Make Fair Decisions and Lighten up

"Effective teams resolve problems without forcing members into a win-lose situation." (Business Communication, 2016, pg.41)

While working in a team, it is critical for all members to feel like they have a say in group discussions. It is important to make decisions together so that the end project that you are working towards has valuable information. If there is a problem, the team should address it without fighting or taking sides. You need resolve conflict by utilizing the six steps mentioned in a previous post. This way, each member wins.

And lastly, lighten up!

"The most successful teams take their task seriously, but they are also able to laugh at themselves and interject humour to enliven team proceeding." (Business Communication, 2016, pg.41) When everyone in the group has a positive outlook on a situation, your project or assignment will turn out to be great one.

Encourage Collaboration and Share Leadership

Hey everyone,

I do not know about you guys, but when I work in a team setting, sometimes things can become a little bit competitive. I always want to be in charge of putting the final project together, and making sure I receive everyone's part of the assignment at a certain point. I like how people get their job done fast because that is what I do. I never procrastinate.

 However, sometimes you work in groups where not everyone is like you. There may be some slow people in your group that need time to catch up. You all have to work together as a team. By being a team, that means you need to collaborate. Collaboration means working with someone to create something. It is crucial that you work together with your team and not to compete with each other. Competition leads to bickering, fighting, people in the group taking sides, etc. This leads to your task/project not resulting in a good manner. Parts of your assignment may end up sloppy, or incomplete.


"Sharing information in a cooperative effort to achieve team purpose must be more important than competing with other members for individual achievement." (Business Communication, 2016, pg.41)
This quote essentially means that you are working as a group; not by yourself. You need the support of your team to develop an excellent task/project.

During this collaboration effort, there may also be a leader assigned to your group. Now leaders are good, they keep everyone on track, and make sure people are assigned roles that best suit their strengths. A leader is often someone with the most expertise and is good at taking charge. Although having one leader is important, sometimes it is necessary to point other people as leaders. (Business Communication, 2016, pg.41) If you are working on a task where someone has more knowledge about the topic, you should let that person be the leader.

Sharing the role of leadership allows everyone to have input on the task and lets people of the group gain confidence.

Effective Communication Skills

While working in a team, it is super important to communicate. Without effective communication, your group may run into problems that could affect the task/project at hand. 

"Productive team members articulate ideas clearly and concisely, recognize nonverbal cues, and listen actively." (Business Communication, 2016, pg. 41) It is evident that all team members in the group know what is going on and communicate if they do not understand. If five people in the group understand, and three do not understand; someone needs to explain to the others so a clear message can be spread across. 

Effective communication is not only verbal, it includes written work as well. This means you need to get your idea/pint across clearly on paper, email etc. While communicating with your team, you should establish feedback. As a team member you want to encourage people to express their opinion. 

While communicating is important, so is listening. "Listener's become actively involved, read body language, and ask clarifying questions before responding." (Business Communication, 2016, pg.40)

Acknowledge and Manage Conflict

There comes a time when we have to work in teams. There tend to be fights and arguments. This is called conflict, and every time you work in a project, there may just be a little of it. It is always important to Acknowledge and manage conflict before it gets out of hand and it ruins your task, project or assignment. This post will give you more insight and knowledge on how to avoid conflict or suppress it.

The tortoise and the hare, who reached the finished line first?

"Conflict is productive when it motivates a team to search for new ideas, increase participation, delay premature decisions, or discuss disagreements. Keep conflict centred on issues rather than people." (Business Communication, 2016, p.41) 

There are two types of conflict, the good and the bad. Good conflict is when each person in your team has an idea they can pitch in. This allows for your team to create one really good idea, by using everyone else's and collaborating them into one. Bad conflict, however is when fights arise in your group because someone thinks their idea is better then someone else. Or a team member isn't holding their weight, and you have to worry about that person's part in the task as well. 

When working in teams, you may avoid conflict by sulking, gossiping or bickering. And these are poor ways to answer conflict.

There are six ways for dealing with conflict:

Image source: Business Communication: Process and Product, 2016, p.40 

Determine Purpose, Procedure and Roles

Good afternoon everyone,

I hope everyone is doing well today. I will be discussing the next two types of effective team building skills. Last time we discussed establishing small teams and encouraging diversity. Today, you will learn how to determine the purpose, procedures and roles in a group setting.

What exactly is meant by determining the purpose, procedures and roles you may ask? Well, once you have established your small group, it is time to discuss what your topic will be about - what exactly is your project on? What do you want to discuss? Once you have that figured out, it is time to give each team member a specific goal. If each individual is given a role, things will flow more smoothly. 

"Members must understand the task at hand and what is expected of them. Teams function best when operating procedures are ironed out early and each member assumes a specific role." (Business Communication, 2016, p.41)  For example, there are multiple roles that can be given to each person in the group; the facilitator, the implementer, resource investigator and the gatekeeper. 

The facilitator is also known as the leader. The leader is in charge of assigning roles to the team members. Roles, essentially, are based off of an individual's skill. For example, to be a leader, one needs to be good at directing others what to do

The implementer is someone who wants the task to be done properly and on a time based schedule. Implementors get things done on time and have the ability to transform discussions into practical activities. 

The resource investigator is a strong communicator and excellent at negotiating. Resource investigators are necessary when you need in depth research on a project. "Resource Investigators are curious and sociable in their nature they are open to new ideas and ways of accomplishing tasks.  Being flexible, innovative and open to change, Resource Investigators are listened to by other team members.  Sometimes, however, they are unrealistic in their optimism." (Roles in Groups and Teams)

The gatekeeper is someone who keeps the group on the task and limits distractions. Gatekeepers are excellent when it comes to making sure everyone stays on task and gets the project done before the due date.




Reference:
Roles in Groups and Teams. (n.d.). 
Retrieved from http://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/group-roles.html

Establish and Encourage

Good morning my fellow bloggers!

Today I will be discussing two points that will help you towards developing your team effectiveness. To start off, you need to Establish small groups. 

"Smaller teams function more efficiently and more effectively than larger teams." (Business Communication, 2016, p.41) What does this mean exactly? Well, teams tend to agree upon more and negotiate better if there are less then 10 members in a group.  Smaller teams also tend to work better as a unit. Working in these types of teams allows for more discussion without group members interrupting others to put their point across.

Secondly, you need to Encourage diversity.

"Innovative teams typically include members who differ in age, gender, ethnicity and background. Team members should possess the necessary technical expertise, problem-solving skills and interpersonal skills." (Business Communication, 2016, p.41)

While working in a group, it is very important to view an assignment or project from multiple perspectives. "Many of us tend to think that everyone in the world is like us because we know only our own experience." I tend to think this all the time working in a group project. Not everyone has the same view on a subject as you do, which at times can be frustrating, however, when you involve individuals from other cultures or backgrounds you will get more opinions and discussion flowing. This ultimately will make your assignment more interesting and grab people's attention, because of the different views associated in your task.

Checklist

Good afternoon,

I hope everyone is doing well. Last week, I created this blog to inform students regarding developing team effectiveness, and the steps to take to work well with your team members.

Every other day or so, I will be posting up to eleven key points that will aid in helping you work well with your team. That could mean now, or in the future when you will have to work on projects together in school, or at your workplace. Please see below for the complete list of how to develop excellent team skills:

1. Establish small teams
2. Encourage diversity
3. Determine the purpose, procedures and roles
4. Acknowledge and manage conflict
5. Cultivate effective communication skills
6. Advance an environment of open communication
7. Encourage collaboration and discourage competition
8. Share leadership
9. Strive to make fair decisions
10. Lighten up
11. Continually assess performance

Guffey, M. E., Rogin, P., Rhodes, K., & Loewy, D. (2016). Business Communication: Process & Product. Nelson Education. Chapter 2, pg.41