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team_building_and_team_training.pptxTeam building and team training
Chapter 17
Team building and team training
Team Building- approaches to improving the operation of teams
Team building programs typically focus on improving teamwork skills, developing social relations, and solving problems that disrupt team performance
What is team building?
Team building is an organizational development intervention that focuses on improving the operations of work teams
Team building means regularly taking time to evaluate the performance of teams to identify obstacles and develop patterns of work that are more productive
To be effective, team building must be viewed as an ongoing activity
Organizational context of team building
Effective teamwork requires a supportive organizational environment (it is difficult to promote cooperation among team members when the organization only rewards individual performance)
Team development must focus on building the relationship between the team and the organizational context (too often, a team building program focuses on internal development when the key to performance problems is external)
Organizational context of team building
The performance evaluation and reward system is an effective way for an organization to motivate a team to improve the way it operates
The organization’s culture impacts support for team-building programs
Cultures vary on how much they value open communication and participation, support for collaborative work, and willingness to invest in people
Evaluating team building programs
Organizations overlook the importance of team-building activities for several reasons:
They are limited by lack of expertise in team building and the availability of competent professionals who can run team building programs
Managers often do not understand the benefits of team building, so they do not reward teams that spend time doing it
Team members are skeptical about the value of team building, so they are reluctant to spend time doing it
Does your team need team building?
Criteria for Effective Teams
Clear and measurable performance goals
Roles and assignments that are accepted by team members
Climate of trust, psychological safety, and support
Open and participative communication environment
Effective problem solving and decision making
Supportive leadership and constructive handling of conflict
Supportive organizational culture and structure
Ability to monitor performance and make needed changes
Does your team need team building?
Symptoms of Ineffective Teams (When Team-Building is Needed)
Decrease in team performance
Increase of complaints from team members
Evidence of unproductive conflicts among members
Confusion about assignments, roles, and relationships
Decisions misunderstood or not enacted
Lack of involvement from team members
Lack of initiative, creativity, or effective problem solving
Ineffective meetings with low participation
High dependency on the leader
Types of team building programs
Goal Setting
This approach involves clarifying the team’s goals and developing objectives that are more specific
This is done through consensus building to create agreement about and commitment to the team’s goals
Objectives are developed to further define the team’s tasks and establish action plans that include team member assignments
The final step is to develop an evaluation and feedback system so the team can monitor the attainment of its goals
Types of team building programs
Role Clarification
This approach focuses on clarifying individual roles, group norms, and shared responsibilities of team members
In clarifying duties and task relationships among team members, coordination is improved and the team is better prepared to perform its task
The negotiation approach asks team members to analyze their work situations and identify what other people could do to improve their effectiveness
This includes behaviors that they would like to see more of and those they would like to see less of
Types of team building programs
Role Clarification
An alternative approach asks team members to interact and group process observers to analyze the roles they perform
These observations are used to evaluate the team’s performance
The typical result of analysis shows the team is underusing certain behaviors and relying on a limited range of behaviors
This information may be used to help improve team interactions
Types of team building programs
Interpersonal Process Skills (best way of improving group skills)
Team members need to learn how to coordinate their efforts with other members and work together as a team
Decision making, problem solving, and negotiating are some of the team process skills members can learn
In team building, a team is typically given simulated activities or exercises to perform to practice these skills and analyze the results
Process consultants are often used to facilitate these group exercises, observe how the team operates, and comment on the group process
Types of team building programs
Cohesion Building
The purpose is to foster team spirit and build interpersonal connections among team members
When successful, it strengthens the team’s morale, increases trust and cooperation, and develops group identity
Identify team boundaries so team members have a greater sense of being part of something unique
Once they begin to see themselves this way, they will notice more similarities among fellow team members and more differences from outside groups
Types of team building programs
Problem Solving
This approach starts with problem identification and analysis
The problems may come from performance data, objective outside sources, or internal team communication
Information about team problems is gathered through surveys, interviews, or group discussions (information is organized and shared with the team)
A discussion of how the team should proceed to take action on solving its problems is established
This may be difficult for a team to conduct
By the time the team recognizes it has a problem, the underlying conflict may make resolution difficult
Team training
Team training focuses on developing the skills the team needs to perform its tasks
This includes developing the skills, knowledge, and attitudes needed, practicing those skills, and providing feedback to improve the team’s ability to use them
Team training requires identifying the specific knowledge and skills needed for effective performance and then developing approaches for these specific objectives
Team training
A training program starts with a needs assessment to determine a team’s training needs and objectives
The assessment analyzes the goals of the team, the requirements of the members, the tasks they must perform, and the types of coordination needed
This information creates training objectives and design training programs
After training is conducted, evaluations are used to determine whether training objectives have been met
Team training
The effectiveness of training programs depends on the method of training, the type of skill being learned, and the training environment
Teamwork training is more effective when it is focused on identifying training competencies or skills, the team is trained together, they have an opportunity to practice their new skills, and they are given feedback about their performance
Team training
Training of team members should be done with the team as a whole; this develops the team’s mental model and transactive memory (common understanding of how the team operates)
Training people in the teams in which they will be working creates a supportive team climate for new skills performance
Transfer of training refers to the extent that the new skills learned in training are used in the work environment
Research suggests that only 10% of training actually transfers to the work environment
Types of training
Team Resource Management Training (Crew Resource Management)
Develop a defined set of teamwork competencies so a team can operate without error under stressful circumstances (this approach was developed for the aviation industry)
This uses assessments to identify needed teamwork competencies and combines training with practice and feedback to ensure its effectiveness
This training has been shown to be successful in reducing errors and accidents, improving teamwork, and increasing efficiency
Types of training
Assertiveness training is an example of the type of training that is part of TRM (police, airline, fire fighters)
Training programs focus on both developing assertive communication skills and changing attitudes about when assertiveness is appropriate
People’s willingness to be assertive depends on the situations they are in and their relationship with the other people involved
A member’s willingness to act assertively is highly dependent on the team culture established by the leader
Types of training
Cross Training and Interpositional Training
Cross training is used to increase the flexibility of team members
In cross training, team members are trained in the technical skills of two or more jobs, allowing the team to assign members to the tasks that need to be performed
The goal of interpositional training is to allow team members to better understand the working knowledge and roles of other team members and the interconnections among the actions of team members (understand each other’s roles and abilities but not to replace each other’s positions)
Types of training
Action Learning
This approach is based on the belief that most learning occurs when people are dealing directly with real-life issues
The focus of action learning is to develop teams that can analyze and solve important, real-life problems in their organizations
Action learning is self-managed learning, the team gains skills and knowledge, then shares the knowledge with the organization
