Ch. 8 Building Effective Teams and Team Performance

Main finding from Google's study (Duhigg article)

"Who" part mattered little Group norms were the key, in particular: Conversational turn-taking + Social sensitivity (listening)

norm

An attitude, opinion, feeling, or action shared by two or more people that guides behavior. Shared and apply to the group, team, or organization.

Seven steps to repair trust

Both parties need to be active in restoring trust.

Team Effectiveness Model

Context, Composition, Process

trust

The willingness to be vulnerable to another person, and the belief that the other person will consider the impact of how his or her intentions and behaviors will affect you.

Psychological Safety

a sense of confidence that the team will not embarrass, reject or punish someone for speaking up

role

a set of expected behaviors for a particular position

Team

a small number of people who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves collectively accountable LEADERSHIP becomes a shared activity ACCOUNTABILITY shifts from strictly individual to both individual and collective The group develops its own PURPOSE or mission PROBLEM SOLVING becomes a way of life, not a part-time activity EFFECTIVENESS is measured by the group's collective outcomes and products

Mission Statement (Team Charter)

describe why a team exists - its overarching purpose. Focus on and articulate a higher purpose For example: American Humane Society - Celebrating animals, confronting cruelty.

common information effect

teams that consider commonly held information to be more important and influential than uniquely held information

collaboration

the act of sharing information and coordinating efforts to achieve a collective outcome 1. Communicate expectations - Clarifying roles and responsibilities for each team member is essential. Identify and communicate both individual and team accountability. 2. Set team goals - SMART goals are a good place to start, but also review goals regularly as a team. individual roles and responsibilities align with team goals. 3. Encourage creativity - Create a safe environment where employees can take risks without fear of humiliation or career damage. "can do" attitude 4. Build work flow rhythm - scheduling tools can help team members know exactly what they need to do and when. interdependent needs of team members are met. 5. Leverage team member strengths - set individuals up to win by identifying and utilizing their strengths. Appropriately utilize the strengths of individual members.

team identity (Team Charter)

the collective sense of identification and loyalty team members feel towards the team

task interdependence

the degree to which team members depend on each other for information, materials, and other resources to complete their job tasks

outcome interdependence

the degree to which the outcomes of task work are measured, rewarded, and communicated at the group level so as to emphasize collective outputs rather than individual contributions

social loafing

the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable

Types of Teams

-work teams: well-defined and common purpose, more or less permanent, require complete commitment (full time, season to season) -project teams: assembled to tackle a particular problem, task, or project. duration can vary. divide time between team and primary jobs. -cross-functional teams: created with members from different disciplines within an organization, such as finance, operations, and R&D -self-managed teams: groups of workers who have administrative oversight over their work domains. defined purpose and duration can vary, along w/ level of member commitment. Leadership Responsibility shared and shift. Outside managers and leaders maintain indirect accountability. (Most US companies use this) -virtual teams: work together over time and distance via electronic media to combine effort and achieve common goals.

3 C's of effective teams

1. Charters and strategies - (charters): describe how the team will operate, such as through processes for sharing information and decision making. (Team Performance Strategies): deliberate plans that outline what exactly the team is to do, such as goal setting and defining particular member roles, tasks, and responsibilities 2. Composition - describes the collection of jobs, personalities, knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience levels of team members 3. Capacity - Team adaptive capacity: the ability to make needed changes in response to demands put on the team.

five common teamwork competencies

1. Contributes to the team's work 2. Constructively interacts with team members 3. Keeps team on track 4. Expects quality work 5. Possesses relevant knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) for team's responsibilities

Tuckman's 5 stage model of group development

1. Forming - group members tend to be uncertain and anxious about such unknowns as their roles, the people in charge, and the group's goals. Mutual trust is low and good deal of holding back 2. Storming - test the leader's policies and assumptions as they try to decide how they fit into the power structure 3. Norming - Questions about authority and power are best resolved through unemotional, matter-of-fact group discussion. Feeling of team spirit as members believe they've found their roles. Group Cohesiveness - the "we feeling" that binds members of a group together, principal by-product of stage 3. 4. Performing - Solving task problems, as contributors get their work done without hampering others. Open communication, strong cooperation, and lots of helping behavior. Conflicts are handled constructively. Cohesiveness and Personal commitment. 5. Adjourning - work is done. time to move on to other things. return to independence can be eased by rituals such as parties and award ceremonies. leaders need to emphasize valuable lessons learned.

Eight attributes of high-performance teams

1. Shared leadership (responsibility) 2. Strong sense of accountability 3. Alignment on purpose 4. Open communication 5. High trust 6. Clear role and operational expectations 7. Early conflict resolution 8. Collaboration

Four criteria of a group

1. Two or more freely interacting individuals 2. Collective norms 3. Collective goals 4. Common identity

Three forms of trust

1. contractual trust - Trust of character. Do people do what they say they are going to do? Do managers and employees make clear what they expect of one another? 2. communication trust - Trust of disclosure. How well do people share information and tell the truth? 3. competence trust - Trust of capability. How effectively do people meet or perform their responsibilities and acknowledge other people's skills and abilities?

4 types of task interdependence

1. pooled interdependence - each member sells a chosen drug to his or her customers (little or no interaction with other sales reps), end of the month all reps' sales are added together to get a total 2. sequential interdependence - manufacturing or assembly processes. Things are done in a specific order. Some things have to be done before other things. 3. reciprocal interdependence - hiring processes sometimes use reciprocal. members of HR interview candidates, manager or members of that department separately interview them, the two communicate and decide who to hire 4. comprehensive interdependence - product development teams. Online games require back and forth between those who create, write the code, test, and market the game. Not just linear or sequential.

Operating Guidelines (Team Charter)

Describe the team structure and processes, including how leadership and other roles will function, how decisions will be made, how work will be allocated, and how members will communicate with each other and with those outside the team. How conflict will be managed - processes and consequences.

Performance norms and consequences (Team Charter)

Effective teams often outline the performance expectations - how team and member performance will be assessed, how members are expected to interact with each other, etc.

maintenance roles examples

Encourager Harmonizer Compromiser Gatekeeper Standard Setter Commentator Follower

Charter endorsement (Team Charter)

Every team member should sign an endorsement signifying commitment to the elements of the charter.

team vision (Team Charter)

Forward-looking. A description of the ideal end state or a description of the best way a process should function. More detail than a mission statement and describes how its actions and deliverables affect specific out comes and stakeholder.

punctuated equilibrium

Groups establish periods of stable functioning until an event causes a dramatic change in norms, roles, and/or objectives. The group then establishes and maintains new norms of functioning, returning to equilibrium. Example: Apple intro of iTunes - all players in music industry radically changed approaches

Boundaries (Team Charter)

Identify the values, such as timely and quality work, to which team members will commit. What team and/or members will and will not do in the name of the team. Describe key stakeholders - who team does and does not serve.

Unequal airtime (talking)

In a typical 8-person team meeting, 3 people do over 70% of the talking In a typical 6-person team meeting, 3 people do over 85% of the talking

Task roles examples

Initiator Information seeker/giver Opinion seeker/giver Elaborator Coordinator Orienter Evaluator Energizer Procedural technician Recorder

Hidden Profile Problem

Problem in which key information is distributed across group members so that groups are only likely to come to the correct answer if they spend time discussing unshared information

Ways to get the best performance from your team (Coutu article)

Results - Set a tone for a focus on results; Be selfless and objective Accountability - Team as primary mechanism; leader as final arbiter Commitment - Pushing the group for closure; adherence to schedules Conflict - Model restraint, appropriate conflict; Allow natural resolution Trust - Demonstrate vulnerability; Create safe environment; be genuine

team charters

detail members' mutual expectations about how the team will operate, allocate resources, resolve conflict, and meet its commitments 7 Steps to Create: 1. Mission Statement 2. Team Vision 3. Team Identity 4. Boundaries 5. Operating Guidelines 6. Performances norms and consequences 7. Charter endorsement

task roles

enable the work group to define, clarify, and pursue a common purpose (keep group on track)

maintenance roles

foster supportive and constructive interpersonal relationships (keep group together)