Final Project Human Resource Development (HRD)

‘Building High Performance Teams’

Contents:

A Word about the Topic

Characteristics of High Performance Teams

Open and Clear Communication

What are the communication challenges to the team?

Valued Diversity

Managing Diversity

Benefits of Diversity

Clear Goals:

Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Defined roles and responsibilities:

Seven C’s for Team Building

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

TYPES OF CONFLICT

Substantive Vs. Affective

Organizational and Interpersonal Conflict

Mutual Trust, Respect and Support

Trust: Foundation and Final Frontier

Coordinative Relationship

Positive Atmosphere

SEVEN WAYS TO CREATE A POSITIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT

Participative Leadership

The Advantages of Participative Leadership:

Employer/Employee Relationships

Future Leadership Discovery

Motivation

Team Spirit

Employee Productivity

Effective decision-making

The Five Levels of Decision Making

Ice Breaking Activity

Activities:

Instruction

Group Size

Instruction

Time

Group Size
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to appreciate and acknowledge the continuous guidance and assistance of our reverend teacher Muhammad Ather who helped us all the way to complete this project. He not only helped us to complete it, but also made us to realize to the effectiveness of a good trainer and how a trainer can play his role to improve the over all working environment of the and eventually the Productive out-put for the organization.

A Word about the Topic

All the time, every time, we hear the buzz about the teams and teams are around us every where, whether in homes, colleges, universities and essentially in Corporate world. Teams are by far the most powerful tool for any organization to define the destiny of any organization in the shorter as well as the longer run.

The questions that however arises that despite of the fact teams are all around us why do some companies out of the whole lot stand out in terms of their team building and motivating activities and the rest fail to exploit their human capital. The answer lies in in not forming teams rather building teams that deliver high performance in a sustainable manner.

The rapid changes taking place in the current and dynamic world demands inculcating and equipping the teams with the right training and tools to perform in the right strategic direction so that the individual performance aligns with the team goals which in turn align with the strategic objectives of the organization.

This effort requires that the trainers should be aware of the basic elements that hamper the way of teams to deliver performance that leads the organizations to deliver superior performance that gives them the competitive advantage and the strategic edge.

Characteristics of High Performance Teams

High-performance teams have ten characteristics that are recognized to lead to success:

1.      Open and clear communication

2.      Valued diversity

3.      Clear goals

4.      Defined roles and responsibilities

5.      Managing conflict

6.      Mutual Trust

7.      Coordinative relationship

8.      Positive atmosphere

9.      Participative leadership

10.  Effective decision-making

Open and Clear Communication

Open and clear communication is probably the most important characteristic for building high performance teams. Excellent communication is the key to keep a team informed, focused and moving forward. Team members must feel free to express their thoughts and opinions at any time. Yet, even as they are expressing themselves, they must make certain they are doing so in a clear and concise manner.  Unfortunately, most of us are not good listeners. Most of us can improve our communication if we just started to listen better—to listen with an open mind, to hear the entire message before forming conclusion and to work toward mutual understanding with the speaker. We allow distractions to prevent us from giving out full attention to the speaker. We allow our minds to wander instead of focusing on the speaker. There are many benefits for improving communication for your team.

• Open communication encourages team members to express their points of view and to offer all the information they can to make the team more effective.
• Clear communication ensures that team messages are understood by speakers and listeners.
• Two way communication increases the likelihood that all team members hear the same message.
• Good listening skills ensure that both the speaker’s content and the intent are heard.
• Attention to nonverbal communication helps further identify feelings and hidden messages that may get in the way of teamwork.

What are the communication challenges to the team?

Effective communication within a team is important in ensuring the flow of information and the exchanging of ideas. But a team can often experience challenges to effective team communication that can threaten to reduce the effectiveness of the team. Good team can identify and develop ways to circumvent the communication challenges.

• Background: Each team member is going to have a different background, and that is going to present perception problems when attempting to communicate within the team. For example, a team member with many years of experience may find a particular situation very easy to understand while less experienced team members do not understand the situation at all. These variable backgrounds make it extremely difficult for team to prepare information in a way that can be easily perceived by all members of the group.

• Agendas: Different people within the same team often have their own ideas of how a situation should be handled. The exchange of information between team members, and the resulting suggestions given to the team leadership, is often skewed by other people's agendas. Team leader can either work to find common ground with all. Team members or be aware that team communication is affected by the needs and opinions of team members.

• Acceptance: Over time, certain team members may find it difficult to communicate within a team because of negative experiences with team members. Team members forget to be courteous and professional to all team communication and can begin to make some teammates feel alienated.

• Not Communicating: Larger groups can have advantages and disadvantages to team communication. One of the advantages is the availability of a wide variety of opinions that become input into team solutions. But one of the disadvantages of larger groups is that some people decide that they do not want to communicate at all. The group suffers from a lack of input, and the team leadership then needs to find a way to get everyone in the group to participate.

How to Best Communicate With Team Members

• Get on the same page. When you're working together, it's best to sit down at the start of any project. Talk about your expectations, as well as what each of you will be responsible for.
• Check in at regular intervals. If you don't talk to your team members on a daily basis, make sure you schedule periodic check-ins to talk about how everything is going. You can ask questions such as, "Is there anything you need from me?" and "Do you think you'll be able to finish your part by the deadline we discussed earlier?" This is also a good time to bring up any concerns that may have materialized since your last discussion.
• Practice active listening. Hear out your team members completely. Turn off all distractions, and direct your full attention to the other person. Once you have digested everything he has said, think about the main point and consider it from his perspective (not your own).

• Point out common ground. You're not always going to agree with your coworkers, but try to look for the positive --- or the things you have in common.
• Get to the bottom of conflicts before it's too late. Confrontations tend not to work, which is why you should find out why the issues are occurring. You might think, for instance, that a team member who has been sending you snippy responses to your emails is unhappy with you. It's a good idea to ask him, "What's going on?" or "Am I misunderstanding the situation?" It could be that his curtness is completely unrelated to you. Either way, you can easily resolve the situation without involving your supervisor.
• Share the workload. At some points, you may be stretched more thinly than other team members, and vice versa. If you are able to, offer to help them out with a few tasks every now and then. They'll be much more likely to return the favor when you need some assistance.
• Stay in constant contact. When a team member emails you, do your best to respond that day. And if you can't, send a quick note to let her know you've received the message and will reply as soon as possible. It's also a good idea to let each other know your schedules, and whether email or phone is the better way to get in touch.

·         Encourage Participation: Give everyone in the team an equal voice so that no one feels left out of major discussions or planning. Whether you're the team's leader or just a fellow member, you can resolve to notice the shy individuals who keep silent during decision-making sessions and debates and gently encourage them to speak up. Some people feel left out when they suspect their voice won't be heard. Everyone should feel that they have equally vital roles in the team's success.

·         Take a Break: Promote socialization and camaraderie among teammates by allowing for frequent breaks between official gatherings. Downtime presents an opportunity for casual conversation and the formation of personal bonds. A bit of recreation and lighthearted fun will resolve petty differences based on prejudice and misguided assumptions. Former rivals may learn to listen to one another more patiently once they've spent their free time getting to know one another outside of the team context.

·         Lead by Example: Team members can become frustrated and fed up with their leaders when poor communication gets in the way of a productive and cooperative dynamic. The boss of team events and actions should make it her mission to place diplomacy and effective communication above ego and personal vindication. When teammates see that they are being led with kindness and thoughtful consideration, they will feel less justified exhibiting immature or ineffective communication tactics themselves.

Valued Diversity

Team Diversity is the significant uniqueness of each individual on a team. This should not only include the usual diverse selections such as religion, sex, age, and race, but also additional ways of thinking, experiences, ideas and education. All of these differences can affect team interactions and performance.

Managing Diversity

A team leader must think about diversity as diversity of ideas and experience, not just race and gender. A leader needs to recognize the diversity of each team member and achieve unity of common goals without destroying the uniqueness of any person. The team leader must do this within the scope of the organization’s resources relative to the growth of the team member.

Most problems in the teams are not that members cannot do their jobs. Rather it is that members cannot get along with others. The team leader should make efforts in effectively training soft skills. This includes such subjects as diversity, communication and people skills that allow people to understand each other and develop good team skills. Every team member must not only be able to understand and work with all the other team members, but they must also want to. Embracing diversity is the first step to managing a truly diverse team. In order to facilitate this, team leaders should consider the following:

• Develop an atmosphere in which it is safe for all members to ask for help. Members should not be viewed as weak if they ask for help. Joining weakness with strengths to get a goal or objective accomplished is one aspect of building great teams. One person’s weakness should be another person’s strength.
• Actively seek information from members from a variety of backgrounds and cultures in order to develop a broad picture.
• Include everyone on the problem solving and decision making process.
• Include members who are different than you in informal gatherings such as lunch, coffee breaks and spur of the moment meetings.
• Create a team spirit in of which every member feels a part.

Benefits of Diversity

·         Increased collaboration.

·         Improved communication.

·         Reduced conflict.

·         Better morale.

·         Greater motivation.

·         Improved team cohesiveness.

·         Collaborative problem solving.

·         Ability to work well with different types of people/groups

Clear Goals:

Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Smart is the abbreviation of

·         Specific

·         Measurable

·         Attainable

·         Realistic

·         Timely

Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions:

*Who:      Who is involved?

*What:     What do I want to accomplish?

*Where:    Identify a location.

*When:     Establish a time frame.

*Which:    Identify requirements and constraints.

*Why:      Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

Measurable - Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set.

When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as……

·         How much? How many?

·         How will I know when it is accomplished?

Attainable – When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.

You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.

Realistic- To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress.

A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.

Timely – A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there’s no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? “Someday” won’t work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, “by May 1st”, then you’ve set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.
Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.

T can also stand for Tangible – A goal is tangible when you can experience it with one of the senses, that is, taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing. When your goal is tangible you have a better chance of making it specific and measurable and thus attainable.

Defined roles and responsibilities:

Where do your team members stand?

• Fully engaged?
• Neither engaged nor disengaged?
• Disengaged?

We can gain some ideas about engaging our teams by taking a lead from each of the three definitions of engagement- namely, "external contest", "pledge to take on" and "engrossing".

What happens in practice? Do organizations engage their people by "defining the contest", "getting them to pledge their commitment" and "providing engrossing challenges"?

There are some tips for building engagement within your team given below.

1. Define the external contest

People often work best together and pull together as a team, when they are faced with some kind of external threat that is common to everyone in the team. You may have experienced this yourself at some stage. For instance, this often happens in cases of takeovers and mergers where people who might previously have been a loose working group (sometimes with not a lot in common) are suddenly faced with an external threat that they can't quite understand or manage. Often in these situations, they focus on the things they can manage and the things they do have in common. The external "they" or "them" become the common enemy that they can all relate to - they rally around one another to fight this common enemy. Something out there in the environment has come to be seen as a common threat and so, they bond successfully together as a team to fight the common enemy. But people can also pull together and become very effective as a team when they have a common positive external pressure, such as winning a contest, or being seen as the "best" team. As a team leader, the secret is to identify what in the external environment might be the threats and opportunities the team can bond around.

2. Get team members to pledge their commitment

Does this mean getting them to sign a formal document, or have them all stand and sing the company song? What it does mean is getting your team members on board by being attuned to their values and motives and aligning these with your team direction.

3. Provide engrossing challenges

It will be extremely difficult to get team member engagement if the work that your team members do is dull and boring. All the studies of motivation over the last 50 years include at least the following to build motivation:

* Achievement - people need to see results for what they do. Make sure that their work is able to be measured, preferably by each team member themselves.

* Recognition for achievement - praise and recognize team members for the work that they do well. Encourage team members to praise one another. Set the example and build a culture of recognition by finding at least one of your team members doing something well every day and praise them for it.

* Responsibility - encourage people to take responsibility for their actions. Allow them to make decisions (without the need to refer to you) within their area of responsibility.

* Meaningful, interesting work - ensure the work is meaningful to each individual. Assign people to work that they find satisfying. Look for ways to make the work more interesting - get your team members involved by asking for their ideas on how to make their jobs more interesting.

* Growth and advancement - provide team members with the opportunity to develop themselves both personally and professionally. Your aim is to have the most marketable team members in the organization. You will know when you are successful at this, when your fellow managers -want your people to join their team. When you develop this type of team culture, you'll have people lining up at your door wanting to be part of the most successful team.

In a team-oriented environment, you contribute to the overall success of the organization. You work with fellow members of the organization to produce these results. Even though you have a specific job function and you belong to a specific department, you are unified with other organization members to accomplish the overall objectives.

You need to differentiate this overall sense of teamwork from the task of developing an effective intact team that is formed to accomplish a specific goal. People confuse the two team building objectives. This is why so many team building seminars, meetings, retreats and activities are deemed failures by their participants. Leaders failed to define the team they wanted to build. Developing an overall sense of team work is different from building an effective, focused work team when you consider team building approaches.

Seven C’s for Team Building

No matter what you call your team-based improvement effort: continuous improvement, total quality, lean manufacturing or self-directed work teams, you are striving to improve results for customers. Few organizations, however, are totally pleased with the results their team improvement efforts produce. If your team improvement efforts are not living up to your expectations, this self-diagnosing checklist may tell you why. Successful team building, that creates effective, focused work teams, requires attention to each of the following.

·         Clear Expectations: Has executive leadership clearly communicated its expectations for the team’s performance and expected outcomes? Do team members understand why the team was created? Is the organization demonstrating constancy of purpose in supporting the team with resources of people, time and money?

Communication of clear performance expectations starts with the strategic planning process of executive leaders. How they communicate these plans and goals to the organization is critical to create an organization in which all components are connected and pulling in the same direction. Executive leadership must clearly communicate its expectations for the team’s performance and expected outcomes to align each area of the organization with the overall mission and vision.

 At the same time, leadership needs to define the organizational culture of teamwork desired within the company. Whether a department team or a product, process, or project team, team members have to understand why the team was created and the outcomes the organization expects from the team.

·         Context: Do team members understand why they are participating on the team? Do they understand how the strategy of using teams will help the organization attain its communicated business goals?

In an effective team culture, the concept of context is addressed. Team members understand why they are participating on the team and how the team fits within their organization. In an effective team culture, team members understand where the work of their team fits in the total context of their organization’s strategic plan and success goals.

When the organization culture supports teamwork, team members understand how the strategy of using teams fits in the total context of their organization’s strategic plan and success goals. Team members understand why using teams will help their organization attain its business goals. In fact, they understand the context of a team culture so well; they are convinced that teams are the only way their organization will excel.

In a successful team culture, teams understand where their work fits in the total context of the organization’s mission, goals, principles, vision and values. Team members spend time defining their team culture by agreeing upon team norms and expectations within the company’s overall team context.

Finally, team members understand that 20% of the problems they will experience as a team will fall within the context of the task or mission the team is assigned to accomplish. The other 80% of the problems will relate to their team culture and the processes team members establish and commit to for interacting.

·         Commitment: Do team members want to participate on the team? Do team members feel the team mission is important? Are members committed to accomplishing the team mission and expected outcomes? Do team members perceive their service as valuable to the organization and to their own careers?

The depth of the commitment of team members to work together effectively to accomplish the goals of the team is a critical factor in team success. The relationships team members develop out of this commitment are key in team building and team success.

You need to answer a series of questions to assess the commitment level of team members to work on a team.

Team Choice: Do team members want to participate on the team? Do they perceive that they had a choice about working on a particular team?

Tapping into an employee's commitment is much easier if they are participating by choice. When possible, I recommend voluntary team participation. On all social teams and work teams that are ancillary to an employee's core job, employees should choose to participate.

Even participation on a mandatory team garners more commitment when the employees on the team are empowered to set direction, establish goals, and make choices.

Work Is Mission Critical: Do team members believe the team mission is important? Are members committed to accomplishing the team mission and expected outcomes?

Team members want to feel as if they are part of something bigger than themselves. They need to understand where their team mission falls in the bigger organizational scheme, the overall leadership vision. Team commitment comes from team members knowing the expected outcomes and where the outcomes fit in the whole organization's strategic plan.

Team Members Feel Valued: Do team members perceive their service as valuable to the organization and to their own careers? A double win is accomplished if team members find themselves valued by the organization and also receiving ancillary benefits. These can include growing and developing their skills and career by participating on the team. Making new contacts and perhaps, finding new mentors who are committed to their growth is a plus, too.

Challenge, Excitement and Opportunity: Are team members excited and challenged by the team opportunity? If so, the chances of their commitment to the process and the outcomes are magnified.

Recognition: Does your organization have a track record of providing recognition for successful teams and their projects. Almost everyone likes some form of recognition. Make sure recognition is available at successful milestones, too.

Pay attention to these areas and to the additional recommendations in all of the components suggested for successful team building. The more you can foster the appropriate environment for team success, the better your teams will perform, and they will wallow less in dysfunctional behavior.

• Charter

It is important for a team to take responsibility and set out various goals and targets for themselves. Although these already exist within the company, it is always a good idea to have personal goals that the team can reach together.

·         Has the team taken it upon themselves to set out visions, missions and strategies to use?

·         Are there timelines set out?

·         Is there support behind the team, either management or other forms of leadership?

·         Does the leadership support these strategies, goals and targets?

• Control

There needs to be a balance between freedom and discipline within a team. This allows everyone in the team to work in a constructive environment.

·         Are there clear boundaries set out?

·         How far do some team members go to find solutions?

·         Are there limitations e.g. time etc before a project or task begins?

• Collaboration

The main objective of team work is to ensure that everyone in the group participates and contributes to the task or project at hand, in return assisting a company to reach its target.

·         Does the team understand group processes?

·         Do individuals within the team understand development?

·         Does each person know how to participate as a whole and work interpersonally with one another?

• Communication

This is possibly one of the most fundamental parts of team work. There are a number of different reasons why communication barriers exist in the workplace. When they do they can cripple performance, work relationships and overall team spirit.

·         Is each team member aware of the priorities and tasks of the team?

·         Is there a strategy set in place for constructive feedback?

·         Do teams know the context of their existence?

·         Is there clear and honest communication between team members?

·         Are there helpful opinions that are brought up?

·         Are conflicts and disagreements addressed in a professional manner as soon as they happen?

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

Conflict management involves implementing strategies to limit the negative aspects of conflict and to increase the positive aspects of conflict at a level equal to or higher than where the conflict is taking place. Furthermore, the aim of conflict management is to enhance learning and group outcomes (effectiveness or performance in organizational setting)

Two example definitions are, “process in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party. and “the interactive process manifested in incompatibility, disagreement, or dissonance within or between social entities”

There are several causes of conflict. Conflict may occur when:

·         A party is required to engage in an activity that is incongruent with his or her needs or interests.

·         A party holds behavioral preferences, the satisfaction of which is incompatible with another person's implementation of his or her preferences.

·         A party wants some mutually desirable resource that is in short supply, such that the wants of all parties involved may not be satisfied fully.

·         Two parties have partially exclusive behavioral preferences regarding their joint actions.

·         Two parties are interdependent in the performance of functions or activities.

TYPES OF CONFLICT

                          Substantive Vs. Affective

The overarching hierarchy of conflict starts with a distinction between substantive also called performance, task, issue, or active conflict and affective also called relationship or the opposite of] agreeable conflict. If one could make a distinction between good and bad conflict, substantive would be good and affective conflict would be bad. Substantive conflict deals with disagreements among group members about the content of the tasks being performed or the performance itself; including differences in viewpoints, ideas, and opinions Affective conflict deals with interpersonal relationships or incompatibilities. It is generated from emotions and frustration

Organizational and Interpersonal Conflict

Organizational conflict, whether it is substantive or affective, can be divided into intra-organizational and inter-organizational. Inter-organizational conflict occurs between two or more organizations). When different businesses are competing against one another, this is an example of inter-organizational conflict Intra-organizational conflict is conflict within an organization, and can be examined based upon level (e.g. department, work team, individual), and can be classified as interpersonal, intra-group and inter-group. Interpersonal conflict--once again--whether it is substantive or affective, refers to conflict between two or more individuals (not representing the group they are a part of) of the same or different group at the same or different level, if in an organization. Interpersonal conflict can be divided into intra-group and inter-group conflict. While the former—intra-group--occurs between members of a group.

Conflict Resolution vs. Conflict Management

Conflict management involves designing effective macro-level strategies to minimize the dysfunctions of conflict and enhancing the constructive functions of conflict in order to enhance learning and effectiveness in an organization conflict resolution involves the reduction, elimination, or termination of all forms and types of conflict. In practice, when people talk about conflict resolution they tend to use terms like negotiation, bargaining, mediation, or arbitration.

Mutual Trust, Respect and Support

Developing trust among team members is at once difficult and essential to becoming a High Performance Team. Team members need to be taught from the start that building trust within the team is critically important to the team's ultimate success.

As the team forms, it is normal that the level of trust is low. Several members or all team members may have worked together before. Or they may know each other by casual acquaintance or interaction. But trust has something to do with loyalties, and at the outset the team will not have developed team loyalty. Rather, each team member's loyalties will be to his or her own organization or manager. As the days and weeks of team building proceed, loyalties will naturally build toward fellow team members. This is often a two step process: one forward, and one step back. During the first few days, it is common for one or more team members to respond negatively about the need for the team, its composition, the coaches, the task before them, or whether this is the most important thing they could be spending their time working on. As a result, several team members are likely to call back to their functional area or manager with negative reports. As these complaints are relayed back to the team coach, and they certainly will be, the coach needs to bring the complaints before the team for consideration as an issue. It is best not to name names. This will send a message to the complainers that they are on the verge of being discovered. Invariably the complainers will change their tune, rather than risk a negative reaction from their fellow team members.

Team members need to be coached to learn that it is important to trust one another. It is not possible, or desirable, for one team member to do all the work for the team. New members need to learn that to get the job done they have to rely on others to do their part. The analog to this principle is that each team member needs to be trustworthy. Team members need to learn that others are counting on them to do what they said they would do. But personal or business problems outside the team come up that affect individual team members' ability to accomplish their agreed tasks. As soon as it becomes clear to a team member that his or her task cannot be completed in time, the team member needs to let the other team members know about the cause of the problem and ask for help. This practice goes a long way to convincing fellow team members that one is trustworthy.

When a call for help comes from a fellow team member, the others should carefully examine their own responsibilities and available skills or time to see if they can help. It's in the best interest of team members to support each other, especially when the team's performance is judged and rewarded as a whole. The time might come when the team member who has been asked for help, needs help himself. If help cannot be offered, the team should pull together and determine how to be revising the plan or bring in additional resources to get the plan back on track.

Trust: Foundation and Final Frontier

Teamwork without mutual trust is like trying to grow a tree without soil or water. Simply put, it is quite impossible! The Quality of Trust is what nourishes nurtures and sustains all team effort towards a common goal.

There are many teams that believe they are working together, but its like trying to race to the goal, shackled with chains and irons.  So this is the very first quality to work towards improving if we are to succeed as a team

And the odd thing is that the definition of team itself has to step out of the narrow confines of the workplace department or specific project and be approached within  a broader context.  We need to take into account the efforts of every party, internal or external, that will impact the success of the objective. This would therefore of necessity include any external vendors, without whose loyalty and consistent support we cannot move forwards, the people who maintain the tools we use and ultimately the customer who requests the service or product we deliver.

Since every process is managed by people, trust then begins to play a very essential role not only in generating high quality effort, but more importantly when things start to go south, it is determined by how the team bounces based on continued trust in each other to work together trusting in a solution that will benefit all parties.

Consider your relationship with a person on your internal team, or an external vendor or even a member of your customer’s team and ask yourself the following questions.

1.      What is this relationship like and how does it feel to be in this relationship?

2.      How well do you communicate – does it flow quickly and freely or do you feel you are being misunderstood and constantly avoiding landmines?

3.      How well do you work together? How quickly can you get things done – do you work together to get things done quickly or does it take inordinate amounts of energy and time to reach agreement and execution of what needs to be done?

4.      How much do you enjoy this relationship? Is it tedious, dry, cumbersome and draining- worse, do you tend to avoid it altogether? Or is it a friendly, mutually supportive one, with everyone working together to not let the others down.

Your answers will provide a fairly accurate gauge as to whether your team relationships are rooted in trust or crumbling at ground level, so that nothing sustainable can grow from it.

In trusting relationships there is room for error and saying the wrong thing occasionally as people feel safe to be and give of their best and to not be unfairly judged for their errors. As a result, despite a few mistakes, the relationship is elastic and the team can still recover from its mistakes and propel itself forward like a catapult.

In the opposite case, on the other hand, no matter how well orchestrated everyone’s efforts may be, how measured and precise the communication may be – one can still feel stifled and misinterpreted.

When a team analyzes why a project or team effort failed, the root cause is more often than not, simply a lack of trust. This affects not only social relationships, but a company can also experience bottom-line consequences of prevalent low trust.

In simple words, Trust ultimately, is not only the foundation of every productive relationship, but also the final frontier to be overcome in an effort to improve that relationship.

Coordinative Relationship

• Cultivating a broad network to exchange ideas and rally support.
• Staying in touch with people at all levels of the organization.
• Relating well to all levels of management—subordinates, peers and colleagues, upper management—and outside stakeholders.
• Respecting and appreciating individual perspectives and backgrounds.
• Recognizing and responding to the needs and concerns of others.
• Acting to maintain relationships even under difficult or strained circumstances.
• Promoting collaboration and removing obstacles to teamwork across the organization.
• Improving how the management team works together.

Co-ordination is the unification, integration, synchronization of the efforts of group members so as to provide unity of action in the pursuit of common goals. It is a hidden force which binds all the other functions of management. According to Mooney and Reelay, “Co-ordination is orderly arrangement of group efforts to provide unity of action in the pursuit of common goals”. According to Charles Worth, “Co-ordination is the integration of several parts into an orderly hole to achieve the purpose of understanding”.

Management seeks to achieve co-ordination through its basic functions of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. That is why; co-ordination is not a separate function of management because achieving of harmony between individuals efforts towards achievement of group goals is a key to success of management. Co-ordination is the essence of management and is implicit and inherent in all functions of management.

A manager can be compared to an orchestra conductor since both of them have to create rhythm and unity in the activities of group members. Co-ordination is an integral element or ingredient of all the managerial functions as discussed below: -

1. Co-ordination through Planning - Planning facilitates co-ordination by integrating the various plans through mutual discussion, exchange of ideas. e.g. - co-ordination between finance budget and purchases budget.
2. Co-ordination through Organizing - Mooney considers co-ordination as the very essence of organizing. In fact when a manager groups and assigns various activities to subordinates, and when he creates department’s co-ordination uppermost in his mind.
3. Co-ordination through Staffing - A manager should bear in mind that the right no. of personnel in various positions with right type of education and skills are taken which will ensure right men on the right job.
4. Co-ordination through Directing - The purpose of giving orders, instructions & guidance to the subordinates is served only when there is a harmony between superiors & subordinates.
5. Co-ordination through Controlling - Manager ensures that there should be co-ordination between actual performance & standard performance to achieve organizational goals.

More businesses than ever are realizing the benefits of forming high performance teams to effectively run divisions and business units, key functions, and pursue enterprise-wide initiatives.

Managing and coordinating the efforts of these high performance teams is a responsibility assigned to senior executives or high potential managers. Yet, these executives can often be preoccupied with or distracted by other priorities or daily business activities that prevents them from focusing much needed attention on this critical task.

Positive Atmosphere

SEVEN WAYS TO CREATE A POSITIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT

Build Trust

Trust is the basic tenant for all relationships, so building an environment of trust is one of the most important things you can do to create a positive work environment. It's a philosophy that must be demonstrated in everything you and your staff does. Trust is about doing what you say you are going to do and being who you say you are. It's about showing your staff in everything you do that you are reliable, responsible and accountable, and that they can rely on you for consistency. Also letting them know you expect the same from them. When your words and behavior are congruent you foster trust. It will take some time for your staff members to learn that you are a person of your word. If they see that you are consistent you will build trust, but if they see your words don't match your behaviors their trust in you will be destroyed. The unfortunate thing about trust is that it takes a long time to build, but it's very fragile and will break easily. Once broken, it takes an even longer time to regain, and it may never be fully rebuilt. Therefore, it is of primary importance that you are aware of all your words and behaviors and insure that they are worthy of your employees' trust.

Expect the Best from Your Staff 

There is a concept called 'The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy' which states that people generally will perform in the way others expect them to perform. So, if you have high expectations for your staff, treat them as if they are capable, competent people and expect them to function as such, they will rise to the occasion and be the excellent employees you see them to be. However, if you micromanage them, expect them to be mediocre and treat them as if they can't function well on their own, that is the behavior they will give you. A good supervisor always has high expectations for his/her staff and treats them accordingly.

Provide a Positive Physical Environment 

If at all possible insure that the physical environment on your workplace is clean, bright, attractive and cheerful. Make sure it has as much natural light as possible, and that each staff member has room for their own personal space.

Communicate positively and openly

In order to create a positive work environment each employee needs to feel valued. This is best accomplished through your listening to each person and honoring each one for what s/he has to say. By doing this you will show that you value and respect every individual. One important aspect of communicating openly is to meet with your staff and discuss your organization's philosophy, values, mission and goals. Ask for their ideas and thoughts on how they individually and as a team can help your unit to exemplify these. Then lead a discussion on the ways they all see these being fulfilled within your work group. After your staff has shared their ideas, take time to share your own vision of how you see everyone working together. Share how you see everyone working together as a circle in which everyone is equal and on the same level, rather than a pyramid where supervisors and administrators are at the top, and the staff is at the bottom. Everyone is equal because every job is equally important in fulfilling the mission of the organization. Also share your work ethic, commitment to the job and facility, and your values. Talking about and modeling your own work ethic will set an example of what your expectations are for your staff and their behavior.

Create Team Spirit 

One of our basic human needs is to feel we belong to something bigger than ourselves, and for many people that need is met by being part of a supportive work group. As a supervisor, part of your job is to create a feeling of unity among your staff. This unity will help your team members feel valued and that they belong. As a result they will want to be at work, tardiness and absenteeism will be minimal, your team will function smoothly and your unit will be better able to carry out the missions and goals of your organization. 

To foster this team feeling you must convey to the entire staff that every person plays an important role. Encourage an attitude of cooperation rather than competition. When you create team spirit and identity, staff members will see themselves as a group of people all working for a common goal, rather than a bunch of individuals competing with each other. 

Give Recognition and Appreciation

Whenever you can, 'catch people being good' and make sure they and others know about it. Give recognition and appreciation to everyone at every opportunity. When verbalizing appreciation try to make it as personal as possible. Rather than just saying something vague like "good job", be specific about the personal quality or skill your team member brought to the task. Recognizing excellent job performance and attitude, and showing appreciation for these things will go a long way towards making your staff members feel that they are a valued and respected part of the team.

Give Credit and Take Responsibility 

Always give credit for success to your staff, and take responsibility when things don't go well. As the boss it's your job to make sure your staff is well trained, capable and competent. If for some reason they fail to perform their job in the expected manner, it's your responsibility to insure that they receive further direction and training so they will perform up to standards.

Participative Leadership

The participative leadership style is also called the democratic style as it encourages employees to be a part of the decision making. The participative manager keeps his or her employees informed about everything that affects their work and shares decision making and problem solving responsibilities. This style requires the leader to be a coach who has the final say, but gathers information from staff members before making a decision.

Democratic leadership can produce high quality and high quantity work for long periods of time. Many employees like the trust they receive and respond with cooperation, team spirit, and high morale. Typically the democratic leader:

--Develops plans to help employees evaluate their own performance

--Allows employees to establish goals

--Encourages employees to grow on the job and be promoted

--Recognizes and encourages achievement.

Like the other styles, the democratic style is not always appropriate. It is most successful when used with highly skilled or experienced employees or when implementing operational changes or resolving individual or group problems.

The democratic leadership style is most effective when:

--The leader wants to keep employees informed about matters that affect them.

--The leader wants employees to share in decision-making and problem-solving duties.

--The leader wants to provide opportunities for employees to develop a high sense of personal growth and job satisfaction.

--There is a large or complex problem that requires lots of input to solve.

--Changes must be made or problems solved that affect employees or groups of employees.

--You want to encourage team building and participation.

The Advantages of Participative Leadership:

Participative leadership theories encourage participation from employees on the decision-making process with organizational management. Sometimes the democratic style of leadership allows the employees to give suggestions on how a corporation operates and on decisions that facilitate change. Advantages of the participative theories include better employer and employee relationships, the discovery of future leaders, motivation, team spirit and employee productivity.

Employer/Employee Relationships

Most employees want to feel like they are wanted in the workplace. They want meaningful work and want to be a part of the decision-making process. Under participative leadership theories, employees are empowered to step out of their normal role as laborers and become a part of the decision-making process. This eases tensions between employees and employers and creates a sense of team. Productivity will rise and the employees will be happier with the relationship.

Future Leadership Discovery

When employees participate in the decision-making process, current management has the opportunity to see who is stepping up to the plate and who is coming up with ideas. This is just another tool for management to evaluate employees for promotion. When employees are promoted from within a company, less outsiders are brought in, and the employees are more motivated to do a good job. Many companies with defunct leadership practices often miss opportunities to promote from within. A new leader found within the company will be a valuable cornerstone for teamwork.

Motivation

All employees feel the need for motivation. Motivation is the key concept for change. People are naturally resistant to change, and leadership needs to find the proper theory to help people make the transition. Communication is the most important facet of motivation. If employees feel out of the loop, then they are less likely to concentrate on the main goal of the team or organization. With participative leadership, the employee has more information and will stay more active in the change or decision process. Employers must initiate the communication as a show of faith to their employees.

Team Spirit

Since employees have a position and input in the decision-making process, the sense of involvement is not just felt individually but is felt as a team. If potential negative circumstances are involved in the decision that is to be made, team-centered involvement will allow the leadership to be informed more fully of the pros and the cons. Communication is still important. When the leaders finally make a decision, the team is prepared for it; and with its participation, the stress and resistance to change is diminished. If negative perceptions of the change are noticed, the team can diffuse the situation without leadership becoming involved.

Employee Productivity

Studies have shown that there is a correlation between participative leadership and productivity. There is a suggestion that through communication and participative leadership high-quality performance can be obtained. Leadership that practices the participative model has higher ratings as managers than leaders who manipulate their employees. Participative leadership begins a cycle of productive leadership and productive employees. This cycle increases company profitability and allows for internal growth. More promotions are possible and the progress of productivity increases across the company as the team grows.

Participative leadership style is team-oriented; therefore, employing group dynamics strategies is important to arrive at a collective managerial decision. Managers have to be conscious of group interaction, encouraging employees' participation and handling conflicting ideals. The nature of this leadership style tends to function better with smaller groups of individuals that can offer and educated opinion, as it can be difficult to gain a consensus with a larger group.

Effective decision-making

Teams are particularly effective in problem solving as they are comprised of people with complementary skills. These complementary skills allow team members to examine issues from various angles, as well as see the implications of their decisions from a variety of perspectives. In this section we will look at a process that can help teams solve problems and make ‘good’ decisions.

In essence, teams make decisions using problem solving techniques. Thus, the process largely rests on the selection of a course of action following the evaluation of two or more alternatives. To effectively navigate this path, the following step-by-step approach1 can be used.

1. Recognize the problem. Teams must see and recognize that a problem exists and that a decision needs to be made to move forward. While on its face this step appears elementary, many teams do not always recognize that there is an issue that needs to be addressed due to issues such as group think.

2. Define the problem. In this stage, teams must map out the issue at hand. During this step, teams should:

State how, when, and where members became aware of the problem

 Explore different ways of viewing the problem – different ways of viewing the problem can lead to an improved understanding of the ‘core’ problem

 Challenge any assumptions that are made about the problem to ensure that the team fully sees the ‘real’ issue at hand.

3. Gather information. Once the problem has been defined, teams need to gather information relevant to the problem. Why do teams need to perform this step? Two reasons: (1) to verify that the problem was defined correctly in step 2; and (2) to develop alternative solutions to the problem at hand.

4. Develop Alternative Solutions. While it can be easy for teams to ‘jump on’ and accept the first solution, teams that are effective in problem solving take the time to explore several potential solutions to the problem. Some ways to generate alternatives include:

a. Brainstorming. During this process teams are encouraged to come up with as many ways as possible to solve the problem at hand. While brainstorming can help generate creative solutions to problems, a few guidelines are needed to help it work most effectively.

no criticism of any ideas during the brainstorming phase;

all ideas, no matter how silly, get recorded;

get past the sillies - sometimes very creative, and viable, solutions come after people have made what appear to be ‘silly’ suggestions.

b. Ask Questions: Make a Network with colleagues internal and external to the organization to get their ideas and suggestions.

c. Explore. Read journals/books, go to networking functions, and attend conferences etc. that cover similar issues. Also be prepared to go outside of the healthcare domain. Other industries may have faced similar issues and their solutions can provide insights for you.

5. Select the BEST alternative. Once all the alternatives are in, the team needs to determine the alternative that best addresses the problem at hand. For this element to be effective, you need to consider both rational and human elements.

 Rational Elements. These rational elements stem from the previous steps of the team decision making/problem solving model:

1. Analyze the problem (see Steps 1 –2)
2. Determine the desired end state. Here teams need to clearly define what success looks like.

3. Evaluate alternatives against the desired state. Here teams discuss the merits of each alternative and the extent to which each can move the team to the desired state. To help on this step, some teams rate each alternative on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is low and 5 is high.

4. Discuss potential adverse consequences of each alternative. Here teams need to discuss the potential downsides of the options.

Human Elements Here the team needs to ensure the following:

Active listening  This requires that team members:

•          Pay attention to the dialogue and anticipate where the conversation is going;

•         Objectively weigh out what’s been said;

•         Try to understand what the other person is saying; and

•         Review and summarize what has been said.

Supporting each others’ ideas

Most people tend to focus on what is wrong versus right. Being supportive requires that you:

• Assume that others have valid points;

• Point out the useful aspects of what has been said;

• Build on these useful points; and

• Avoid unnecessary criticism.

Are comfortable presenting differing views:

Remember that group think is a key concern for teams. To effectively present differing views make sure that you:

• Clearly state your differing view;

• Focus on the reasons for the differences; and

• Treat differences as a source of ideas rather than a source of interpersonal conflict.

Participate. To fully take advantage of the complementary skills present in a team, all team members must participate. Sometimes, one or two people dominate team decision making processes because of their interpersonal style (i.e. extraverted vs. introverted), their need for recognition, or their presumed status/position. This can have a negative effect on the team in terms of its ability to make effective decisions. When this occurs, the team needs to address this issue - especially as they face this problem as a team.

6. Implement the best alternative. Once the alternative has been chosen, the team needs to implement its decision. This requires effective planning as well as communicating the decision to all the stakeholders that may be impacted by this decision.

7. Evaluate the outcome. Remember that teams and team building is a learning process. It is critical that the team examine whether the proposed plans of action were achieved in an effective way and resulted in positive outcomes.

Shared Leadership

While people often think of team leadership in terms of a formally appointed leader, it is important to note that leaders can emerge in teams. In teams where no formal leader has been named, emergent leadership occurs when a participant takes leadership roles (task or relationship) or when (s)he has subject matter expertise that the team needs. However, even when a team leader has been named, effective team leaders share leadership by encouraging team members to take on leadership roles or by formally recognizing team members with special subject matter expertise.

Membership and leadership roles are inseparable and involve an emphasis on role functions rather than on a particular discipline or a set of personality traits. Although one or more individuals may have a formal designation as a group leader, all team members need to share responsibility for informal and formal leadership. In true inter-professional teams, the functions of leadership and membership are viewed as synonymous. Because all team members have an investment in seeing the team achieve its goals and objectives, each member has the responsibility to help the team progress.

An emerging pattern in many primary health care teams is the requirement for equal participation and responsibility from all team members with shifting leadership determined by the nature of the problem to be solved.

The functions of leadership are:

1. Helping the group decide on its purposes and goals.

2. Helping the group focus on its own process of work together so that it may become more effective rather than becoming trapped by faulty ways of problem solving and decision making.

3. Helping the group become aware of its own resources and how best to use them.

4. Helping the group evaluate its progress and development.

5. Helping the group to be open to new and different ideas without becoming immobilized by conflict.

6. Helping the group learn from its failures and frustrations as well as from its success.

 

The Five Levels of Decision Making

The following are five levels of involvement that leaders use when deciding who should be part of the decision making process:

Level One: Leader makes the decision alone.

This is used especially in emergency situations where immediate action is critical. Input is not helpful, quick action and immediate compliance is what counts.

Level Two: Leader makes the decision with input from key stakeholders.
The leader seeks input, usually to cover blind spots and enhance their depth of understanding around the issue to be decided. Stakeholders hold important information and not consulting them would be foolish.
Level Three: Consensus building – leader gets final say.
Leader solicits input from a variety of sources, builds consensus around a specific direction, and allows the group to make a recommendation of which the leader must finally approve. This level takes considerable skill and is where developing leaders often make mistakes. Solid decision makers are well versed in the skill sets of this level.
Level Four: Delegate the decision to someone else.
The authority and responsibility are clearly shifted away from the leader (usually to a direct report). Both the leader and the direct report live with the consequences – good or bad. The leader reviews the decision, but does not change it and uses it as an opportunity for development.
Level Five: True consensus.
Leader fully delegates the decision to a group (usually a committee). If the leader is part of the committee then he/she is just one vote among many. The group processes all the decisions involved, compromises positions until everyone is in agreement.

Strong leaders understand the process decisions must go through to be effective. As leaders move higher in organizations the demand upon their time and influence also increases. The temptation to use the power of position to make things happen is high and ineffective leaders will often get caught in this trap and learn expensive lessons when decisions go bad. Hopefully you can avoid these mistakes and make effective decision by using the three questions.

Ice Breaking Activity

Draw Your Neighbor

Duration:

5 minutes

Objective

To help break the ice at the beginning of a training session

Or

To help lighten the mood during a training session

Resources Needed

A blank sheet of paper and a pencil for each participant.

Instructions

Arrange participants into pairs.  Ideally pair them up with someone they don’t know or don’t know well.

Ask them to draw a quick sketch of the person they are paired up with, using the pencil and paper provided.  Stress that you do not expect them to produce fantastic works of art.

Call a halt after 2 or 3 minutes.

Now ask participants to sign their picture and then hand it to the person they drew.

This activity generally brings a smile to the faces of participants and can be used as an icebreaker or simply to lighten the mood during a training session.

Activities:

Open and Clear Communication

  Guess the picture Activity

  Objective: The objective of this activity is help the trainees identify develop better communication skills.

Duration: 3-5 minutes

     Instructions:

            A group of 3-4 members will be given a task to draw a picture that will be shown to the group leader, who will non-verbally describe the picture to the other members and the other members will verbally explain it to the member who will draw it.             

o    Logistics- papers pencils and picture

o    Members- 2 groups with 3-4 members

Valued Diversity

Chocolate Game Activity

Objective: The objective of this activity is to arrange the diverse shapes which actually represent the diverse situations of the practical world in a way that fix well with each other.

Duration: 4-6 minutes

Instructions:

Take two groups and give each group 5 or 6 small chocolates of different shapes and tell them to place the chocolates one over the other. The group that finishes the task in minimum time will win.

Clear Goals

Time:  6 minutes

Participants: 8 or more

Purpose:

This is a couple of fun activities designed to help participants experience the practice of working together to achieve an agreed outcome.

Tools:

A parachute (or bed sheet if not available)

1 x ball

A selection of toys

Instructions:

Participants stand in a circle around a parachute and each hold the edge in front of them so that the parachute is off the ground. You can then practice one of the following two games.

1. Ball Bungee – Place a ball in the middle of the parachute and ask participants to work together and see how high they can flick the ball up into the air.

2. To me, to you – Place a ball in the middle of the parachute and ask participants to take it in turns to work the ball towards one of the team. Once it reaches that person, they must select a new person to roll the ball towards. You can make this activity more difficult by using toys rather than balls as they will not roll.

Review:

Have the team rate their effectiveness on a 1-10 scale (1 meaning you didn’t work well together, 10 meaning you were extraordinary). They should then comment on their ratings.

Ask, "What would you have had to do to rate your teamwork a 10?” Ask high raters what made them rate the team so high (or low depending on response.)

Defined Roles and Responsibilities

Shoe Game Activity

Objective: The activity aims to develop the skills of responsibility by making them actively participate in responsibilities in the face of meeting the deadlines.

Instructions

 Have everyone take off their shoes and put them in a pile in the middle of the room. Mix the shoes up. Divide the cheerleaders into 2 groups. See which group can find their shoes and put them on first. When they have their shoes on the team done first must sit on the floor.

Time required –3 to 5 minutes

Logistics –no logistics

Members –divide the class into two groups

Managing Conflict

Feelings Check In

Duration: 5-7 Minutes

Objective:

To help team members develop empathy skills and to help them understand the situations through other people are going through.

Resources Needed

• Markers
• Blank A4 size papers

Instruction

• Pass out markers and papers. Ask each student to write in large letters one word that describes how he or she is feeling right now. Then ask students to hold up their papers and look at the variety of responses. Point out how rare it is for different people to bring the same feelings to an experience or situations

Group Size

2 to 3 are required.

Mutual Trust

Mine Field Activity

Duration: 5-7 Minutes

Objective:

To help team members develop mutual trust by giving a picture to their objective.

Resources Needed

• Bottles of water as mines
• Blind folds (can be optional)

Instruction

• Objects are scattered in an indoor or outdoor place.  In pairs, one person verbally guides his/her partner, whose eyes are closed or blindfolded, through the "minefield".

Time

• 6-8 minutes

Group Size

2 to 30 are possible; works well with larger groups e.g., 16 to 24.

Coordinative Relationship

Mumble Jumble Activity

Duration:  4-6 minutes

Objective:

To help team members develop coordinative skills by giving a picture to their objective

Resources Needed

Two Jig Saw Puzzles

Instructions

• Split participants into two small teams of 3 or 4 people.

• Explain that in their teams they have to solve the Jig saw puzzle within the given time by coordinating with each other.

• The team that solves the puzzle first or the most part of it as compared to the other team will be declared as winner.

Positive Atmosphere

Pop Idols Activity

Duration:  10-12 minutes

Objective:

1.      To help consolidate key themes covered during a training event

and/or

2.      To help re energize participants during a training event and build a positive atmosphere

Resources Needed

Paper, pens, glue, coloured paper foil etc.

Instructions

• Split participants into small teams of 3 or 4 people.

• Explain that in their teams they have to decide on a fictitious pop group name for themselves. Tell them that their name should be linked to the themes or topics being covered in the training.

• They must also design an album cover for their pop group using the resources you provide.

• After 12 minutes they will present themselves and their album cover to the rest of the group and explain why they made their choices.

Effective Decision Making

Band Baja Barat Activity

Duration: 8-10 minutes

Objective:

 To help team members develop decision making skills by giving a picture to their objective

Resources Needed:

Flip charts, Markers

Instructions:

·        Split participants into a group of three people.

·        The teams have to give their wedding plan within the given budget and in given time.

·        The teams who would be giving most effective plan as compared to the other team would be the winner.