Team Building Resources

How each of us process information and make decisions can be as unique as our finger prints but there are some common themes as to how individuals process information and make decisions.  Understanding these themes and putting this understanding to use when working as part of a team can significantly improve the teams’ decision making process and results. Following is a list of the top 10 factors or approaches to take into consideration.  With a very diverse team the needs of each individual can vary greatly and cause great angst.  However, if you can understand the various needs and work through them, you will likely make superior decisions as a team as you will tap into each team members strengths when it best suits the challenge.

1.    Depth of information required before moving forward.

2.    How information is processes – internally or through verbal discussion

3.    Risk tolerance

4.    Need for perfection or “close enough rule”

5.    Response to time pressure

6.    Tolerance for constructive/public conflict

7.    Comfort level with brainstorming

8.    Tend to make decisions based on fact or intuition

9.    Historical presidencies that need to be taken into consideration

10. Is the decision a “one off” or part of a bigger picture decision

When working as part of team you do not need to go through this checklist each and every time a decision needs to be made.  However, spending time during the formative stages of the team to understand where people sit on each of these areas could be extremely beneficial in future meetings. 

So take an issue that is relevant to the team but not too charged and clearly define the objective of the meeting to be two fold: 

1. Make a decision as a team and
2. Discuss the teams different approaches to making decisions. 

Review each of the dimensions listed above and have team members state their preferences and why it is important to them.  Dealing with these differences up from and gaining an appreciation of where others are coming from will allow them to listen and actually hear each other better especially when discussing a very charged decision.  The process of decision making will be vastly improved if team members can understand where their counterparts are coming from and highly functioning teams will make the most of this diversity to make superior decisions.

Lynn

Team Enthusiast

Making every meeting count is extremely important dimension of high functioning teams.  Steve Roesler has written an excellent post called “Better Meetings Better Leadership“.  I’d like to build on his key points, which were:  Decide in advance the type of meeting you need which will determine the tone and  level of participation from the team.  Here are the key elements:

1. Tell Mode – when you need to communicate information but it is not up for debate
2. Sell Mode – you need to communicate information but need buy in from the team
3. Test Mode – you are open to changing the details of what you are communicating only if really necessary based on the team reaction
4. Consult Mode – you are putting elements of the communication out for debate
5. Join Mode – the team is tackling a problem/opportunity together and the key function of the meeting is to brainstorm.

As the leader of the team keeping these modes in mind in advance of the meeting and planning the agenda accordingly will definitely make for more productive meetings.  I would also like to identify a few more dimensions to keep in mind.  Each personality type on the team will be more responsive and more comfortable with different meeting modes, so not only plan the mode of your meeting as a second step gauge your team for their receptiveness to each mode.

1. The team member who always loves a good agenda, show up early and takes copious notes:
   • This team member will be quite comfortable in the Tell mode and the Sell mode as long as you include facts and figures to support your conclusions.  They will become more uncomfortable in the Test, Consult and Join mode if you ask them to brainstorm on the spot.  Best for these individuals to give them information ahead of time so they can best prepare for the meeting and be a valuable contributing member.
2. The team member who never really follows an agenda, likes things fast and punchy:
   • This team member will be very comfortable in the Join, Consult and Test mode, happy to share thoughts and possible solutions on the fly.  They will likely be your toughest audience when in Tell or Sell mode.  Make sure for these individuals you clearly define the impact the communication/policy being discussed will have and don’t open the door to lots of debate if there is no room, once you open the door a little they will take you down a path that will leave the door swinging open at the end.
3. The team member who wants to ensure everyone has a voice and the group is in harmony:
   • This team member will be comfortable in all modes as long as its clearly spelled out what mode the meeting is in,  authenticity is key to this team member so as long as the agenda is clear and not a hidden one - presenting it like you are in join mode when really you are in tell mode you will get the most out of these individuals.
4. The team member who always asks “why”:
   • This team member will be comfortable in the Tell and Sell mode when you connect the communication/policy to the bigger picture.   They will respect authority when delivered with clarity.  As with the first team member described, they will be less comfortable in the Join, Test and Consult mode if not given advance notice of the items being discussed.  If you have a group made up of these individuals and communicating information in advance is not an option, perhaps splitting the meeting into two parts, the first being the communication and the second being the collaborative element.

As the leader of a team, having meetings only when necessary is your first key to success, secondly be very clear which mode the meeting is in and thirdly gauge your audience and tailor the agenda to get the most out of your team members based on their personality types.

Lynn

Team Enthusiast

Effective communication is such an important part of successful teams, when team members effectively communicate they are well equipped to work through any team challenge or opportunity that comes their way. 

There is no one size fits all for how to communicate optimally which each individual but the basics of effective communication will put you on the right track, the following is a list of sound communication principles and questions you can ask yourself to improve your communication with each of your team mates depending on their key preferences and needs:

1. Time is a precious resource, ensure your communication is focused and provide only as much detail as the recipient needs to understand and engage.
2. Demonstrate active listening whenever possible (repeating back a summarized version or asking clarifying questions).
3. Determine if your team mate processes information better through verbal communication or written communication, although you should never use one form exclusively, when you need to ensure your team mate clearly understands the information, make sure you provide it in the form that best suits them.
4. Check for visible confirmation that your team mate is listening and engaged, if not save the communication for a time when you are both able to fully commit to the conversation.  If the time never seems right, be a little more forcefully and specifically ask for confirmation that what you are saying is being heard.
5. Determine if your team mate likes to process information in a linear manner or is comfortable discussing an idea from many different perspectives and adjust your communication accordingly.
6. Determine if your team mates need facts and figures to connect to an idea or if they need to have an emotional connection before fully engaging.  You will need to think through both dimensions but put the focus on one or the other with particular team mates.
7. Determine if your team mate likes to process information internally prior to being able to engage in a discussion about alternatives or is comfortable with full brainstorming, asking a team mate who requires internal processing time to engage on the fly will not only deliver sub-optimal results it can create tension in the team as they have been placed in an uncomfortable position.
8. Ensure your verbal and non verbal communication is consistent, some team mates will be less focused on the non verbal but some place a very high degree of importance on the consistency of verbal and non verbal communication.
9. For key communication (not suggesting you evaluate each conversation before engaging) determine if you need the team mate to take action from the communication or simply to be aware.  The approach and detail you provide will be quite different depending on the objective.
10. Check with your team on a regular basis about how well communication is going, are there areas where there is too much information being discussed/disseminated, are there areas where there is a void in communication, are there ways team members would prefer to communicate i.e. a weekly meeting instead of having to write a weekly activity report. 

Being an effective communicator is important for most dimensions of work life but particularly so when working as part of a team.  The more each individual is cognizant of their own needs and strengths and those of others adjustments can be made on both side to optimize communication effectiveness.

Lynn

Team Enthusiast

Building trust is foundational element of successful teams.  How you build trust however can be quite different for each team member.  The following are the top 10 ways to build trust and some clues as to which personality types will value each.

1.    Think about commitments fully before making them.

2.    Once a commitment is made, nurture it, follow through or manage new expectations if required.

3.    Demonstrate your commitment to the team and the shared objective through concrete actions not just words.

4.    Be open and honest about your opinions and goals, hidden agenda’s are a trust destroyer.

5.    Share your thoughts and opinions succinctly.

6.    Demonstrate a commitment to paying attention to detail.

7.    Demonstrate a propensity for being accurate (not making factual errors).

8.    Allow team members time to process a suggestion or perspective that you have offered.

9.    Build social bonds with team members demonstrating your commitment to the individuals not just the task at hand.

10. Actively listen to team members, questioning and commenting as appropriate to ensure clear understanding.

Items 1 thru 4 are key to building trust regardless of the personality and preferences of your team mates. 

If your team members are more focused on the details of the task and the logical process trust is greater enhanced if you augment items 1 – 4 with items 6 – 8.

If your team members are more focus on the team achieving together and the emotional connection of the team trust is greater enhanced if you augment items 1 – 4 with items 9 and 10.

Once trust is established within a team the impact can be profound, it makes way for all the benefits of working as a team possible, without it they are all undermined.

Lynn

Team Enthusiast.

I’m very cognizant of the fact that the follow post sounds blatently self serving as a team building activities provider, that said the facts are clear.  When times are tough you need your top performing employees more than ever.  It can be a tough decision to make an investment in outside services when you are trying to trim all your costs but placing those investmetns in your top performing employees and how they FEEL about where they work has never been a better investment.  

A recent study High Performers Ready to Quit conducted by Leadership IQ shows that 47% of high performers are actively looking for other jobs and conversly only 18% of low performers are looking.  During times of layoffs  its important to recognize that often people that survive the layoffs are asked to do more and make even more of a commitment to the company. 

Commitment is an emotional connection to the company, feeding that emotional connection by acknowledging that you need to manage how people feel about where they work and that you are interetested in them enjoying that work.  Team building can deliver those benefits and more.  Even if you don’t make the external investment make sure you take the time to conduct some internal team building activities, showing you care goes a long way to keeping those high performers performing for you instead of someone else.

Lynn

Team Enthusiast

Understanding the characteristics of successful teams allows you to evaluate your own team to determine where the team is doing well and where the opportunity areas may be. There are 5 key characteristics that you find in successful teams:

1. Trust – openness and commitment
2. Effective communication – clear, unguarded and effective listening
3. Effective processes – decision making, conflict management and problem solving
4. Value diversity – diversity of capabilities, clarity of roles and interdependencies
5. Results focused – clear goals and plans

Each of these 5 key areas build on each other, if there is no trust in the team then the other factors don’t really get a chance to come into play, if there isn’t effective communication then working through processes become extremely difficult and so on.

Building on understanding these key characteristics when you are embarking on either a 3rd party team building exercise or an in house activity, keep the following key tension points in mind and design your team building exercise to bring these different perspectives to the forefront. Different personalities have different viewpoints on how to approach tasks, understanding the value that each personality can bring and the tension points that can arise will allow team members to work out differences during a “simulation” so they can work together better when real results are required. Some key tension points are:

• Approach and value of planning versus doing
• Risk taking
• Structure versus flexibility
• Focus on nurturing the task versus the individuals

Try to follow the team building activity with a good discussion around how team members felt about their performance in each of these key areas, to solidify the team learning and translate it back to their everyday work environment.

Lynn
Team Enthusiast

The primary objective of any team building activity is to improve the performance of the team.  Focusing specifically on teams in the business environment, its clear wither we define team as a group with a specific objective or just individuals who interact, a key dimension of success is the ability to understand and respect team members.  How can team building improve this key factor?  Running around having fun with people, that you may barely know well enough to say hello to, not only improves the social relationship it creates a new level of interaction and cooperation, a level that can then be capitalized on to identify both strengths and weaknesses of the team and an openness to improve.

Successful team building can be compared to a sugar coated pill; it does its job without leaving a bitter taste in the mouth.

Simply put the definition of team building that I like to use:

Team building is the process of enabling the team to improve.

I will expand on the why and how as there are many objectives that team building could be utilized to achieve and how to achieve those results, but core to all of them is there is either a problem to be fixed or an opportunity to be capitalized on within a team, in other words “improved”.

Toronto is rich in team building alternatives but before embarking on evaluating alternatives first evaluate your objectives and also be prepared with the following questions to ensure you select the best team building alternative for you:

1.    Can you give me some advice on a specific problem I am having with my team?

·         This will allow you to gauge the facilitator’s ability to really understand real life business team challenges and translate that to useable advice.

2.    How do you help participants make connections from the activities to business applications?

·         The value of experiential learning is to connect the simulation to the everyday, a well conducted debrief following a team building exercise will ensure participants not only make the connection once but over and over again in their real world teams. 

3.    How long have you been in business?

·         Yes everyone needs to start somewhere but do you want to be the one paying for someone to build up their experience, longevity is a good indicator of quality.

4.    Who are your past clients?

·         Perhaps knowing the type of companies is enough but also ask for specific references as a great way of making sure your investment will have the return you are looking for.