 Teamwork
is the heart of the new organization. Teams adapt quickly to constant change. Teams flow
in and out of existence around the formal structure as needed—bringing just the
right sets of diverse strengths, creativity, knowledge, experience and insights together
to solve problems, make decisions, create and market products, improve quality, cut costs
and satisfy customers.
A team is a small, committed group of people working together to achieve a common goal. Small means usually 4-12 people. Greater than 12 and it's next to impossible to reach consensus, and you allow "social loafing" because everyone isn't required to achieve the task, so people "loaf".
Team members are interdependent and are held mutually accountable for achieving the goal.
Teams are amazing. Teams can do anything! The value of teams is in the power of many
minds. Research has proven time and again that teams make better decisions than individuals
every time for complex situations. Diverse teams make very high quality decisions, but
may have a harder time communicating. Homogeneous teams make lower quality decisions
because there are fewer points of view. These different points of view also lay the groundwork
for potential team conflict, which is normal and predictable in teamwork. In fact, it's
the 2nd stage of team development... Storming.
Teams go through 4 stages of team development: Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing. Teams encounter their greatest challenges in the first two stages of team development, forming and storming.
In the forming stage, The Teambuilder helps your teams gel quickly,
value individual differences and clarify team goals, roles and processes. Team leaders
use facilitative leadership to balance people and purpose, encourage team participation
and build ownership of team goals.
In the storming stage, the normal and predictable stage of team conflict,
the Teambuilder helps team members develop communication skills of assertive communication,
active listening, giving and receiving feedback and managing conflict. Team leaders use
facilitative
leadership skills to ensure that team issues are worked through, not smoothed or suppressed,
and that team conflict is viewed and used as a catalyst for creativity. Win-win team
solutions are sought. Trust and respect flourish.
In the norming stage, the leader continues to challenge the team so they won't go into "groupthink"—intense peer pressure to not rock the boat and disagree with the majority. Groupthink produces terrible decisions.
In the performing stage, the team experiences synergy, high performance and achievement.
In adjourning, the 5th stage of team development for temporary teams, The Teambuilder helps your team close with ceremony.
Call us today to book your Team Building Training Workshop.
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