Download - Skills build Team formation
Team Formation
Building a successful team.
- Why team working is important
- Attributes of an effective team
- Understanding differences in a team
- The development of an effective team
- Dealing with difficult moments
- Supportive group working
In this session…
Working in a Team: Why is it important?
Working as an individual spend 1 minute thinking of as many uses for a house brick as possible
Working in a Team: Why is it important?
Working in a pair spend 1 minute thinking of as many uses for a house brick as possible
Working in a Team: Why is it important?
Working in a group of 4 spend 1 minute thinking of as many uses for a house brick as possible
Working in a Team: Why is it important? - Enriching your end product
- Learning from one another
- Pooling skill sets
- Sharing the workload
- Vital for the future – no matter what you choose to do
- “no person is an island”
- There are more strengths and positive attributes of a group than an individual alone
Attributes Of An Effective Team
– Range of individuals that complement each other
– Share a clear-agreed goal
– All members understand their task
– Supportive, informal atmosphere
– Open communication, everyone is heard
– Comfortable with discussion, disagreement and criticism
– Learns from experience
Understanding Differences In Team Members
Image from http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0071b63
The Shape Test
Need clean, specific instructions
Like rules & deadlines
Data collectors – love entering info
Don’t like meetings - would rather get on with the job in hand
Do well within given parameters but rarely creative
Highly organised
The best listeners and communicators
Find it hard to deal with conflict
Excellent reader of people –
they know if someone is lying
Not good at getting tough or making decisions
Best team player of all 4 shapes?
Like recognition and leadership
Focused towards the task or goal &
doesn’t get sidetracked
Fast thinkers, fast processors, smart &witty
Ambitious
Swift decision makers
Like to get their own way
The eccentric
The most creative and innovative
Need freedom: own time, own way,
own rules
Conceptual thinker – not nuts & bolts
Hate sitting at a computer alone all day
BUT…
Tough to manage: needs a Box around!
What do they tell us?
How Does This Help?
Understand: - Why you get along with certain people
- Why you find some people more difficult to communicate with
- That some people have very different perceptions and ways of working from you
Increased self-knowledge and self-awareness can help you to work more effectively in a team
The growth and development of a team
Team Development Stages
Bruce Tuckman’s ‘Developmental Sequence in Small Groups’ first developed in 1965
Through later development a 5th stage was proposed -“Adjourning” or “Mourning”
1.Forming 2.Storming 3.Norming 4.Performing
Forming
• Positive and polite
• Anxious and exited
• Lack of clarity on what needs to be done
• Roles and responsibilities not yet clear
The team are getting to know each other better
Storming
• Team members may be pushing against the boundaries
• Resistance and conflict as ideas and ways of working may clash
• Frustration and unforeseen problems
• Jostling for position as roles are clarified
• Team members questioning the goals and the methods used to reach those goals
There is a high failure rate of teams/projects at this stage
Norming
• The team start to resolve any differences
• Team members appreciating the strengths and attributes of other team members
• Team members sharing constructive feedback
• Strong team commitment to the teams goals
Teams can move between Norming and Storming as new challenges are encountered
Performing
• Goals are achieved
• Methods and processes used are efficient and effective
• Strong team spirit/cohesion
• Team able to deal with change well
The project may then come to an end and the team move on to “Adjourning” or “Mourning”
How Does This Help?
Understand: • If you reflect on which phase of development
the team is in then you can take action to move the group along
• This can be particularly useful information for
the leader in a group/team
Increased self-knowledge and self-awareness of the group can help you to work more effectively as a team
Encountering difficulties in a group
Dealing With Difficult Moments
Silences
Dead-ends (stagnation or stalemate)
Imbalances in group interaction (e.g. dominant group members overpowering quieter group members)
Feeling like someone is not pulling their weight
Conflict (argument or debate?)
Can “conflict” in a group be productive?
It can be constructive
It can help creativity
It can contribute to a healthy team atmosphere
KEY: How you mange and deal with it
Conflict in teamwork
Dealing with Conflict
• Be open and deal with conflict in a timely fashion
• Do not let conflict get personal focus on actionable solutions
• Encourage different points of view
• Do not look for blame
• Show respect
• Keeping team issues internally
Team Operating Agreements (TOA)
• Time budgeting
• Team Communications
• Decision making
• Meetings
• Personal courtesies
Communications
• Develop a communications plan
• Coordinate time
• Think of the different ways in which you can collaborate:
• Agree on timing and frequency of communications
• How will you share documents and updates
Supportive Group Working
It is everyone’s responsibility to make the group function well.
Encourage
Collaborate
Cooperate
Offer & Receive Criticism
5 Top Tips For Effective Group Working
1. Be organised
2. Communicate
3. Stay open-minded
4. Review
5. Reflect
- Why team working is important
- Attributes of an effective team
- Understanding differences in a team
- The development of an effective team
- Dealing with difficult moments
- Supportive group working
In this session we have covered…
Upcoming Skill Build Sessions
30th October -Goal Setting SMART objectives and structuring your time. 6th November- Users and Benefits Stakeholders, target markets and effective marketing strategies. 13th November-Events Management 1 The Careers Service gives advice on events planning and considerations. 20th November- Events Management 2 Critical Success Factors and how you can eliminate potential risk.
Our contact details
28/10/2014 © The University of Sheffield
0114 222 9744
www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/301
@301skills