4. Self-assertiveness:
Being authentic in our dealings with others; treating our values and persons with decent respect in social contexts; refusing to fake the reality of who we are or what we esteem in order to avoid someones disapproval; the willingness to stand up for ourselves and our ideas in appropriate ways in appropriate circumstances.

Trust is a fundamental element of successful teams and being authentic is a pre-requisite to develop trust amongst team members.  Understanding ourselves and being true to that self allows us to be self assertive as we do not question ourselves when part of a team.  This both displays confidence in ourselves which will allow others to be confident in us. 

This element of self esteem also deals with a key process for teams of sharing ideas and also managing conflict if ideas or strategies are differing amongst the team.  Successful teams require individuals to be comfortable in presenting their ideas or thoughts even if they are different that the rest of the team.  Having the confidence to present opposing ideas and also manage through the discussion in a respectful way that broadens the team view point is critical.   

Lynn

Team Enthusiast

1.    Can’t take in what others are saying because they say it differently.

·         Have team members practice actively listening, where they repeat back what they heard.  The individual who is communicating the original idea can correct the understanding and both members and those observing can see where the differences originate and have a deeper understanding of how to communicate more effectively.

2.    Individuals approach things differently so they don’t know where their team mates are coming from so they don’t develop trust.

·         Have team members work through a simple problem and document the steps they would take to solve the problem.  Then have each member review with the group how and why the approached it in their unique way.  The group should see there are many ways to work through things and gain an appreciation for different approaches.

3.     The process by which they make decisions is different so they can’t make consensus decision.

·         Decisions shouldn’t always be made through consensus but there are times when all team members need to have a say to buy in and carry the decision through.  So if the team is having trouble making decisions look into why that is, challenge the team to identify why they are having trouble and brain storm on suggestions on how to improve.

4.    The group is highly interdependent but they don’t understand what the rest of the teams roles are, they just know they need something from them to do their role.

·         If time and skills permits , allowing the group to swap roles for a day or an hour.  Often we think we know what someone else does until we are actually challenged with doing it ourselves.  If time or skills don’t permit, take time out of each team meeting to have individuals give a little review of their role and how they go about it.

5.    The common goal is not clearly defined or bought into by all team members.

·         Some people enjoy the social interaction of team so naturally adjust well to working in a team, others however would prefer to be individual contributors.  If individuals do not understand the common goal they are less likely to stretch themselves to work together as a team to accomplish.  Ensure the group understand the goal they are trying to achieve as a team and the benefits of working together as a team.

So to summarize the barriers that teams need to overcome are:

1.    Unclear or unproductive communication

2.    Different approaches result in individual being untrusting of others

3.    The team can’t make consensus decisions when required

4.    Team doesn’t understand their other team members roles

5.    Team is not clear and bought into the common goal

Evaluate your teams effectiveness and see if one or multiple of these barriers are holding your team back from being a truly high functioning team.  Take steps to correct, one at a time, too much change will just through the group into chaos.

Lynn

Motivating each of our team members is something worth making time for.  However, false praise is worse than no praise at all, it re-inforces bad behaviour and most importantly demotivates the team members who do deserve accolades for their efforts and achievements.  When you want a team operating at peak performance you do need an overall motivated team.  So make a plan:

1. Create a weekly plan – put together a chart of all the team members.
2. Note for each team member how they would like to be praised/recognized – publicly or privately.
3. Each week challenge yourself to recognize at least one team member- in the team members prefered method

Rotate through each of the team members, key rule – do not praise/recognize unless fully deserved you don’t have to go through the list in a linear manner, just be cognizant of how often you have recognized or not recognized each individual.  If you find there is someone that you are never in a position to praise/recognize take steps to rectify by digging deeper into why that is and manage through to end up with a team of self motivated individuals that make your motivating job an easy one.

Lynn

Team Enthusiast

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