Leadership Teams

Characteristics of Effective and Ineffective Teams
By September D. Holmblad, PP, PLS, NALS 2002-3 President

Effective Teams

• Information: Flows freely
• People Relationships: Trusting
• Conflict: Natural, helpful
• Atmosphere: Open
• Decisions: By consensus
• Creativity: More options

Ineffective Teams

• Information: Flows mainly down
• People Relationships: Suspicious and partisan
• Conflict: Frowned on and avoided
• Atmosphere: Compartmentalized
• Decisions: Majority vote or forcing
• Creativity: Power subgroups

Definition of Teams:
“A team is a group of people whose personal outcomes are linked to a collective outcome—such as a successful project—and who work together to maximize collective and individual outcomes. ‘Teams’ also refers to the quality of group relationships that allows ordinary individuals to achieve extraordinary results together—such as a project that surpasses its goals.” (Partnerwerks’ Services.)

Basic Principles of Teamwork

1. Shared outcome, sometimes called the “lifeboat” principle, i.e., when people are in the same boat together, individual differences and outcomes matter less than the collective outcome.

2. Shared commitment, people who don’t care as much as others about a shared outcome become dead weight, i.e., freeloaders.

3. Equal voice, flat social structure. Rank does not imply correct judgment. People commit to what they have a say in designing.

Kinds of Teams
There are many kinds of groups that can evolve into closely knit teams. Some of the most common are:

1. Committees, which usually serve as investigative or advisory bodies reporting to the board that has appointed and organized them.

2. Task Forces, which, most often, are temporary problem solving groups formed to deal with issues that cross functions or lines of authority. A task force may, for its life, be full or part-time.

3. Project Groups, organized to work specifically on a project, such as a new product, a new facility, or a computer program. Like the task force, the project group may have a temporary existence. When its mission has been accomplished, the group disbands.

The Stages in Building a Team
Teams develop in stages over a period of time.

Stage 1 Searching: First there is confusion, “What are we here for?” “What part shall I play?” “What am I supposed to do?” There is also anxiety, anger, and dependence on a leader. Individuals are anxious because roles are undefined and angry and dependent because they are thrust into unfamiliar territory. These individuals are on the threshold of searching for a new identity.

Stage 2 Defining: The second stage involves defining the task to be performed or the objective to be reached. Individuals begin to see what their role is. They are not yet a true group, but rather, a collection of individuals brought together for a common purpose. Personality conflicts and clashes may occur. There are still personal agendas that need to be set aside.

Stage 3 Identifying: Members begin seeing that they are a group working together toward a common goal, setting aside their personal objectives and agenda. They have defined their role as serving the group. They pay attention to the group process. The group takes on a unique personality of its own.

Stage 4 Processing: Members work together on a task or objective and evaluate their effectiveness in doing so. They experiment with new roles to help the group succeed, such as leadership. Formal leadership may become less pronounced as members pass the leadership around.

Stage 5 Assimilating/Reforming: Groups usually die when the work has been completed. There will probably be a period of grief when members mourn the passing of what was a significant, gratifying involvement, i.e., the end of the membership year and the beginning of a new leadership. Groups with a permanent mission change, some people leave and others join. There is no dying—they absorb the new members and close ranks when others leave. New dynamics emerge.

Prescription for Greater Motivation
You can build value into people’s work and increase their expectations that they can be successful in attaining the rewards they want. There are five steps for building value into people’s work:

1. Tell people what you expect them to do.
2. Make the work valuable.
3. Make the work doable.
4. Give feedback.
5. Reward successful performance. ( Does not necessarily mean monetary.)

Team-Building Roles
Members consistently perform certain roles in a functioning team:

• Supporting—Supporting another member of the team goes beyond reinforcing another individual’s point of view when you agree with it. Even more important is providing support and encouragement for a team member if you don’t agree.
• Confronting—This is a constructive role when it is confined to people’s behavior. When one member confronts another’s personality, or presumed attitudes or motives, the result is usually disruption of the group’s work.
• Mediating—Groups can get stuck during a debate; mediating can break the stall and push the decision forward.
• Harmonizing—This is like mediating, an intervenor summarizes the various views to show individuals they are actually very close in their thinking. Then the intervenor invites other team members to help the debaters build on the areas of agreement.
• Summarizing—One member intervenes to sum up the discussion so far; this gives the group time to breathe. A good summary clarifies confusion and provides concrete points on which to continue.
• Process Observing—The process observer forces the group to look at how it is functioning.
• The Value of Listening—At all times, every member needs to be aware of how important it is to hear what people are saying.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower was asked how he managed to lead such diverse groups of people to work together to win Europe from Germany. It is said that he answered, “Sir, it is one team, or we lose.”

How alike our situation is to Eisenhower’s. As leaders, we work with diverse people. All have different skills, talents, temperaments, motivation, and experience. If our members don’t work together as a team, we have no chance of accomplishing our association’s mission.

Resources used: Partnerwerks’ Teams and Leadership FAQ and Thomas L. Quick’s, “Successful Team Building”