Team Formation

Building a successful team.

- Why team working is important

- Attributes of an effective team

- Understanding differences in a team

- The development of an effective team

- Dealing with difficult moments

- Supportive group working

In this session…

Working in a Team: Why is it important?

Working as an individual spend 1 minute thinking of as many uses for a house brick as possible

Working in a Team: Why is it important?

Working in a pair spend 1 minute thinking of as many uses for a house brick as possible

Working in a Team: Why is it important?

Working in a group of 4 spend 1 minute thinking of as many uses for a house brick as possible

Working in a Team: Why is it important? - Enriching your end product

- Learning from one another

- Pooling skill sets

- Sharing the workload

- Vital for the future – no matter what you choose to do

- “no person is an island”

- There are more strengths and positive attributes of a group than an individual alone

Attributes Of An Effective Team

– Range of individuals that complement each other

– Share a clear-agreed goal

– All members understand their task

– Supportive, informal atmosphere

– Open communication, everyone is heard

– Comfortable with discussion, disagreement and criticism

– Learns from experience

Understanding Differences In Team Members

Image from http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0071b63

The Shape Test

Need clean, specific instructions

Like rules & deadlines

Data collectors – love entering info

Don’t like meetings - would rather get on with the job in hand

Do well within given parameters but rarely creative

Highly organised

The best listeners and communicators

Find it hard to deal with conflict

Excellent reader of people –

they know if someone is lying

Not good at getting tough or making decisions

Best team player of all 4 shapes?

Like recognition and leadership

Focused towards the task or goal &

doesn’t get sidetracked

Fast thinkers, fast processors, smart &witty

Ambitious

Swift decision makers

Like to get their own way

The eccentric

The most creative and innovative

Need freedom: own time, own way,

own rules

Conceptual thinker – not nuts & bolts

Hate sitting at a computer alone all day

BUT…

Tough to manage: needs a Box around!

What do they tell us?

How Does This Help?

Understand: - Why you get along with certain people

- Why you find some people more difficult to communicate with

- That some people have very different perceptions and ways of working from you

Increased self-knowledge and self-awareness can help you to work more effectively in a team

The growth and development of a team

Team Development Stages

Bruce Tuckman’s ‘Developmental Sequence in Small Groups’ first developed in 1965

Through later development a 5th stage was proposed -“Adjourning” or “Mourning”

1.Forming 2.Storming 3.Norming 4.Performing

Forming

• Positive and polite

• Anxious and exited

• Lack of clarity on what needs to be done

• Roles and responsibilities not yet clear

The team are getting to know each other better

Storming

• Team members may be pushing against the boundaries

• Resistance and conflict as ideas and ways of working may clash

• Frustration and unforeseen problems

• Jostling for position as roles are clarified

• Team members questioning the goals and the methods used to reach those goals

There is a high failure rate of teams/projects at this stage

Norming

• The team start to resolve any differences

• Team members appreciating the strengths and attributes of other team members

• Team members sharing constructive feedback

• Strong team commitment to the teams goals

Teams can move between Norming and Storming as new challenges are encountered

Performing

• Goals are achieved

• Methods and processes used are efficient and effective

• Strong team spirit/cohesion

• Team able to deal with change well

The project may then come to an end and the team move on to “Adjourning” or “Mourning”

How Does This Help?

Understand: • If you reflect on which phase of development

the team is in then you can take action to move the group along

• This can be particularly useful information for

the leader in a group/team

Increased self-knowledge and self-awareness of the group can help you to work more effectively as a team

Encountering difficulties in a group

Dealing With Difficult Moments

Silences

Dead-ends (stagnation or stalemate)

Imbalances in group interaction (e.g. dominant group members overpowering quieter group members)

Feeling like someone is not pulling their weight

Conflict (argument or debate?)

Can “conflict” in a group be productive?

It can be constructive

It can help creativity

It can contribute to a healthy team atmosphere

KEY: How you mange and deal with it

Conflict in teamwork

Dealing with Conflict

• Be open and deal with conflict in a timely fashion

• Do not let conflict get personal focus on actionable solutions

• Encourage different points of view

• Do not look for blame

• Show respect

• Keeping team issues internally

Team Operating Agreements (TOA)

• Time budgeting

• Team Communications

• Decision making

• Meetings

• Personal courtesies

Communications

• Develop a communications plan

• Coordinate time

• Think of the different ways in which you can collaborate:

• Agree on timing and frequency of communications

• How will you share documents and updates

Supportive Group Working

It is everyone’s responsibility to make the group function well.

Encourage

Collaborate

Cooperate

Offer & Receive Criticism

5 Top Tips For Effective Group Working

1. Be organised

2. Communicate

3. Stay open-minded

4. Review

5. Reflect

- Why team working is important

- Attributes of an effective team

- Understanding differences in a team

- The development of an effective team

- Dealing with difficult moments

- Supportive group working

In this session we have covered…

Upcoming Skill Build Sessions

30th October -Goal Setting SMART objectives and structuring your time. 6th November- Users and Benefits Stakeholders, target markets and effective marketing strategies. 13th November-Events Management 1 The Careers Service gives advice on events planning and considerations. 20th November- Events Management 2 Critical Success Factors and how you can eliminate potential risk.

Our contact details

28/10/2014 © The University of Sheffield

0114 222 9744

301@sheffield.ac.uk

www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/301

@301skills