Team Communication and Problem Solving
renihiwickek
building_your_teams_idp_3.pptx
Building Effective Teams
Renita Wickes
University Affiliation
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INTRODUCTION
A team is a group o individuals who have come together or have been put together to work towards a certain goal.
For a team to be effective there is need to possess various characteristics that enable the team to preform in a manner that is effective and a highly productive.
In this assignment we will look at how one can make sure they develop an effective team from the start and maintain it.
An effective team possesses the traits such as accountability, transparency , sharing of roles in leadership, they are highly committed to the project they are set to perform, proper team relationships, proper problem solving and conflict resolving mechanisms within the team as well as proper communication. For individuals to be members of an effective team the need to be well skilled and committed towards interdependently carrying out various roles shared among the team members and also show a high level of accountability for the end results. A team cannot be able to reach the desired goals and objectives if they are not able to perform effectively. For a team to be effective there is a lot of time as well as effort that is put into making sure that a well rounded and effective team is developed. There are very many failed attempts of building teams since most individuals do not realise the importance of taking time to first ensure that a team can work effectively before getting them to work. It is very important for leaders to invest a lot o time and resources in ensuring that they develop an effectively functional team even before a team starts to operate to ensure the building of a well founded team.
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preparing the team for working together before they start
The following strategies need to be applied to make sure that a team is well prepared to work:
Clear goal and purpose deinition
Clear assignment of responsibility
Setting and Communicating expectations
Buildling healthy team relationship(Wheelan, 2014).
A team is only able to operate effectively if they have a well defined purpose and objectives of the team. The goal and purpose help to act as a guide to the activities of a team when it begins to operate and even more it helps create greater zeal and interest in the team members(Power, 2011).
Having clearly defined roles and responsibility in a team helps to give every individuals in a team a sense of responsibility and also to enhance the level of accountability in the team. With clear lines drawn on the role of individuals one is able to avoid role collusion which can cause conflicts in a team.
Setting expectations involves involves putting in place procedures, standards as well as the ground rules which the team members will work by. This helps to guide not only the behaviour but also the performance of the team members. This should be communicated to the members to make them aware of the ground rules they are expected to allow and consequences for breaking them.
Building relationships between the different individuals in a team generally involves building trust between these individuals to help work with one another very easily. A healthy relationship is one where the members are able to work well and accommodate each others differences.
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TRAINING ACTIVITIES TO BUILD TRUST AND PRODUCTIVITY
To be able to build the level of trust between the members of the team I would take up activities that aim to enhance the level of open communication between the team members and leaders as well as the team members among themselves.
To enhance productivity I would engage in activities that would help yield a more motivated team.
Open communication is an essential tool in helping boost the trust level of team members in a team. Teams need to be able to share information honestly to all team members. The team, therefore, would need to be trained on open communication to make sure they are able to share information with one another consistently. They need to share information such as work progress, concerns as well as any problems they may be facing and ways to solve them(Nir, 2013). Training on open communication activities would include creating forum which will involve the team member in face to face communication with one another and therefore enable them to know each other which is the first thing to enhancing communication between two individuals.
Motivation of the team members simply involves learning the personalities and the needs of the individual workers in the team and them developing ways in which each of the members can be motivated. Motivation can be inform of rewards, recognition delegation of responsibility among other activities. For a team to be highly productive there is need to make sure that the members are constantly motivated to make sure that they do not lose their morale on work at any time.
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MEASURING TRUST
The following indicators would be use to measure trust:
Transparency
Active open listening skills(Hensey, 2001).
Direct communications between members.
To be able to measure trust within a team makes use of an almost similar procedure worth the measurement of performance of team. To be able to measure trust there have to be various tangible evidences being shown by the team members which can be used to indicate trust or to show the level of trust between individuals in a team. The strategy use din this paper to build trust in the above slide is enhancing open communication between team member where they can be able to share information openly and honestly. To measure the level of trust therefore we need to make use of idnicators that point towards the existence of open communication in a team. These indivcators include direct communication that is the number o times that members o the team tome together to have direct conversations with one another. The level of transparency is another major indicator which helps to indicate how willing individuals in a team are willing to share information with one another. The final aspect is listening. For trust levels to be high members need to share information and actively listen to one another. Active listening is a major component of open communication since it forms the basis of people understanding one another.
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MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS
At 3 months
At 3 months I would gauge the level of brainstorming within the team.
At 6 months
I would gauge the level of commitment to each other and towards work.
At 9 months
I would gauge the overall environment created between members of the team and the working environment.
When a group is as young as 3 month members usually are in the initial stages of group formation and mainly the storming group whereby the members are still quite aware o their individuals difference s and where members have very diverse opinions on things and how things ought to be carried out within the team. Due to the diversity in opinion a team is said to be effective at this stage if the team members can be able to bring together their thought to reach to a consensus through brainstorming. At the 6 months stage the team has made efforts in understanding personal differences better and they dedicate their efforts towards showing commitment to the goals and purpose of the team as well as their fellow team members. Effectiveness at his level therefore would be measured by the gauging the level of commitment. Finally when a group has performed for a long time, at 9 months, the members have found ways of working through their differences and working well with one another as well as ensuring optimum level of commitment. At this level I a team is to be called effective, there is need to have a very positive working environment where member are supportive of each others efforts.
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References
Hensey, M. (2001). Collective excellence: building effective teams. Reston, Va: ASCE Press.
Nir, M. (2013). Building highly effective teams : how to transform teams into exceptionally cohesive professional networks : a practical guide. San Bernardino, CA: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Power, J. (2011). Building Effective Teams. Cork: Oak Tree Press.
Wheelan, S. (2014). Creating Effective Teams : A Guide for Members and Leaders. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc.
