The Team Building Directory
Advice and information about all things team building.
1. Interdependence
This is the issue of how each member's outcomes are determined, at least
in part, by the actions of the other members. The structure of the team
task should be such that it requires cooperative interdependence. Functioning
independently of other team members, or competing with them should lead
to sub optimal outcomes for the entire team. Tasks that require the successful
performance of sub tasks by all team members are called divisible, conjunctive
tasks.
2. Goal Specification
It is very important for team members to have common goals for team achievement,
as well as to communicate clearly about individual goals they may have.
The process of clarifying goals may well engage all of the issues on this
list. Indeed, shared goals is one of the definitional properties of the
concept "team." A simple, but useful, team building task is to assign
a newly formed team the task of producing a mission and goals statement.
3. Cohesiveness
This term refers to the attractiveness of team membership. Teams are cohesive
to the extent that membership in them is positively valued; members are
drawn toward the team. In task oriented teams the concept can be differentiated
into two sub concepts, social cohesiveness and task cohesiveness. Social
cohesiveness refers to the bonds of interpersonal attraction that link
team members. Although a high level of social cohesiveness may make team
life more pleasant, it is not highly related to team performance. Nevertheless,
the patterns of interpersonal attraction within a team are a very prominent
concern. Team building exercises that have a component of fun or play
are useful in allowing attraction bonds to develop. Task cohesiveness
refers to the way in which skills and abilities of the team members mesh
to allow effective performance.
4. Roles and Norms
All teams develop a set of roles and norms over time. In task oriented teams, it is essential that the role structure enables the team to cope effectively with the requirements of the task. When the task is divisible and conjunctive, as are most of the important team tasks in our society, the assignment of roles to members who can perform them effectively is essential. Active consideration of the role structure can be an important part of a team building exercise. Task roles may be rotated so that all team members experience, and learn from, all roles. Even then, it is important that the norm governing the assignment of roles is understood and accepted by team members.
Norms are the rules governing the behavior of team members, and include the rewards for behaving in accord with normative requirements, as well as the sanctions for norm violations. Norms will develop in a team, whether or not they are actively discussed.
5. Communication
Effective interpersonal communication is vital to the smooth functioning of any task team. There are many ways of facilitating the learning of effective communication skills. Active listening exercises, practice in giving and receiving feedback, practice in checking for comprehension of verbal messages, are all aimed at developing skills. It is also important for a team to develop an effective communication network; who communicates to whom; is there anybody "out of the loop?" Norms will develop governing communication. Do those norms encourage everyone to participate, or do they allow one or two dominant members to claim all the "air time?"
(From Scholtes, Peter R., The Team Handbook, Joiner Associates (1988))
