TEAM BUILDING THROUGH COMMUNICATION

BY Sileshi Leta (Assistant professor ,PhD fellow)

certified national trainer and business advisor
[email protected]
0911753020
 Objectives
At the end of this course participants will be able to:

· Discuss the characteristics of an effective team and

factors influencing team effectiveness
· Describe the stages of team development
· Discuss the importance of team building
· Discuss the benefits and challenges of working in
teams
· Explain how manage team performance
· Discuss how to manage conflict in a team

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CHATER ONE: OVERVIEW of Team
Meaning /Definition of Team

• A team is “a high-performing task group

whose members are interdependent and
share a common performance objective.”

• Francis & Young

 Cont….
• A team is a small number of people, with
complementary skills, who are committed
to a common purpose , performance
goals, and approach for which they are
mutually accountable."
• People working together in a committed way to
achieve a common goal or mission.
The work (may be) interdependent and team
members share responsibility and hold themselves
accountable for
 Differences Between Groups and Teams

Groups Teams
 Designated leader  Shares/rotates leader
 Individual accountability  Accountable to each other
 Identical purpose for group &  Specific team vision or
organization purpose
 Individual work products  Collective work products
 Runs efficient meetings  Encourages open-ended
 Effectiveness=influence on discussions
business  Effectiveness=value of
 Discusses, decides, delegates collective work
work to individuals  Discusses, decides, shares
work

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 Why are Teams Popular
• Teams are one way businesses deal with increased pressure,
including global competition – using teams is one way to
improve products, services, and productivity.
• As many businesses have downsized and restructured, using
teams has provided their flatter organizations with greater
flexibility.
• As products and services have become more complex, many
people are required to contribute their diverse talents.
• Teams are able to respond more quickly and effectively to
rapidly changing business environments.
 Why Build an effective team?
 Building and maintaining effective teams is a
time consuming and sensitive process particularly
in businesses where the pressures of the moment
are often intense.
 Most attempts at team building don't work well,
simply because managers and staff fail to
appreciate the effort that has to be invested in time
and attention to detail. There is little doubt,
however, that when done well teamwork contributes
considerably to greatly improved productivity and
reduced costs.
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 What exactly is an effective team?

• An effective team has certain characteristics that

allow the team members to function more efficiently
and productively.
• They develop ways to share leadership roles and
ways to share accountability for their work products,
shifting the emphasis from the individual to several
individuals within the team
 What are the characteristics ?
Team members share leadership roles

They develop their own scope of work

The team schedules work to be done and commits to taking time

allotted to do work

They develop tangible work products

They are mutually accountable for work products

Individual performance is based on achieving team products

Problems are discussed and resolved by the team

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 Characteristics of an Effective Team
Effective teams operate in an environment in which there
is two way trust in an environment of open and honest
communication

Feedback on "performance" should be two-way and

constant.

It should provide information to all members of the

team on how their work supports the specific and overall
effort of the team and the practice.

Listening is a feature of that communication

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Teams accept responsibility and not "blame" one another
for team mistakes, nor should they spend useless time in
personal justifications.

They celebrate their successes together, just as they

identify the special performances and contributions of each
individual.

Good team work is based on prideful humility: pride in

the outcomes of the team and a humility that assumes that
other team members may well have a level of expertise that
can add value to the outcome.

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Good teams look upon first time mistakes as
opportunities for learning, rather than criticism and
punishment. They are, however, tough on repetitive errors,
just as they encourage appropriate risk and innovation.

Good teams honor the contribution that each member

makes to the total work of the team
You, as the leader are the team's expert in a particular
area of responsibility (leadership): your secretary is the
expert at word processing and office procedures, and your
receptionist the expert in client relations. Each is as
important as the other in the application of their
expertise!

D 12
Work Team Effectiveness Model
 Types of Teams
Formal Teams
Vertical - composed of a manager and
subordinates, sometimes called functional or
command teams.
Horizontal - composed of employees from the same
hierarchical level but from different areas of
expertise.
Special-Purpose - created outside the formal
organization for special projects and disband once
project is completed.
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Self-Directed Team Elements

Typically permanent teams

 Employees with several skills and
functions
 Given access to various resources –
information, equipment, machinery, and
supplies needed to perform the
complete task
 Empowered with decision making
authority select new members 15
 Teams in the New Workplace

• Virtual teams- consist of geographically or

organizationally dispersed members linked
via technology
• Global teams- cross-border teams made
up of members from different nationalities
– intercultural
– virtual

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Challenges of Virtual Teams
• Select the right team members
• Manage socialization
• Foster trust
• Effectively manage communications

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 Characteristics of Teams
Teams of 5-12 seem to work best

Size--
 Ideal size is thought to be 7
 Variations of from 5 to 12 typically are
associated with good team performance
 Small teams (2-4 members) show more
agreement, ask more questions
 Large teams (12 or more) tend to have
more disagreements; subgroups form,
conflicts among them occur 18
 Characteristics of Teams

Size - Diversity - Member Roles

Diversity
 Produce more innovative solutions to problems
 Source of creativity
 Contribute to a healthy level of conflict that leads
to decision making
 Work team performance –racial, national, ethnic
Short term = difficulty learning to work together
Leadership helps problems fade over time
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 Characteristics of Teams
Member Roles-
 Task specialist role spend • Socio-emotional role
time and energy helping support team
the team reach its goal members’ emotional
 Initiate ideas needs
 Give opinions  Encourage
 Seek information  Harmonize
 Summarize  Reduce tension
 Energize  Follow
 Compromise

Spend time and energy helping the team reach its goal

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 Team Member Roles
Exhibit 21.4

High Task Specialist Role Dual Role

· Focuses on task · Focuses on task and people.
accomplishment · May be a team leader.
over human needs. · Important role, but not
· Important role, but if adopted essential if members adopt
by everyone, team’s social task specialist and
Member needs won’t be met. socioemotional roles.
Task
Behavior Nonparticipator Role Socioemotional Role
· Contributes little to either task · Focuses on people needs of
or team over task.
people needs of team. · Important role, but if adopted
· Not an important role-if by everyone, team’s tasks
adopted by too many members, won’t be accomplished.
Low team will disband.
Low Member Social Behavior High
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 Stages of Team Development

• Forming stage: getting to know and form

initial opinions about team members
• Storming stage: some team members begin to
have conflict with each other
• Norming stage: team members accept each
other and overcome the conflict
• Performing stage: team works on task
• Adjourning stage: team completes task and
brings closure to the project

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 Team Roles
• Team leader
• Recorder
• Time keeper
• Facilitator
• Trainer
• Improvement Expert

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 Team Leader Duties
• Calls and facilitates meetings
• Handles/assigns administrative details
• Orchestrates all team activities
• Oversees preparations for reports and
presentations
• Ultimately, it is the leader's responsibility to
create and maintain communication
channels and work processes that enable 24
 Characteristics of Effective
Team Leaders
• Clear role definition
• Careful time control
• Sensitivity to each other’s needs and expression
• Good preparation
• A high level of interest and commitment
• Few interruptions and distractions

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 Team Recorder
• Maintains minutes and agendas
• Coordinates the preparation of reports,
documents, storybooks, storyboards
• Often rotates among team members

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 Time Keeper
• Watches the time
• Reminds the team of how much time remains
for a particular agenda item and remainder of
meeting
• Often rotates among team members

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 Facilitator
• Observes team processes
• Gives both supportive and constructive
feedback
• Often this person is the improvement coach

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 Trainer
• Imparts knowledge and builds skills
• Addresses improvement topics, use of
improvement tools and techniques, group
process skills, and team building
• Often this person is the improvement coach

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 Effective team members
• Contribute fully to the project/tasks
• Share their knowledge and expertise
• Participate in all meetings and discussions
• Complete assignments on time.

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