Team Building

Quick reference

• 00:04 Hello, I'm Ray Sheen.
• 00:06 When teams are formed, their performance can often be enhanced by understanding and
• 00:11 working through the stages of team building.
• 00:14 We'll start by describing the team building lifecycle.
• 00:19 The first stage is forming.
• 00:21 This stage represents the initial formation of the team, and
• 00:24 the goal is usually just to get to know each other.
• 00:27 The team leader tries to establish a friendly and positive working environment.
• 00:31 The focus of this stage is to understand the goals of the team and
• 00:34 how everyone's skills can contribute to the team's success.
• 00:37 The initial challenge the team leader faces is to get everyone committed
• 00:41 to the team and its goals.
• 00:43 The next stage is storming.
• 00:45 In this stage, conflict often arises.
• 00:48 As the team members begin to work together,
• 00:50 they need to establish boundaries and expectations.
• 00:53 Inevitably there will be some clashes of power and control.
• 00:56 Who has what authority?
• 00:58 When are decision unilateral, and when must they be coordinated or
• 01:01 approved by other team members?
• 01:04 A major challenge a team leader faces is to get team members to truly listen and
• 01:08 understand the concerns of other team members.
• 01:11 The third stage is norming.
• 01:13 The team begins to manage the conflict from the previous stage and
• 01:16 establishes the team practices or norms for how these are sorted out.
• 01:22 The team works to find consensus for the tough issues and points of conflict.
• 01:26 The challenge for
• 01:27 the team leader is to face the conflict and find a win-win solution.
• 01:31 Interestingly, I've seen some teams that act as though conflict is bad and
• 01:35 they never allow conflict to be acknowledged and resolved.
• 01:39 Unless a conflict is addressed and norms established, the team will lack trust and
• 01:43 performance will soon spiral down.
• 01:46 The final stage is performing.
• 01:48 By this time, the team has established their team practices and
• 01:51 everyone understands what to expect from one another.
• 01:54 They're now functioning effectively with trust and open communication.
• 01:58 The goals are understood and
• 02:00 everyone understands how they contribute to team success.
• 02:04 The team leader now is focused on making wise and
• 02:06 timely decisions whenever the team faces challenges.
• 02:10 Now every team goes through these stages whether they acknowledge it or not.
• 02:13 And when team members are changed,
• 02:15 the team may need to go back down the ladder and start over.
• 02:18 That's okay, it's expected.
• 02:20 Plan for it and
• 02:21 you can accelerate the team through the stages to get back to high performance.
• 02:26 When teams don't work through the stages of team building,
• 02:29 they will develop trust issues.
• 02:31 If you see a team with trust problems,
• 02:33 take them through the stages of team building.
• 02:36 What do I mean by trust problems?
• 02:38 Well, let's start with the actions of behaviors of a team that displays trust.
• 02:42 On this team, team members are willing to admit mistakes and ask for help.
• 02:46 They're comfortable working together, leveraging each other's skills and
• 02:50 abilities.
• 02:51 They're prepared to take risks as a team because of their trust in each other.
• 02:55 When things go wrong, they give each other the benefit of the doubt and are willing
• 02:59 to answer questions about their work and role without being resentful.
• 03:03 Their focus is on resolving team issues, not politics.
• 03:07 They offer and accept apologies without holding grudges.
• 03:10 And finally, they're active participants in team meetings and are ready and
• 03:14 prepared for the meeting.
• 03:17 Let's contrast that list with teams where trust is not present.
• 03:21 In this case, everyone is more concerned about protecting themselves and
• 03:25 not the performance of the team.
• 03:26 For instance, they hide their mistakes, and they are unwilling to either ask for
• 03:30 help or offer help to other team members.
• 03:33 They either provide no feedback or destructive feedback to team members.
• 03:36 They are quick to suspect other people's intentions and abilities.
• 03:41 They're often competing against the other team members, so
• 03:43 they will not recognize or leverage their abilities.
• 03:46 They're consumed by worrying about their image and
• 03:50 often do grandstanding for effect.
• 03:52 They hold grudges against other team members and avoid attending team meetings.
• 03:58 Let's look at one more construct for understanding team building and
• 04:00 improving team performance, GROW.
• 04:04 First is the setting of goals for the team, and
• 04:06 aligning the team members' personal goals with the team goals.
• 04:10 If the team is a permanent team or a team with a long project,
• 04:14 you need to consider both short term goals, like someone needing to complete
• 04:17 a set of tasks within the team in order to gain a certification, and
• 04:21 long term goals, such as having a stable work-life balance.
• 04:25 When the goals are understood, the team leader and team members face reality.
• 04:29 What are the strengths and weaknesses of their team?
• 04:33 Personally I find it helps a team more by
• 04:35 focusing on leveraging strengths rather than trying to correct weaknesses.
• 04:39 Feedback is a key here and we will talk more about that in a later session.
• 04:44 But it is worth noting that both positive and negative feedback should be used.
• 04:49 Next, the team grows and improves as it seeks out the best options for
• 04:52 achieving the goals and
• 04:53 periodically re-evaluates performance to find options for additional improvement.
• 04:58 Don't let the team get stuck in a rut.
• 05:01 Regularly seek better paths to achieve the goal.
• 05:04 Which then takes us to the fourth step.
• 05:06 Which is to implement the best options, or
• 05:09 another way of saying it, implementing the way forward.
• 05:12 Good intentions are not enough for the team to be successful.
• 05:15 They need to actually plan and implement the selected options.
• 05:19 Nothing builds a team like successful accomplishment of the team goals.
• 05:24 A key attribute for team success is to build a well-performing team.
• 05:31 This will sometimes happen by accident, but it's better to steer your team through
• 05:36 the stages of team building to accelerate your team's success.

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