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Understanding Team - What is a

Team ?
Let us first go through a simple real life situation.

John was working as a key accounts head with a leading advertising firm. He had four members reporting
to him. Unfortunately he always under estimated his team members and fought with them constantly. He
could never trust them and always thought they were incapable of doing good work. One fine day, he got
some major assignment from one of his clients which was to be submitted within two working days. He
decided to do it all alone as he thought nobody else could do it apart from him. John could never submit
his assignment on the required day and received good criticism from his superiors. His organization also
lost one of their major and prestigious clients.

Why do you think John failed ? Why could he not complete his assignment on time ?

Here comes the importance of a team. Had John taken the help of his team members, he would have
finished his assignment on time and everyone would have appreciated him.

An individual cannot perform all tasks on his own. He needs the support as well as guidance of
others to be excellent in whatever he does. Complex goals can easily be accomplished if individuals work
together as a team.

What is a team ?
A team is a group of individuals, all working together for a common purpose. The individuals
comprising a team ideally should have common goals, common objectives and more or less think
on the same lines. Individuals who are not compatible with each other can never form a team. They
should have similar if not the same interests, thought processes, attitude, perception and likings.

Difference between Group and Team

A group is not necessarily a team. A group can have individuals with varied interests, attitude as
well as thought processes. It is not necessary that the group members would have a common objective
or a common goal to achieve.

What happens in a political rally ? The political leader appeals to the individuals to cast the votes in his
favour only. Do you think all of them would cast the votes in favour of the leader ? There would always be
some individuals who would support his opponent. This is example of a group. All individuals gathered on
a common platform but had dissimilar interests and likings. Some were in favour of the leader while some
against.

A team must have individuals with a common objective to achieve. They should all work together
and strive towards the achievement of a common goal.

What happens in a cricket team ?

All the players have a common focus and a common objective. Everyone, the captain, the
wicketkeeper, the bowlers, the fielders all work together to achieve a common target i.e. win the game.
No one ever thinks of losing the game.

It is not only the individuals who form a team; even animals can constitute a team. Go to any hill station
and one can spot many horses all working for a common goal i.e. Carry people to the hill top and bring
them back.

Team members
The team members must complement each other. All team members should help each other and work in
unison. Personal interests must take a back seat and all of them must deliver their level best to achieve
the team objective. Team members must not argue among themselves or underestimate the other
member.

Organizations have a sales team, administration team, human resources team operation team and so on.
All the members of the sales team would work together to achieve the sales target and generate
revenues for the organization.

Team Size
The team size depends on the complexity of the task to be accomplished. Ideally a team should consist
of 7-10 members. Too many members also lead to confusions and misunderstandings.

It is not always that we require a team. Teams should be formed when the task is a little complicated. A
single brain can sometimes not take all critical decisions alone, thus a team is formed where the team
members contribute equally making the task easy. A team can actually create wonders if all the team
members work in unison.

Team Development - Meaning, Stages

and Forming an Effective Team
Teams are becoming a key tool for organizing work in today’s corporate world. Teams have the potential
to immediately amass, organize, relocate, and disperse. But, teams are an effective tool of employee
motivation. It is essential to consider the fact that teams develop and get mature over a period of
time. Team development creates a captivating atmosphere by encouraging co-operation,
teamwork, interdependence and by building trust among team members.

The four stages of team development are:

Stage 1: Forming
During this stage, group members may be anxious and adopt wait-and-see attitude. They will be formal
towards each other. There would be no clear idea of goals or expectations. Besides, they may not be sure
why they are there.

This is the stage where the team needs to write its own charter or mission statement as well as clarify
goals. The most important thing here is that goals must have a personal buy-in.
By doing this the team will be able to establish boundaries as well as determine what is expected. Team
members will get to know each other doing non-conflict laden task. This builds the commitment towards
one larger goal.

Thus, during the forming stage, the team members are in process of knowing each other and getting at
ease with them.

Stage 2: Storming
During this stage, team members are eager to get going. Conflict can arise as people tend to bring
different ideas of how to accomplish goals. At this time, they notice differences rather than similarities.
This leads to some members dropping out mentally or physically.

At this stage, communication is important. Tensions will increase. So recognizing and publicly
acknowledging accomplishments also become important. It becomes important to participate in meetings
and diversity needs to be valued.

Thus, during the storming stage, the team members begin showing their actual styles. They start getting
impatient. They try to probe into each other’s area, leading to irritation and frustration. Control becomes
the key concern during this stage.

Stage 3: Norming
This stage is when people begin to recognize ways in which they are alike. They realize that they are in
this together. Hence, they tend to get more social and may forget their focus in favour of having a good
time. This is the time to help with training if applicable. It becomes important to encourage them in order
to feel comfortable with each other and with systems. Also, the group needs to stay focused on goal.

Thus, during the norming stage, there is conflict resolution. There is greater involvement of team
members. There is a greater “we” feeling rather than “I” feeling.

Stage 4: Performing
This stage is when team members are trained, competent, as well as able to do their own problem-
solving. At this time, ways need to be looked at in order to challenge them as well as develop them. The
team is mature now. The members understand their roles and responsibilities. They would require more
input in processes. The members would be self-motivated as well as self-trained. Thus, their efforts need
to be recognised. Growth has to be encouraged. This is done by giving new challenges to the team.

Thus, teams at the stage of performing are self-controlling, practical, loyal as well as productive. Focus is
there on both performance as well as production.

Forming an Effective Team

This is the general approach to forming a successful work team. But not all will take the same steps as
discussed above. Success is usually hinged on taking all of the steps just discussed. We have a tendency
to want to surround ourselves with people who are just like us. In case you get to choose a team, instead
of organizing a pre-formed team, then you’ll look for a team of people with a variety of strengths. In case
of a team that is already in place, organizing can be more subtle. Like, all the workgroups can be called
together in order to discuss what goals you want to accomplish and how everybody can help.

You will also find that imposing goals on people doesn’t work nearly as well as having them tell you as to
what goals they will strive for. But setting goals is not easy work. Too often they end up in being too
unrealistic, too vague, impossible to measure, or just stretching into eternity without any deadline.
Team Management - Meaning and
Concept
There are some tasks which can’t be done alone. Individuals need to come together, discuss things
among themselves and work together towards the realization of a common goal. The individuals
forming a team should ideally think more or less on the same lines and should have similar
interests and objective. People with absolutely different tastes can’t form a team. Their goals have to be
the same. Every team is formed to achieve a predefined goal and it is the responsibility of each and every
member to contribute his level best and accomplish the assigned task within the stipulated time frame.
The team members must complement each other and come to each other’s help whenever required.
Individual performances do not matter much in a team and every individual should strive hard and work in
unison.

The team members don’t start performing from the very beginning, they need time. It is not always that all
the members would perform equally. Some of them might not get along well with their team mates or
have other issues with each other. Individuals sometimes find it difficult to adjust with each other and as a
result their performance suffers. Any individual fails to perform; the complete team is at loss. Team
management activities ensure that all the team members work together on a common platform for a
common goal.

What is Team Management ?

Team management refers to the various activities which bind a team together by bringing the
team members closer to achieve the set targets. For the team members, their team must be their
priority and everything else should take a back seat. They should be very focused on their goals.

Let us understand Team Management with the help of a real life situation.

Maria was representing the training and development vertical of a leading firm. Joe, Kathy, Sandra and
Tim were reporting to Maria and helped her in designing the various training programs. Maria left no stone
unturned to ensure that all her team members were satisfied with their job responsibilities. The workload
was shared equally among four of them. Ideas were discussed on an open forum and each of them
contributed to his level best. They went out for movies and stayed in touch even after work.

Maria being the team leader was actually responsible for bringing her team members closer so that none
of them feels left out and all are motivated to deliver their level best. With the help of the team
management activities, she managed to create a positive ambience at the workplace and promoted
healthy competition in her team.

Effective Team Management Skills

Management is essential in every walk of life. Even what we eat should be managed. You just can’t put
anything in your mouth. One needs to be cautious. In the same way, a team must be managed effectively
to expect the best from the team members. The team leader plays an essential role in managing his team
well.

 For effective team management, it is important that the team leader is more of a mentor to
his team members rather than just being a strict boss. Understand your team members well.
Gone are the days when people used to fear their bosses. Now a days employees share a
healthy relation with their superiors and the comfort level has increased to a large extent. Don’t
impose things on them.
 Ensure that each and every team member willingly participates in team discussions.
Debates are important, but make sure you don’t end up fighting with each other. Suggestions
must be invited from all and do not discuss issues separately with individuals. Call every one on
an open forum and formulate strategies keeping in mind every body’s inputs. Poilcies should be
made best suited to all. The objective of the team must be clearly set and circulated among all the
team members. Everyone should be aware of his roles and responsibilities in the team.
 Communication among the team members must be clear and transparent for an effective team
management. Every team member should get the same information and should have an
easy access to the superiors in case of any query.
 The team members must not pass on any information to anyone outside the team. Learn to
keep things to yourself. It is unethical to share your professional secrets with others. Don’t leak
information or any confidential data.
 The team members must be motivated on a regular basis. Appreciation is a must. If any team
member has performed extraordinarily, do give him a pat on his back. Performance appraisals,
perks, incentives, trophies, prizes are all instrumental in motivating the team members to perform
even better the next time. Avoid criticizing any of your team members.
 Loose talks, blame games, dirty politics should find no place in the team. They spoil the
environment and people lose interest in their work and organization. If you come to know
anything about someone, it’s better to discuss with him face to face, else ignore.
 It is easy to create a team but it is actually difficult to bind the team members together and even
make them work. Team management techniques help in strengthening the bond among the
employees and creating an environment where they can trust each other. People actually
become friends and start working together as a result of team management activities.