helpful for my employees to get to know one another as a working group because unless there is an effort made to use each as a resource, support, etc. the valuable resource that they will have in each other will be wasted or lost. I know this from my experience as a consultant and think that if I was introduced to and comfortable with other consultants that worked for my company it would have been beneficial not only for myself but for others and the organization as a whole. I found that in class the better I knew my classmates the more comfortable I was in reaching out for their help or input and that became reciprocal.
Getting to Know Other Employees: Mental Team-Building Activity
As your business expands and grows, it’s inevitable that you will have new
team members and possibly have to form new teams as people move to different
positions and job responsibilities change. This game is perfect for promoting
communication, listening skills, and motivation.
This game is called “Circle of Questions,” and its name pretty much says it
all.
You can use as little as 10 people to play this game, and the duration can
last anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes.
Here’s what you’ll need:
A whistle
A stopwatch
Pens or pencils and paper
How well do you know your co-workers or
employees?
Begin “Circle of Questions” by splitting the group into two equal teams (if
there is an odd number, then either find another participant or let someone sit
out until the next game). Ask one team to stand in a circle facing outwards,
then ask the second team to create a slightly larger circle around the first one
facing inwards.
First things first: have both teams greet each other. Then,
explain that the people in the inner circle will ask a question (of a manager’s
choice) of the person opposite them in the outer circle. That employee will have
30 seconds to give an answer before the whistle blows. Hint: make these
open-ended questions and remember that there is no right or wrong answer.
After the allotted 30 seconds is up, the person in the outer circle will ask
the person in the inner circle the same question with the same rules applying.
After both people have asked each other a question, then the inner circle will
move clockwise one place and the outer circle will move counter clockwise one
space to find a new partner.
Expect some confusion at first, but after several tries you will get the hang
of it. Repeat this exercise by asking more questions, each time alternating
which circle gets to ask the question first. Stop the exercise when everyone has
asked and answered a question, or whenever you get to an appropriate stopping
point.
Example questions: Where
would you like to be in 5 years? What does success look like to you? What’s your
greatest strength? (Try to ask questions that gradually work toward a theme you
would like to address).
The following exercises will also be done to strengthen the communication of the group as well as to ensure that my employees have a network to utilize so that they can maximize their potential. I want my employees to feel like they are a part of a group and that they have support and resources available. This exercise will be helpful to get them in communication and interacting with one another. I practiced this in my current work group and we all agreed that it was helpful.
Exercise 2, 3, & 4:
Open communication is essential for building trust. You need to get everyone on your team talking to one another in an honest, meaningful way, and you can use several strategies to accomplish this.
First, create a team charter to define the purpose of the team, as well as each person's role. Present this charter at the first team meeting, and encourage each team member to ask questions, and discuss his or her expectations.
Next, consider organizing team building exercises. When chosen carefully and planned well, these exercises can help "break the ice" and encourage people to open up and start communicating.
Meet regularly, so that all team members have a chance to talk about their progress, and discuss any problems that they're experiencing. This time spent face-to-face is an important part of getting to know each other. It also creates opportunities for team members to talk, and to help one another solve problems.
Make sure that you "walk the talk" here: whenever you have important or relevant information to share, do so immediately. Demonstrate that open communication is important to you by consistently sharing with the group. The more you share with your team members, and thereby prove that you have no hidden agenda, the more comfortable they'll feel trusting you and each other. I have also listed an exercise on how to do this with a virtual team. I hope to one day have many consultants that cover a large geographic area so this modification is important.
3. Know Each Other Personally One way to build trust is to encourage your team members to see their colleagues as people. Think about creating situations that help them share personal stories, and bond.
Do this by asking sensitively about their family, or about their hobbies. Start by sharing some personal information about yourself, and then ask someone else about a hobby, or a musical interest.
Another way to get the team acquainted, and to form stronger bonds, is to socialize after work or at lunch.
4. Building Trust Virtually If you manage a virtual team, then you might be working with a group of people who have never met face to face, or who have never spoken to one another personally. So, how can you build trust between people who are hundreds – if not thousands – of miles apart?
You can apply some of the advice above when you're working with a virtual team. Schedule a virtual "meet and greet" if it's a new team, to help everyone get to know one another as individuals. Or, create a web page for your team's project, and ask everyone to write a paragraph or two about their personal history and interests.
A team charter is still important for defining the goals and expectations of the team. Make sure that the charter addresses roles, as well as processes for submitting work digitally. Make sure that the charter is as comprehensive as possible, so that people don't feel uncertain or fearful about the work they're doing.
Next, make sure that everyone on the team is aware of other team members' expertise and skills, as well as the value that each individual contributes to the group.
Encourage your team members to treat each other just as they would if they were working face to face. This means that team members should make every effort to be on time for conference calls or web meetings, and that they should let the rest of the team know when they'll be absent, or on vacation.
It's particularly important to follow through on the promises you make, and to set an example for everyone else. Keeping your promises is incredibly important in a virtual team, because your word is often all you can give. Positive follow-through builds trust quickly, and can raise the entire group's tone and expectations.
Bradley L. Kirkman and Benson Rosen
This article discusses how to empower teams and how that will lead to getting the most out of your team. Successful teams have active synergy, each group member has the ability to make his or her teammates better. Although the employees (consultants) that will work for my RT consulting business may not function as a team there was a lot of great information in this article that can be utilized for work groups as well as teams and I found this article very insightful. As an aspiring manager learning how to empower teams and individuals in a working group is essential. This article discusses in detail the four experiences empowered teams share: potency, meaningfulness, autonomy, and impact. These four dimensions are likely mutually reinforcing and reciprocal. Teams that are empowered are more productive, proactive, and capable of providing excellent customer service. The employees of empowered teams report very high levels of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and commitment to their teams. The process of powering up teams is detailed in this article as well as a diagnostic tool to use in determining the appropriateness for empowered teams in your business. Leaders of empowered teams must play the role of coaches and facilitators, helping teams define tasks, structure activities, and monitor their own progress. This article explains how some tasks are better suited to be carried out by individuals in a more traditional work environment.
Groups and teams exercises:
Exercise 1:
The following exercise will be helpful for my employees to get to know one another as a working group because unless there is an effort made to use each as a resource, support, etc. the valuable resource that they will have in each other will be wasted or lost. I know this from my experience as a consultant and think that if I was introduced to and comfortable with other consultants that worked for my company it would have been beneficial not only for myself but for others and the organization as a whole. I found that in class the better I knew my classmates the more comfortable I was in reaching out for their help or input and that became reciprocal.
Getting to Know Other Employees: Mental Team-Building Activity
As your business expands and grows, it’s inevitable that you will have new
team members and possibly have to form new teams as people move to different
positions and job responsibilities change. This game is perfect for promoting
communication, listening skills, and motivation.
This game is called “Circle of Questions,” and its name pretty much says it
all.
You can use as little as 10 people to play this game, and the duration can
last anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes.
Here’s what you’ll need:
A whistle
A stopwatch
Pens or pencils and paper
How well do you know your co-workers or
employees?
Begin “Circle of Questions” by splitting the group into two equal teams (if
there is an odd number, then either find another participant or let someone sit
out until the next game). Ask one team to stand in a circle facing outwards,
then ask the second team to create a slightly larger circle around the first one
facing inwards.
First things first: have both teams greet each other. Then,
explain that the people in the inner circle will ask a question (of a manager’s
choice) of the person opposite them in the outer circle. That employee will have
30 seconds to give an answer before the whistle blows. Hint: make these
open-ended questions and remember that there is no right or wrong answer.
After the allotted 30 seconds is up, the person in the outer circle will ask
the person in the inner circle the same question with the same rules applying.
After both people have asked each other a question, then the inner circle will
move clockwise one place and the outer circle will move counter clockwise one
space to find a new partner.
Expect some confusion at first, but after several tries you will get the hang
of it. Repeat this exercise by asking more questions, each time alternating
which circle gets to ask the question first. Stop the exercise when everyone has
asked and answered a question, or whenever you get to an appropriate stopping
point.
Example questions: Where
would you like to be in 5 years? What does success look like to you? What’s your
greatest strength? (Try to ask questions that gradually work toward a theme you
would like to address).
The following exercises will also be done to strengthen the communication of the group as well as to ensure that my employees have a network to utilize so that they can maximize their potential. I want my employees to feel like they are a part of a group and that they have support and resources available. This exercise will be helpful to get them in communication and interacting with one another. I practiced this in my current work group and we all agreed that it was helpful.
Exercise 2, 3, & 4:
Open communication is essential for building trust. You need to get everyone on your team talking to one another in an honest, meaningful way, and you can use several strategies to accomplish this.
First, create a team charter to define the purpose of the team, as well as each person's role. Present this charter at the first team meeting, and encourage each team member to ask questions, and discuss his or her expectations.
Next, consider organizing team building exercises. When chosen carefully and planned well, these exercises can help "break the ice" and encourage people to open up and start communicating.
Meet regularly, so that all team members have a chance to talk about their progress, and discuss any problems that they're experiencing. This time spent face-to-face is an important part of getting to know each other. It also creates opportunities for team members to talk, and to help one another solve problems.
Make sure that you "walk the talk" here: whenever you have important or relevant information to share, do so immediately. Demonstrate that open communication is important to you by consistently sharing with the group. The more you share with your team members, and thereby prove that you have no hidden agenda, the more comfortable they'll feel trusting you and each other. I have also listed an exercise on how to do this with a virtual team. I hope to one day have many consultants that cover a large geographic area so this modification is important.
3. Know Each Other Personally One way to build trust is to encourage your team members to see their colleagues as people. Think about creating situations that help them share personal stories, and bond.
Do this by asking sensitively about their family, or about their hobbies. Start by sharing some personal information about yourself, and then ask someone else about a hobby, or a musical interest.
Another way to get the team acquainted, and to form stronger bonds, is to socialize after work or at lunch.
4. Building Trust Virtually If you manage a virtual team, then you might be working with a group of people who have never met face to face, or who have never spoken to one another personally. So, how can you build trust between people who are hundreds – if not thousands – of miles apart?
You can apply some of the advice above when you're working with a virtual team. Schedule a virtual "meet and greet" if it's a new team, to help everyone get to know one another as individuals. Or, create a web page for your team's project, and ask everyone to write a paragraph or two about their personal history and interests.
A team charter is still important for defining the goals and expectations of the team. Make sure that the charter addresses roles, as well as processes for submitting work digitally. Make sure that the charter is as comprehensive as possible, so that people don't feel uncertain or fearful about the work they're doing.
Next, make sure that everyone on the team is aware of other team members' expertise and skills, as well as the value that each individual contributes to the group.
Encourage your team members to treat each other just as they would if they were working face to face. This means that team members should make every effort to be on time for conference calls or web meetings, and that they should let the rest of the team know when they'll be absent, or on vacation.
It's particularly important to follow through on the promises you make, and to set an example for everyone else. Keeping your promises is incredibly important in a virtual team, because your word is often all you can give. Positive follow-through builds trust quickly, and can raise the entire group's tone and expectations.
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groups_and_teams_presentation.pptx | |
File Size: | 82 kb |
File Type: | pptx |