Learning Objectives

At the end of this course, participants will be

able to:
1. Define a team and set its objectives

2. Point out the basic characteristics of a team

3. Describe and list out the requirements for
effective team building
4. Describe the factors that impede effective
teamwork
5. Identify and employ the methods for
overcoming obstacles to effective
teamwork
 What Is A Team
Here are some terms that are often used to
describe 'a team'. Which ones do you think
define what a TEAM is?

A group of Having one

Synergy
people aim

Whole >
Co-operation Flexibility
Sum

Working Reporting to Serving one

together one boss customer
 Definition
A Team is a group of people who
are Interdependent with respect to
Information, Resources, and Skills
and who seek to COMBINE THEIR
EFFORTS to ACHIEVE A
COMMON GOAL.
“Going In The Right Direction
But Not There Yet…”
 Difference B/N Teams & Groups

Team: Members are Fully Committed To a

Common Goal and Mission They Developed

Group: Members work on a Common Goal

Team: Members are Mutually Accountable

To One Another
Group: Members are Accountable To
Manager
 Difference B/N Teams & Groups
Team: Members Trust one another and
Team has A Collaborative Culture
Group: Members do not have Clear Stable
Culture and Conflict is Frequent

Team: Members All Share In Leadership

Group: Leadership Assigned To Single
Person

Team: Members Achieve Synergy: 2+2=5

Group: Members May Accomplish Their
Goals
 Characteristics of A TEAM

1. Team Exists To Achieve a SHARED

GOAL: Full commitment to a common
goal and Approach that they have
often developed themselves.
Members must Agree that the Team
Goal is Worthwhile and agree on a
general approach to that goal. Such
agreement provides the Vision and
motivation for team members to
perform.
 Characteristics of A TEAM

2. Team Members Are Interdependent

Regarding Some Common Goal:
Interdependence is the HALLMARK of
Teamwork. Interdependence means
that team members cannot achieve
their goals single-handedly, but
instead must rely on each other to
meet Shared Objectives. Team
members must rely on others for
information, expertise, resources, and
so on.
 Characteristics of A TEAM

3. Team culture based on trust and

collaboration: Team members are
willing to compromise, cooperate, and
collaborate to reach their common
purpose. A collaborative climate does
not mean the absence of conflict,
however. Conflict can enhance team
creativity and performance if handled
constructively.
 Characteristics of A TEAM

4. Mutual Accountability: To succeed

as a Team, members must feel and
be Accountable to one another and
to the organization for the process
and outcome of their work. Team
members usually take on
responsibility and perform because
of their commitment to the team.
 Characteristics of A TEAM

5. Teams are bounded and stable over

time: Boundedness means that the
team has an identifiable
membership; members as well as
nonmembers, know who is on the
team. Stability refers to the tenure
of membership. Most teams work
together for a meaningful length of
time __ long enough to accomplish
their goal.
 Characteristics of A TEAM

6. Team members have the authority

to manage their own work and
internal processes.

7. Teams operate in a social system

context. Teams are not Islands
unto themselves. They do their
work in a larger organization, often
alongside other teams.
 Types of TEAMS
There are THREE general kinds of TEAMS that
organizations use:
1. Work Teams: Teams that form natural work
units, doing the day-to-day work of the
organization. These teams might come from
existing organizational units such as sections or
departments, or they might be regional units so on
and so forth. These units have normally worked
as a collection of individuals rather than as a
team. Frequently, work unit members do not
visualize or share a common goal for the unit.
These groups often perform common,
interdependent work, as so it often makes sense
for organizations to start a team initiative with
work team.
 Types of TEAMS
2. Task Teams: Teams that address a specific
problem or opportunity. They are usually cross-
functional. Each person will feel that it is his/her
responsibility on the team to be an advocate for
his/her own department and protect its interests.
Successful membership on the team will be viewed
as getting the “best” for one’s constituency. There
is no sense of common goal for the team nor
common food for the organization, and therefore,
no way for everyone to feel successful.
 Types of TEAMS
3. Management Teams: Teams drawn from people
who direct operational or organizational units.
Perhaps the most difficult teams to develop are
management teams because they have least obvious
purpose. Management groups must do real work
together and real work for management teams
REVOLVES around DEVELOPMENT of the
entire Organization. Thus, MANAGEMENT
TEAMS must take on tasks that INSPIRE and
INTEGRATE the WORK OF THE
ORGANIZATION.
 Building REAL TEAM
1. Small SIZE: The best teams tend to be small. When
they have more than about ten members, it becomes
difficult for them to get much done. They have
trouble interacting constructively and agreeing on
much. Large numbers of people usually cannot
develop the common purpose, goals, approach, and
mutual accountability of a real team.

2. Common Purpose: Purpose is a vision. It’s broader

than any specific goals. High performing teams have
a common and meaningful purpose that provides
direction, momentum, and commitment for
members. Members should be RELIGIOUSLY
committed!
 How to Make Teams Effective

People in every workplace talk about building the

team, working as a team, and my team, but few
understand how to create the experience of team
work or how to develop an effective team. Belonging
to a team, in the broadest sense, is a result of feeling
part of something larger than yourself. It has a lot to
do with your understanding of the mission or
objectives of your organization.

• Clear Expectations: Has executive leadership

clearly communicated its expectations for the tea;s
performance and expedited 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? Does the work of the
team receive sufficient emphasis as a priority in
terms of the time, discussion, attention and interest
directed its way by executive leaders?

• 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? Can team members define their team’s
importance to the accomplishment of corporate
goals?
• 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?
• Competence: Does the team fell that it has the
appropriate people participating? Does the team feel
that its members have the knowledge, skill and
capability to address the issues for which the team
was formed? If not. Does the team have access to the
help it need? Does the team feel it has the resources,
strategies and support needed to accomplish its
mission?
• Charter: Has the team taken its assigned area of
responsibility and designed its won mission, vision and
strategies to accomplish the mission. Has the team
defined and communicated its goals; its anticipated
outcomes and contributions; its timelines; and how it
will measure both the outcomes of its work and the
process the team followed to accomplish their task?
Does the leadership team or other coordinating group
support what the team has designed?
• Control: Does the team have enough freedom and
empowerment to fee the ownership necessary to
accomplish its charter? At the the same time, do team
members clearly understand their boundaries? How
far may members go in pursuit of solutions? Are
limitations
 (i.e. monetary and time resources) define at the
beginning of the project before the team experiences
barriers and rework?
• Collaboration: Does the team understand team and
group process? Do members understand the stages of
group development? Are team members working
together effectively interpersonally? Do all team
members understand the roles and responsibilities of
team members? team leaders? team records?
• Communication: Are team members clear about the
priority of their tasks? Is there an established method
for the teams to receive honest performance
feedback? Does the organization provide important
business information regularly? Do the teams
understand
 the complete context for their existence? Do team
members communicate clearly and honestly with each
other? Do team members bring diverse opinions to the
table? Are necessary conflicts raised and addressed?
• Creative Innovation: Is the organization really
interested in change? Does it value creative thinking,
unique solutions, and new ideas? Does it reward
people who take reasonable risks to make
improvements? Or does it reward the people who fit in
and maintain the status quo? Does it provide the
training, education, access to books and films and field
trips necessary to stimulate new thinking?
• Consequences: Do team members feel responsible
and accountable for team achievements? Are
rewards and recognition supplies when teams are
successful? Is reasonable risk respected and
encouraged in the organization? Do team members
fear reprisal? Do team members spend their time
finger pointing rather than resolving problems? Is
the organization designing reward systems that
recognize both team and individual performance?
Is the organization planning to share gains and
increased profitability with team and individual
contributors? Can contributors see their impact on
increased organization success?
• Coordination: Are teams coordinated by a central
leadership team that assists the groups to obtain what
they need for success? Have priorities and resource
allocation been planned across departments? Do teams
understand the concept of the internal customer-the
next process, anyone to whom they provide a product or
a service? Are cross-fictional and multi-department
teams common and working together effectively? Is the
organization developing a customer-focused process-
focused orientation and moving away from traditional
departmental thinking?
• Cultural Change: Does the organization recognize that
the team-based, collaborative, empowering, enabling
organization of the future is different than the
traditional, hierarchical organization it may currently
be? Is the organization planning to
or in the process of changing how it rewards,
recognisers, appraises., hires, develops, plans with ,
motivates and manages the people it employs? Does
the organization plan to use failures for learning and
support reasonable risk? Does the organization
recognize that the more it can change its climate to
support teams, the more it will receive in pay back
from the work of the teams?
 Building REAL TEAM
3. Specific Goals: Successful teams translate their
common purpose into specific, measurable and
realistic performance goals. Just as goals lead
individuals to higher performance, they also
energize teams. Specific goals facilitate clear
communication and help teams maintain their focus
on getting results.

4. Complementary skills: To perform effectively, a

team requires three types of skills. First it needs
people with Technical Expertise. Second, it needs
people with the problem-solving and decision-
making skills to identify problem, generate
alternatives, evaluate those alternatives, and make
competent choices. Finally, teams need people with
good interpersonal skills.
 Characteristics of A TEAM
5. Common Approach: Goals are the ends a team
strives to attain. Defining and agreeing upon a
common approach ensures that the team is unified
on the means for achievement. Team members
must contribute equally in sharing the work load
and agree on WHO is to do WHAT and determine
how SCHEDULES will be set, how DECISIONS will
be made and modified, etc.

6. Mutual Accountability: This means

ACCOUNTABILITY at both the INDIVIDUAL
and GROUP level. Successful teams make
members individually and jointly accountable for
the team’s purpose, goals, and approach.
 Obstacles To Effective TEAMS
1. A weak sense of direction: Teams perform poorly
when members are not sure of their purpose, goals,
and approach.

2. Infighting: when team members are spending

time bickering and undermining, their colleagues,
energy is being misdirected. Effective teams are
not necessarily composed of people who all like
each other; however, members must respect each
other and be willing to put aside petty differences
in order to facilitate goal achievement.
 Obstacles To Effective TEAMS
3. Shirking of Responsibilities: A team is in trouble if
members exhibit lack of commitment to the team,
maneuver to have others do part of their job, or
blame colleagues or management for personal or
team failures.

4. Lack of Trust: When there is TRUST, team

members believe in the INTEGRITY,
CHARACTER, and ABILITY of each other.
When trust is lacking, members are unable to
depend on each other. Teams that LACK TRUST
tend to be SHORT-LIVED.
 Obstacles To Effective TEAMS
5. Shirking of Responsibilities: A team is in trouble if
members exhibit lack of commitment to the team,
maneuver to have others do part of their job, or
blame colleagues or management for personal or
team failures.

6. Critical Skills Gaps: When skill gaps occur, and the

team doesn’t fill these gaps, the team
FLOUNDERS /The Team Gets Confused/. Members
have trouble communicating with each other,
destructive conflicts aren’t resolved, decisions are
never made, or technical problems overwhelm the
team.
7. Lack of external support: Teams exist within the
larger organization. They rely on that larger
organization for a variety of resources.
 Overcoming The Obstacles
1. Create clear GOALS: Members of high-
performance team have a clear understanding of
their goals and believe that their goals embody a
worthwhile or important result. Moreover, the
importance of these goals ENCOURAGES
individuals to SUBLIMATE (Passionately carry
out) personal concerns to these team goals.

2. Encourage Teams To Go for Small Wins: Team

members have to learn to think and work as a
team. They should begin by trying to attain small
goals. This can be facilitated by IDENTIFYING
and SETTING ATTAINABLE GOALS.
 Overcoming The Obstacles
3. Build Mutual TRUST: Trust is fragile. It takes a
long time to build and can be easily destroyed. KEEP
team members INFORMED by explaining upper-
management decisions and policies, create a
CLIMATE OF OPENESS where employees are free
to DISCUSS PROBLEMS without fear of retaliation,
DEVELOP a REPUTATION for being fair, objective
and impartial in your treatment of team members.

4. Provide the Necessary External SUPPORT:

Managers are the LINK between the TEAMS and
UPPER MANAGEMENT. It’s their
RESPONSIBILITY to make sure that TEAMS have
the necessary ORGANIZATIONAL RESOURCES to
accomplish their goals.
 Overcoming The Obstacles
5. Appraise Both Group and Individual performance:
Team members should all SHARE in the GLORY
when their team SUCCEEDS, and they should share
in the BLAME when it FAILS. Each member’s
INDIVIDUAL contribution should also be identified
and made a part of his or her overall performance
appraisal. But members need to know that they
can’t ride on the backs of others.

6. Change the Team’s Membership: When teams get

BOGGED DOWN in their own INERTIA or
INTERNAL FIGHTING, allow them to ROTATE
MEMBERS. To manage this change, consider how
certain personalities will MESH (interlock) and
REFORM TEAMS in ways that will better
complement skills.